I finally graduated!

Although I passed my defense back in October 2020, and officially graduated in March 2021, I have only just had the chance to walk across the stage and take part in my first ever graduation ceremony. As some people know, I didn't take the traditional route and didn't go to university for a bachelors degree. Instead I went directly into industry and worked with Linux and Linux based systems, ultimately ending up working for Red Hat directly (which was itself an amazing experience). I did study for a masters degree, but I studied via distance learning, and as I'm based in Hong Kong, and the university was in the UK, I just wasn't able to get the time to attend the graduation. So when I say this was my first time on that stage, I really mean it!

As EngD students don't graduate very often, and the last graduation ceremony had been postponed, I was really worried that I would be the only EngD student there. Fortunately, I needn't have worried as my fellow classmates Dr George and Dr Alex, were also graduating!

It was also a great opportunity to take photos with the two professors at PolyU that supported me through some very challenging times and even fought to keep me in the programme when I probably should have been kicked out (I was, shall we say, a little late with my thesis). Thanks to their support I was able to graduate - so special thanks to Prof. Yung who was the programme co-ordinator for the EngD and Prof. Man who is the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. You both have my heartfelt thanks!

Despite all the support I received from PolyU, the only reason I even had a thesis topic was thanks to Prof. Darryl Veitch at UTS who provided constant support, advice, guidance and encouragement throughout the programme, and without whom I would likely have left the programme long before the thesis component!

Apart from those studying on the EngD programme with me, there was one student (later staff) who I could always depend on to help me answer what to her must have been super trivial questions. As she had been through the entire PhD process, and was in the same department (COMP), she was a constant source of guidance and insight into how everything worked. She's also a genius at tracking down papers that seem impossible to find. Her support made my studies so much easier - many thanks Dr. Yi!

And now, I come to the most important person in my quest for a doctorate - my amazingly supportive and tolerant wife Sarah who put up with countless hours of study and research, and who made sure I didn't screw anything up too badly whilst I was focusing on other things. It is very true what they say about no achievement being down to a single person - there's always someone there providing support or encouragement, or just keeping things afloat. Without my wife's support I would not have been able to achieve this, so thank you Sarah for always being there - truly the debt that I can never repay!

Of course we're a family unit of four, and whilst the little guy Xandyr isn't really aware of the challenges in earning a doctorate, my eldest son Kaydyn is. Here you can see him dressed up for the way and acting as my bodyguard, which with his progressing skill in Wing Chun (he's a student at Mindful Wing Chun, run by an amazingly talented and amazingly friendly team) is really not that far from the truth!

Overall the whole thing has been an amazing journey. I've learned so many things, not just by doing the thesis research or through the taught courses (which were superb with the trip to Linkoping University in Sweden being the highlight) but through working with my fellow classmates and learning from their decades of industry experience as in turn I shared mine. I highly recommend the EngD programme at PolyU to anyone who wants to take their engineering knowledge to the next level!

Finally, I'll leave you the unofficial stage photo, which I'll hopefully swap out with a better one when I receive the official version!