UK Studen Loan Repayment as a EU Student

So I finally completed my degree and am soon going to start my first Job after graduation, so all should be well right? No! This is unfortunately not the case.

So when I started my degree I was unfortunately misinformed of a very important fact about student loans. Interest. Yes, I was told that student loans are interest free and never questioned it. I spent 4 years thinking that and never thought about checking for actual facts. Now my dear readers I want to inform you properly so that you wont get the same shock I did.

In the UK student loans are practically unavoidable and as an EU student it is a very novel idea to take a loan for education. When I started my degree the loan was about 3500£ per year which is now around 9000£ per year. Either way the one thing you should know about is that you won’t just have to pay back this value * years of study. You also have to pay interest from the day your first loan is paid.

The current interest rate is 1.5% for students pre 2012 (Source), and RPI, plus 3% for the later students (Source). This interest rate is applied annually from the first instalment of your loan.

What I am trying to covey is that if you don’t pay back your loan it is actually increasing every year! But not all hope is lost: If you are ok with living in debt for a while there is a write off condition for the student loan. As stated here, for pre 2012 students the loan is written off 25 years after Graduation and for post 2012 30 years later.

As for the repayment process:

Pre 2012 EU students should look at this table to check if they exceed the payment threshold and post 2012 students at this table. Either way you only need to pay back some amount if your income, without tax deductions, exceeds the value listed in the table.

If your income does exceed that value then you have to pay back 9% of the amount exceeding the threshold. E.g. If I was earning 25000£ per year I’d be exceeding my threshold by 7665£. Of this 9% are 689.85£, which is the amount I would have to pay back per year.

Honestly the whole process seems to be very manual and requires oneself to be responsible.

1. The overseas income assessment form has to be completed yearly.
2. The money has to be transferred appropriately via english bank account.
3. One has to keep track of the payments made and the amount left to keep from overpaying.

It certainly makes sense why there are so many news articles stating that EU students in the UK don’t pay back their loans. It’s because the system just makes it really hard.

I hope this introduction to student loan repayments made sense and will be of help to any of you EU students. I got very confused when I started to research on the topic.

Final Year in Computer Science

It finally begins, my (hopefully) last year as an Undergraduate in Computer Science. This year will most likely be the most stressful and challenging year of my studies, so I’ll have to give my all right from the start. No procrastination, no slacking off and well structured studying will be my aim for this year.

The most challenging bit of the year will certainly be my final year project. With my subject of choice being Photogrammetry.

Photogrammetry is the science of obtaining reliable information about the properties of surfaces and objects without physical contact with the objects, and of measuring and interpreting this information. (Source: http://www.mat.uc.pt/~gil/downloads/IntroPhoto.pdf)

My aim is to create an application – I am unsure if it will be a smartphone app or just a desktop application – that takes digital photographs as input and returns a 3D object containing measurements of the object and can be used for CAD.

Currently known process / timeline for the project:

1. Research Java tool-kits for Photogrammetry
   1. If one exists
      1. choose to create a smart-phone app
      2. learn to program android applications
      3. familiarise yourself with the toolkit
   2. If there isn’t one
      1. create a toolkit
         1. this may end up as enough work for a final year project
      2. choose a different Programming language (Matlab / C / etc.)

Now then let’s get it started.

IBM Placement Retrospective

I’ve finally completed my 12-month placement at IBM. When I look back I do feel that I’ve learned quite a bit although I can only confidently say that it was worth it after I start my final year. Only then will I be able to tell if I am actually able to apply some of the skills I’ve learned at work or if I’ve gotten too used to the different work culture at my placement.

Pros of doing a placement:

• Experiencing the differences between Uni life and Work life
• Gaining valuable experience for future Jobs
• Learning about the necessary skill sets at work
• Earning Money towards University expenses
• A chance to learn about your own weaknesses and strengths

Cons of doing a placement:

• It takes 1 more year to complete University
• It is very easy to get out of touch with continuous learning required at University
• Having to make new friends at University when coming back

One of the things I learned about myself is that I have real trouble judging the acceptable social distance at work and come across as “shy” because of it. t University there are clear lines, students & lecturers that’s it no problem whatsoever. But at work there may be team mates, that are 3 levels above you hierarchy wise and others that are on the same level or just one above. What is acceptable then? I was constantly asking myself if I was being rude. It did get better after time, especially once I got to know them personally. But I still feel like this is a weakness of mine, I will be working on remedying this.

That’s it for now.

Placement/Internship applications guide: Interview preparation

I’ve been asked by one of my juniors to write a guide for interview preparation, and I am happy to oblige! It’s amazing that there actually exist people that are interested in what I write.

First of all you need to know that Interview preparation is all about research. You need to know about to company, you should know what to expect in the interview, the process, etc.

