Rashad Aliyev is a PhD student from Azerbaijan. He received his undergraduate degree from KAIST School of Computing and his master’s degree in Network Security from Korea University. He also worked as a Computer Science teacher at ADA University in Azerbaijan - his home country for a few years. Currently, he is studying technology management and working on a startup about online education.

Could you introduce yourself and your work?

My name is Rashad. I'm from Azerbaijan and currently I'm a PhD student [studying] technology management at KAIST. My work is basically [about] human behavior regarding privacy. Prior to that, I was working as a teacher of Computer Science at a university back home. I've done many different kinds of other works in the areas of startups, education, and so on. I did my undergraduate at KAIST School of Computing, and I did my master's at Korea University in Network Security. Currently, I am working on a startup about online education for people back home.

Could you tell us a bit about your research?

Since my background was in Network Security and Computer Science, I continued on that track. My interests went towards the protection and privacy of personal data. And these days it's all about AI, personalized services, and personal advertisement; everything is based on personal data. And if earlier we could think about not sharing or limiting [the share of] personal data, these days it's impossible because then you don't get the services. From there, I went on to study human behavior in terms of what the factors that make people decide [whether to share] their personal information are, and what exactly the role of having technical knowledge or experience in terms of privacy violations is. In summary, I'm trying to explain why and how people decide to continue sharing their data. It's a very big field, so I'm doing it specifically in [the field of] health monitoring apps on smartphones — any app that monitors your health, such as exercise [applications] and body sensor trackers. Basically, my routine is to keep improving my data; collecting, analyzing, and interpreting it. Once I feel like I have found something worth the attention of the academic community, I write a paper.

When did you first think of a non-academic research career and why?

The first place I worked for was a software company in Seoul. I was writing software, doing research on new devices, new hardware, [and] new applications. Back then, smartphones were just coming up and it was fun to [create] mobile apps and stuff. I think just like most [other] people, the first thing I thought of right after undergraduate was working in a company. So, an academic career was not really something I thought of when I first graduated.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of industry and academia?

For most people, it's a combination between two factors. The first one being our goals and targets, and the second is what opportunities we have. In terms of the industry, I think it's a great place to learn fast, to learn things that are very up-to-date and also to [immerse] yourself to very real problems, where you're serving the direct needs of people, society, business and so on. It's a very good place to apply your knowledge and interact with people, because right after school, we usually don't have [much] experience with social life. When it comes to the academic field, except for bachelor's degree, you do something very specific where you can satisfy your need to generate more knowledge, [to study things] that maybe other people haven't done. So, it's probably for those people who are into science and technology just for the science and technology itself. Just to say it again, in research, you're able to continuously learn new things, and to generate new knowledge of your own — not just learn and apply. While in industry, you can apply stuff directly and be exposed to the up-to-date technology.

How and why did you decide to pursue a path in business and research?

I went to the business side because I happened to discover that my own interests lie more in business and working with people. Therefore, I didn't really feel the need to strengthen my engineering side, because my interests are not in deep research in engineering. When I need engineering as a tool, I have enough knowledge to use it.

One of the reasons I didn't end up [working] in big companies was that when I tried to work at some of those big companies, I felt quite unhappy and unsatisfied because I felt like I'm in this cubicle and I got work that I needed to do, but I couldn't get the feeling of being a part of something bigger. You don't always know what's the bigger project you're working on and why is it that you're doing; so, it is not so easy to find meaning in what you do. That's what I really didn't like in any kind of nine to five or nine to six job. I realized early on that salaryman kind of life is not for me. Therefore, what I really love in the academic or entrepreneurship life is that I can define what is valuable for me, and then I can pursue that. Maybe it's not like it would give me a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand annual salaries at first, but at least I feel like I'm creating value and meaning in what I do. The lack of value in some industrial settings is tough, and the fact that I can define it for myself in entrepreneurship or research is the best part for me. But then I'm not discouraging [big industries completely] because I am sure there are ​​companies where you can feel connected and relate to the purpose of the company as well.

