I have always enjoyed scientific experiments. I remember dazzling my physics teachers at middle school, who obviously weren’t aware that it’s possible to get an electric shock from a flat battery powered by a humming relay. For this, and other experiments, I was even awarded the “Headmistress’s reprimand”.
I continued my training at the school of Communication Technology in Panska, where I learned a significant number of scientific skills, including programming, bastleni, a good grounding in basic maths (helped by Wolfram), as well as drinking beer.
Following my studies at CVUT, I was given the opportunity to meet great people, gain a broader perspective and discover the world a little. I regret slightly, that I started my travels relatively late in life, so I think it was in my second year that I grabbed my backpack and hitch-hiked into Europe. It was a great experience, which awakened in me a love for travelling. From this perspective, helped by a research project I was involved in as part of my work, I was given the opportunity to attend two international conferences; one in the USA and one in Germany. But as far as getting the chance to study abroad for a longer period, I still had no luck, which is another of my regrets. During my studies, I never took part in the ERASMUS programme, but in my final year I finally got the opportunity to spend a longer period of time abroad, and through this extended my master’s studies.
During this internship, I saw the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands and also, thanks to the fact that my whole research group moved there, EPFL in Switzerland (which can be said to be one of the five leading technology schools in Europe). I haven’t experienced the teaching here, but if I had to compare these universities with CTU, especially in terms of research, there is first of all much better funding, which means easier access to equipment and technology. There is also generally a greater emphasis on research. However, from my perspective, a major factor is the human one, so CTU is not in the least out of the game. Conversely, a lack of equipment or resources stimulates creativity and often leads to a far more elegant solution than if you have everything at hand.
From personal experience I can say that the education acquired at the Electronics department is a very good basis for a whole range of areas because, with a few simple tricks, such as the proper setting of the oscilloscope, closing the feedback filter 50 Hz interference from the measured data and design of a simple amplifier, you can impress a lot of people. In my case, proper adjustment of the PID controller, which is the first thing you learn in the Department of Control Engineering, resulted in an offer of a doctorate at the EPFL.
Therefore, at present, I am enjoying the mountain ranges and the working time dealing with micromachining with the help of femtosecond lasers and the production of microscopic optical components. And the electro tricks mentioned earlier are still very useful.
I’ll finish with a word of encouragement: Don’t be afraid of challenges, because school is one big test and if you fail, you learn from your mistakes. In fact, it is often these ‚failures‘ that in the end bring us the most success.
Jakub Drs