Alejandro H. - Master Student From Mexico
Yana Immis
Meet Alejandro, ITESM Graduate studying a Masters Degree in Germany. Allianz and Airbus offered him a job. You can read his study in Germany success story here.
| Place of Birth | Mexico City, Mexico |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Where did you live? | Mexico City (Mexico), Moscow (Russia) |
| Education Level Prior to Relocation | Bachelor Degree |
| Reason of moving to Germany | Master Program |
| When did you move? | 2017 |
| How old were you? | 23 |
| Are you still in Germany? | Yes |
| What is your current occupation? | 1st Year Master Student |
| What is your future goal? | Full-time Controlling / Accounting Job, Coming back to Mexico |
| Would you like to stay in Germany? | No |
Chapter 1: Mexico
I was born in Mexico City. My childhood was great. I am a single child I had everything but thank God I wasn’t very spoiled…
…well I was a little…
…but I was good at school too! My best friend is also a single child and our mothers are very close. Our birthdays are only one day apart. I don’t have siblings, but he is like a brother to me. I am in Germany, he is in Mexico.
We both were always good at math & physics and wanted to do something technical or to invent something. In the last years of high school, we had a course to find a profession. We were doing tests and projects to choose a profession and I selected two favourites: Aeronautical Engineering & Accounting with Risk Management. I wanted to be an Actuary one day.
I started to get ready for the admission exam in a public school (UNAM), but my family was a little reluctant to send me to the state university and insisted that I go to a private university – ITESM in the metropolitan area in Mexico City.
My parents insisted that I go to private schooling because they couldn’t have it in their childhood.
Sadly, majors I wanted were not offered and after a conversation with the director, I got admission in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization, which sounded good as well.
Studying at ITESM was amazing. The beauty is that the school belongs to a group of companies and there are many interesting partnerships between the university and these companies – the campus is very big; laboratories are full of modern machines and equipment. In the first year, when I had to choose a foreign language, I took German. Interest in the country started developing with the language.
During my studies, I took advantage of spare time and engaged in 3 internships. One of them was the most memorable because I learnt what it is like to be under the supervision of 2 brand different bosses:
Boss #1
I never took industrial engineers seriously until I encountered this one. He was the boss, and he was making the decisions. He was nice, polite and knew how to handle the team of engineers. We were all very different: one guy simply came to work and wore headphones all day long and left. Every day the same. The others were completely opposite: chitchatting and more social. He managed to direct and unite every one of us. Within 10 months, he got 2 awards and promotion. I found out, that he had joined company 2 years before, so he was growing in the rank very fast.
I was always thinking that reading a book was enough to become a businessman. I was wrong. It is not about how much expertise in the topic you have or how much technical knowledge you have. It is about the people. The better you manage people, the better you will do in a company.
He had a big influence on my decision for a major in my Graduate Studies and I thank him for that. At this moment I decided not to go into specific Engineering field, but rather to choose for my a completely different topic.
I loved this boss
Boss #2.
He was my direct supervisor. He was constantly throwing work at me with not very clear explanations. Lean management and Six Sigma were the two strong things he cared about. What he didn’t realize is that I had no clue how to do what he expected from me. He wanted me to do Ishikawa Diagrams, Root-cause analysis, among other things.
To do what?
I had no knowledge about it. He seemed never happy with my work and I couldn’t even understand why. He pushed me to the limit:
“You have to prepare a report and a dashboard to present to the Director our numbers and performance”
“But I do not know how to use Excel that well.”
“There is Google and you can ask me.”
I learnt the formulas, I pushed myself. The presentation went flawless. He congratulated for my work. It was the first time I had been pushed to my limits and when I reached them, then I realized I just grew up!
Sadly, the internships were the only highlights. As the university years passed, I became more and more unhappy with my life in Mexico.
In my personal experience, there are two types of people in Mexico and I am sure you encountered both in your life:
Very friendly people, who are very nice and always willing to help.
People whom you cannot trust; they will try to cheat you, to take something away from you or to take advantage of you.
I always wanted to meet other nationalities, to travel or to do an exchange semester, but for one reason or another I just procrastinated, and the deadline passed. I had to wait for the next semester and then a semester after and then it was the last year and I could no longer do an exchange, because you need to graduate in Mexico, so I missed my chance again.
Luckily, my Russian professor, teaching me 3 courses, offered a summer program for ITESM students – 5 weeks exchange in Russia. The program was offered in cooperation with Moscow Aviation Institute. English-taught Aeronautical Engineering program with flight simulations including jumps with a parachute from a military plane!.