What are your main responsibilities in your jobs?

While you are a PhD student, in most departments, you have to do lots of other stuff [besides] your own research. This could include things like being a TA every semester and working for research projects. Currently, I'm also working on a report for the UN. It's about technology, but I can't really say what [exactly it is] because it's just starting. I always look for new projects, new ways where I can somehow connect [to] companies, sometimes even governments, [whether] Korean, my own, or some others. As you know, Korea has lots of technology to offer, and there are lots of ways to connect people so [that] they can generate something together. Being here as an international student and researcher gives those opportunities.

Besides, I'm also working on a startup for online education. I'm its co-founder; the other founder used to be a software developer at Samsung Electronics. He now moved to Canada to work for Amazon, but we still work together on the startup. He is more of the technical lead, working with a team on the development of the system, the platform, and our website. Together with the content developers, we create courses and search for people that could help us. My specific role is about business strategy, the types of products we would offer later and defining the company from the side of business strategy.

How do you balance your roles and responsibilities as a PhD student and as a co-founder of a startup?

Well, that's a very, very difficult task to achieve, to be honest. And it's not difficult because of how to do time management; there are lots of techniques, if we just [look it up]. But the hardest part is [actually figuring out] your own priorities. Because it's not just [work], we also have personal priorities like health, [learning] sports or something, or social life. Balancing all of these is not easy. I think for all of us, the earlier we could concentrate on [our] priorities and decide what it is that we really want, the better. When we are clear of that, [everything] becomes clear — am I willing to sacrifice the startup for PhD studies? If I can do it later, I will definitely delay it and finish the PhD first. Or, is my start-up such a big deal that I would stop or freeze my PhD to do that? When it's none of those, what I personally do is simply allocate specific blocks of time, chunks of hours in my calendar, where I spend a specific number of hours on this regularly. Instead of spending a lot of time [on one thing at once], if I am able to spend at least two to three hours per week on a certain issue, in a year, that becomes quite a lot of work. So, you do get results.

Which skills are important for students to develop in order to help them achieve career success in entrepreneurship?

Communication skills are at the top I would say, but let me just make a quick clarification that many people may think communication skills are something you can go and learn. That's not really true. It's not a hard skill; it's called a soft skill because it's a bit of an art. It's not like you could see someone doing it and then you could reproduce it. The only way to learn it is by doing it by yourself, because nobody will learn it for you. You should learn to talk as yourself, not as someone, right? That means you, no matter how awkward, how difficult or maybe challenging it could be, need to keep doing it, until the neural net in your brain is confident.

Besides communication, I would definitely recommend — even if you hate finance and accounting — [taking] these two courses, corporate finance and accounting. This is something literally anyone needs, no matter what you do in life, you need this. You can take these lectures on Coursera or anywhere else. In general, learning [something like] what it means to build a company is very important.

Besides those, not what you expected, but learn to take care of your health. And this means [keeping a regular] sleeping routine. There should be some anchors in our life, especially daily life, around which we built everything else. Where you know that, you orient your whole schedule [around it]. One thing that will really make or ruin everything is your mental clarity and how grounded you are, and that comes from a healthy brain. That means, sleep is very important. I don't want to sound like a grandfather, but this is really, really important for many people, because entrepreneurship means getting up, doing things, running here and there, [and generally just] being very busy.

Flexibility could also be very useful in some [situations]. Being very open to different people, and the ability to listen, especially for intelligent people, are very, very difficult. Learning to be able to say more but speak less will give enormous advantages. Sometimes people will not tell you very valuable information because you seem to show off and think you are [already] smart. It's very important to know where to stop talking and listen, when people have something to say.

What advice would you give to students who want to go to industry or entrepreneurship?