So if you’d split the research you need to do, you’d end up with 3 big components:

Placement/Internship applications guide: Preparation – 5 simple Steps

It’s been a while.
A few of my friends have asked me to write up a guide on how to approach applications for internships or placements. To be honest I am really happy that I reached a point in which I am acknowledged as a reliable source of information. So I did my best to compile a concise list of steps and tips to simplify the application process for you as much as I can.

I’m sure all of you are stressed out of your minds because of lecturers and parents pressuring you into getting an internship or even because you yourself feel that it is an absolute must for you to succeed in getting one. May it be because of money or something else.

Patents in Computer Science

Nowadays it’s really important for a computer scientist to know about patents. There is no need to know about them in depth, that’s what lawyers are there for. I’ve recently been encouraged to think about possibly innovative and patentable products and have therefore thought a lot more about this than I used to. (Not that I managed to come up with any ideas..)

A short definition:

A patent is a right granted by a government that gives the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time.

Time: EU 20 years from the actual date of filing an application, US 20 years from the earliest filing date of the application on which the patent was granted

Patentable inventions:

In general a patent will be granted for an invention so long as it :

• is new or “novel”: the invention must never have been made in public in any way, anywhere, before the date on which the application for a patent is filed.
• involves an inventive or “un-obvious” step: this step must not be obvious to others with good knowledge and experience of the subject of the invention.
• is capable of industrial/useful application: an invention must be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry

 Note that you cannot patent software in the UK. But you can in the US.

While I can understand the importance of knowing about patents, I’m not sure if I actually like them. While the idea behind the concept is great, the execution leaves much to be desired. Small companies have lost lots of possible revenue and big companies continuously abuse their powers.

A promised this is but a very short intro, it’ll hopefully encourage people to inform themselves a bit more.

A few good links:

Patent office US

Patent office UK

Patents EU

Long time no write + IBM placement started!

Its been a long long time since I’ve written anything. After completing all of my applications and interviews and accepting the offer from IBM  I’ve been swept away by the workload caused by assignments and exams. Luckily it was worth it and I succeeded in getting a first class result.

This year I only had 2 weeks of holiday and then had to move to Eastleigh for work. After 2 additional weeks of settling down in my new accommodation and getting to know my flatmates I finally started my placement.

In IBM the whole process is as follows:

The first 2 days are Induction. Here you receive valuable information about the placement, get to know other interns and are shown the company’s premises. You also find out who is responsible for you. Each intern is assigned to a General manager and a personal manager in addition to the Task Manager. As the titles say the Task Manager is responsible for work related issues, the Personal Manager for personal development related issues and the General Manager for any other issues. There are a lot of interns that start at the same time so you get to know quite a few of them. In addition to the induction there are socials in the first week to further encourage communication between interns.

Well that’s it for now. I’ll keep you updated.

My choice – next steps

I finally decided which company I am going to choose. It was quite difficult to choose between two great companies IBM and Intel but in the en I decided to go with IBM.

I talked to several colleagues and asked for help from my advisor and some other professors and in the end it seemed like this is the best choice for my future.

One of the suggestions I received from one of my professors was to ask the company I chose to decline if it was possible to go on a summer intern ship instead. I thought this idea was awesome, and will certainly try it. The worst thing that could happen would be that they refuse. I would have never even thought about trying this so I was very thankful for his suggestion.

For everyone that has received an offer and is currently going through the process of completing the mass of forms required to accept the offer. Make sure to read everything thoroughly and don’t be afraid to ask for help. The companies usually give you the contact details of a person that you can contact in case you have questions.

Also in my case my university also requires a cover letter that states you want to go on a year in industry and a form that your future manager needs to complete so make sure to check if your university might require something similar.

Other than that the process is pretty simple, just make sure to keep it within the time range.

The Ultimate Housing Guide – Birmingham Pt 2: After Renting

Honestly many students have a problem with their current rented property but either don’t care or think they don’t have the right to complain. I only know a few people that ever complained to their agency and I am one of them. And if we keep our mouths shut about the current quality of living it will never improve.

The Ultimate Housing Guide – Birmingham Pt 1: Renting

Even though I claimed that I’ll start a series that will give you tips and some information on housing and writing applications, applications are all I have been writing about. So I decided to finally write what I’ve been aching to write for months. A guide on how you can avoid renting a crap property (Pt 1) and if you already did, what you can do about it (Pt 2). I know it might already be too late for this years students but it might be of use to the following. (This took ages to write.)

Note that I am going to focus on renting a shared house as you already get enough support from the company/university if you have any troubles with student accommodation.

The Viewing:

This is the “first” step after you have gone to an agency or checked various websites. You arrange a viewing to be able to see the actual building in reality. I greatly recommend doing that as friends of mine that didn’t had got quite big shocks when they arrived at the house after not viewing it.

Even if you feel like you are intruding into somebodies privacy, you have to be aware of the fact that usually you only have one viewing so you need to make sure to have seen everything of the house. I made that mistake and once I moved in I noticed so many flaws that I wished I never signed the contract.