Without hesitation, I took this option and it was spectacular! Major fact: In Moscow, I met my girlfriend. She is a French Aeronautical Engineer. I loved studying in Russia. With one of my closes friends, we both extended our Russian trip to Europe and flew from Moscow to Hamburg. We visited Bamberg & Munich and concluded our trip with a 1-month road trip in Spain visiting his family.
I took a look. I compared and I decided: I will study a master’s degree in Germany.
When my girlfriend had to go back to France and I had to go to Mexico, she was invited to do an interesting Internship in Germany. What a coincidence.
Chapter 2: Germany
I have been through an adventure in my university admission… In Germany, state universities have a high reputation. So do the private ones, but you need to put research into finding a good one! Most of the programs were in German, hence it was not an option because my level was still not good enough.
I decided to study management and applied to a state university. The program was for free (or up to 60 Euro per semester). I realized later on, that it is a common practice for state universities not to share with you a reason for denial in admission. Which is rather unfortunate.
I got rejected. I have 82% in my GPA, but I got rejected.
I got a visa to study German language instead. I came with a 5-Month visa to study the language. I applied again and
I got rejected again. Again, without a reason.
I met a Mexican guy, who got accepted in the same program I applied to. We came from the same university, everything was quite similar, but his GPA was 3% higher He had 85%!!!
Great
Ironically, he accepted the offer, but never showed up and flew back to Mexico. I got denied twice in the program of my dreams and he got accepted, took an offer and left the country.
Great
With the language visa, I was not allowed to work, and with university seeking visa, I couldn’t work. Instead of wasting time, I studied and received a certification in six sigma yellow belt in TUM online and took some courses from MIT to keep myself busy and up-to-date.
I applied to work in many companies, but I was rejected (there is a tendency there). I thought I had been rejected because I am not from the EU country. Now I know, the passport was not the reason, but rather the requirement for a company to sponsor foreigners if they have language or university-seeking visa. Bachelor, Master or MBA visa opens gates for work for any nationality.
I gave up on a Management Program, but I got accepted to the Mechanical Engineering program. I denied the offer because it was a German-taught faculty and I would not feel comfortable in the language just yet.
I found two privately taught schools. I disregarded one very quick, as they issue British Degrees instead of German. The choice has been made: the English taught Management Program.
I am doing a Master’s right now. I found a subject I like a lot - Accounting & Finance. I am doing very well in these courses. My aim to become an Actuary is on the horizon! When I finally got admission to University and was granted permission to work, I applied right away to work. I chose Allianz and Airbus.
Frankly speaking, I totally forgot about the job applications and with a month delay both companies invited me for the interview. Despite Allianz paying more for the working student position, I chose Airbus. Money is not everything.
Airbus interview went great. Working student position allows me to work 16-20 hours a week during studies and up to 35 hours during Summer Break. In the Job Description, they asked for German language and SAP knowledge, which I don’t have at all. My German is not enough to work, but then the language of the company is English. Regarding SAP, my supervisor agreed to teach me within the first few weeks.
During the interview in Airbus I was asked if I know Excel. And that’s when I realized how thankful I am to my Boss #2 from Mexico. I had to prepare the same report and performance and I knew how just because of him. Everything happens for a reason.
Chapter 3: Comparison
Many foreigners want to come to Germany, but they come up with bad excuses like, “I don’t speak German”.
I met Mexicans here working in Audi, studying in good universities, having scholarships from the Government. I met Mexicans who do not speak very well English or no German at all, but they dared to make a jump and try. Studying abroad gives confidence.
My advice for fellow Mexicans: go for a semester abroad, find foreign friends, study abroad. You can live and work in any part of the world after.
Originally, I wanted to stay in Germany, but I realized that I feel at home only in Mexico. I miss my family and friends and the fact that people live with big families in big houses with big gardens! Germans can learn from Mexicans about nightlife and ‘service’ in the restaurants.
Germany is a great place to develop, earn, learn and have a good life. But I miss going shopping or to restaurants when I want to go, not when it is open. Everything is open on Sundays in Mexico City. When I was in Mexico, I disliked many things about Mexico. I’d rather say, I was not completely satisfied, and I was searching for a reason to leave. But now that I am abroad, I miss Mexico a lot.
Yes, Mexico still has its drawbacks, but with European studies and experience, I believe we can make a change. I speak with my friends who stayed in Mexico and we are all of the same opinions.
My plan is to work part- and full-time in Germany while finishing my Degree. I have a choice of staying or moving back to Mexico and it is great to have that choice. Time will show.