What I would advise them is a famous thing everybody says: if you go to work for a company, more than anything, look for a good boss. This is really understated. It is very, very, very important. Even if you have to give up a bit [of a] higher salary, do it. If you see that your team leader or boss in a certain company is a better leader, a better person you can learn from, go for it. The second thing is learning the corporate culture in general; the business world has its own culture, its own rules, its own dynamics and stuff. I think it's very important to spend at least a couple of years — two to three years, maybe more — in a company or a field of work where you would start to understand what it is. Because a lot of time these days, young people, including myself and younger generations, are in a hurry. We tend to change a lot, we tend to not be satisfied, which I love — it's a good thing not to be satisfied. But then, digging into one place for at least some time is very important because you [will] get to know things that nobody will teach you. There is no way to learn about these things in a book or from a person; you need to experience them in your own skin.

For those who would go into entrepreneurship, it's a little different. There is this famous thing called “the fail fast”. I hope nobody fails, but that's how it happens. When I say fail fast, what I mean is I hope that nobody deliberates too much and when they want to do something, they go and do it. More than anything, trust yourself, try to always have people around you that you actually trust as human beings. Because then you can make a start-up, you can create a company, you can do anything. And also, for start-up people, try to share and communicate with people as much as possible. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of people who just keep their ideas quiet and are scared to share. They do anything themselves. Believe me, there are many more people out there who would happily help you, invest in you, and go together with you. I think it is very important to tell people, talk to people, communicate, share ideas and use every opportunity you have. For example, when you have a school, like KAIST, [which provides] 2.5 million USD for start-up budget, but very, very few people benefit from it. I know it’s tough and people are really busy and so on, but I would just go for it. Because you know, this age of 20 to 30 is an age where you can do anything. You can just go for it, you can fail, you can try. Just having people know that you are a person who had an idea, went, and tried to do it, whether you failed or succeeded, [would still] tell a lot of good for other people.

What is your general advice for people who don’t know what career to go into?

First, I think, depending on our natural skills, we all have some things we're good at. So, it's very important to discover what those are. Some of us are very lucky to just find it early. Others aren’t. And a lot of times we cannot find it on our own because some of the things we are good at seem just natural to us and we don't realize that's our advantage. So, I think it's very important to keep monitoring yourself, seeing how you're different from others in terms of your interests and your skills. I would also definitely recommend having mentors — people you can trust, people you can talk to, who can actually tell you something as an opinion, and you will know that it's something they really mean. Basically, look within yourself and from outside opinions; find what you're good at and what you're interested in. And then, depending on where you're from, what's your financial situation and everything else, different opportunities will be open. What's remaining is to try a little bit, and definitely, trust your gut — because if you try something and it's not yours, there's no need to really stick around too much there. Just try out different things. I think having a regular habit of [asking and searching for what you want] is also very important, because [then,] there is no way it's not going to come to you sooner or later. And then that will lead you to what you like, or you will somehow find inspiration.

What was the most difficult challenge you faced in your career and how did you overcome it?

There are many actually. I think the first one would be something that has been widely labeled as “the imposter syndrome”. I think that could be related to being a KAIST student. Within the years that you're here, you'll get used to comparing yourself to the people who are very good at what they do. That makes you very good at what you do as well, but then everywhere you go, you'll keep that standard with yourself. And so you keep having these questions — Am I really worth it? Am I doing it really right? Self-doubt becomes quite difficult thing to handle. At least it was for me, especially when I was teaching [Computer Science] at a university back home. It was not easy to gain the confidence to be a teacher, because I had the examples of my professors when I was an undergraduate student. I could never imagine myself being like them because I didn't even have a PhD degree back then. I think it's good in one sense, because it keeps you motivated to improve yourself. But then if there's too much of that, it might actually reduce your performance. So, we should be careful of that.

Also, priorities. Modern society in general prioritizes money too much. It's a fact and I love money too, everybody does. But the thing is because of that, we may actually make wrong decisions early on. When you feel compelled to show yourself and others that you can make money, that you can be independent on your own, you may spend three to five years just going after money and only then you realize that that's not how it works. You should first create value and then money comes to you. That's another big challenge.

