Klaas Sikkel was a PhD student at the UT and now, since 1997, he is assistant professor and works for the Information System Group, in the Faculty of Computer Science.
About the importance of having a PhD degree in Information Technology (IT) in the Netherlands, he thinks: "That may differ from person to person. I see it most in terms of personal development, not just doing one project after another but having the opportunity of contemplating and reflecting on things that are part of the job. If you want an academic career, obtaining a PhD is necessary. For a career in the IT business in Holland, it doesn't add much value. Large IT companies in our country apparently think that the extra value of a PhD does not outweigh the loss of four years of your working life. So here you do it more for personal enrichment, not merely to polish up your CV."
Thus, Klaas Sikkel affirms that having a PhD doesn't mean having a great advantage on the Dutch job market: "All aio's find a job somewhere, but not necessarily related to the subject of the PhD and not necessarily different from the students who leave the university with an MSc degree."
Regarding the situation of the foreign aio's, the assistant professor comments: "Until recently we had mostly Dutch PhD students. In the last few years this has changed rapidly and now we have students from all over the world. What all these foreign students will do after obtaining a PhD, I cannot tell. I would expect that geographic location is not the prime constraint when they look for a job because I know that in some other European countries there is a lot more status associated with having the title of Doctor, so, in that respect, it is a plus for getting a good job."