Third one is the difficulty of taking a decision in changing your direction. Nowadays, the world is very fast-paced. So, there's a very high probability that many people who graduate in any major would have to change [their careers] to something else at some point. When you have too much of a high standard, it might become scary to do something new. I think that’s another challenge that everybody would have to face as well.

Do you find it easy to maintain a good work-life balance? What advice would you give students on this?

Work-life balance is an unfortunate myth that people have generated. I really am against the idea itself because it kind of makes people accept or believe that work is not part of life itself. To me personally, work is part of life. The recipe I would like to recommend is [to] make sure [that] your work is part of your life, and you won't have to balance anything. I really hope nobody has this feeling of work against life that needs to be balanced. My work becomes part of supporting what my life is about, because very often we forget that making money and working [are all about being] happy to live. Not the other way [around]. [The bottom line is,] I don't believe in work-life balance. What I believe is finding a value or meaning, and then pursuing that, be it with your family, or your friends at home. [As long as] you have the same value that you want to commit to, I don't think there is a need for work-life balance. And I must add that when there are bad circumstances, bad people, negative situations and people who want to bully you, who want to be aggressive towards you and exploit you, you need to stand up for yourself and stay away from these kinds of companies, people or situations.

What do you do on a typical working day?

My professional appointments or work start at nine in the morning. So, I take two hours before that to do the so-called morning routine. It depends [on] what it is, but I always try to fit in meditation and some sort of exercise, [and then,] drinking water and taking shower. All of these overall takes about two hours and within those two hours, I can feel like I'm ready for the day. Then, usually [I come] to the lab and start to work. It could be my research or having a meeting with someone. After that, I [drink] coffee and eat lunch. After lunch, I usually try to have a discussion with a friend or a colleague. It's very important for me to have at least 15 to 30 minutes of just talking, [some] human conversation about something. It doesn't have to be about work. That really helps me keep my energy on a good level, because otherwise it becomes stressful and quite depressing. And then it's a bit more work and dinner time. Unfortunately, graduate student life is just work, eat, sleep. That's how it is, but every now and then I make sure to rent a car and go see some natural and beautiful places, [or visit] nice coffee shops to meet some friends. Also, I try [doing] some breath exercises to manage my stress levels before sleep.

What are some challenges in your day-to-day life?

The big challenge now for now is COVID. So, being isolated in a sense, because I think a big part of any industrial academic work is exchanges with colleagues and peers and discussions. Now that has become very difficult. Some people may even consider it inappropriate if you ask them to meet offline or talk face-to-face. Things like lab seminars are very important for any graduate student, but then gathering in large numbers of people [are not possible, while] most labs [have] more than 10 people. I think cultural challenges could [also] be tough for most people. I [no longer] feel them because it's been almost 14 years since I first came to Korea. But I can imagine that that would be an issue. Exercise is a big deal too, because I love swimming. [It] helps me physically and mentally; I enjoy water, but now I can't really go swimming because [of COVID]. Also, problems with travel.

What do you do to relax? How do you spend your time outside of your working hours?

There are several things. I love talking to people whom I consider “people of value”. These could be people that know something that I don't, people who could teach me something, or simply friends and family. I also love nature and seeing new places, so as much as I can allow myself, I love to drive around. We can’t travel abroad, but we can travel inside Korea. And some sort of exercise like cycling, because it's okay to do it outside. Personally, I really enjoy exploring what we normally call “the consciousness”. I really like to meditate, learn about meditation and the human mind. And when I say meditation, I must add, I do not mean in any religious context, neither Buddhism nor any other religion. These days, there are lots of techniques that have been medically tested in universities and research centers, like breath control and some other things. I love to learn about these techniques, practice and try them out sometimes. They really are very helpful in managing your emotions and stress. And of course, I watch Netflix.

Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

I am sure that most people who have been through what undergrad students like yourself are supposed to go through later, after graduating, [would also be] happy to discuss these things. I only wish that when I was younger, I would be more open to go and ask people.

This article has been edited on November 11 to include feedback from the interviewee.