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+---
+created: '2022-09-29'
+title: "My Bachelor's thesis journey at TUM"
+description: ''
+keywords:
+  - thesis
+  - latex
+  - figures
+  - spellchecking
+  - academic writing
+  - journey
+hidden: false
+---
+
+In this post, I talk about the entire process of finding a thesis, the research, the
+writing, and the defense at TUM. I'll try to pass on my lessons learned and maybe give you
+an idea of what to expect and how to prepare yourself for every step of the journey.
+
+Summary of my Bachelor's thesis:
+
+- Topic: Lightweight low-latency virtual networking
+- Faculty for informatics (computer science)
+- Chair of Network Architectures and Services
+  ([Website](https://www.net.in.tum.de/homepage/))
+- Graded: 1.0 (best possible grade)
+- Time allotted: about 30h / week for about 16-20 weeks
+- Download: [thesis.pdf](/files/thesis.pdf) - [final_talk.pdf](/files/final_talk.pdf)
+
+## Finding a topic (1-2 months)
+
+Before finding a topic, I had to find out which topics of computer science interest me. I
+started to actively look for a thesis in January 2022. Since I was about to finish the
+[iLab](https://ilab.net.in.tum.de/) practical course, which taught me intermediate
+concepts of networking beyond the fundamentals lecture, of course, I looked for theses at
+the networking chair. Initially, I checked out the physical posters at my chairs
+exhibition area and found a couple of interesting posters about creating a virtual iLab. I
+reached out to the listed people but didn't hear back in a long while. Later it turned
+out, that the posters were not updated since before COVID-19 and the advertised thesis was
+no longer available.
+
+On the website of the chair, I found a couple of advertisements for theses that seemed up
+to date. Many of them were about topics I had a hard time placing - I barely knew any of
+the abbreviations mentioned. Intimidating! Two theses struck me: both of them were about
+SR-IOV and virtualization, which I had previously experienced with. I put together a small
+application letter of about 300 words. Please note, that this is just an example and you
+should work on a personal letter yourself.
+
+```
+Since I am one of the few students who are currently attending iLab1, and it is one of my
+favorite courses in the computer science curriculum at TUM, I would like to apply for a
+bachelor thesis at the networking chair. In particular, I saw the posting "Lightweight
+low-latency virtual networking", which I am interested in.
+
+Over the years, I dedicated some time to learning more about working with Linux
+kernel-based operating systems. For example, regarding virtualization, I set up
+PCI-passthrough for a GPU with KVM and spent hours reading documentation about topics such
+as CPU pinning, static huge pages, and virtual network interfaces. In my small home lab, I
+experimented with docker since containers appear to be less dependent on the system,
+lightweight, and faster to spin up, which I find convenient.
+
+While PCI-passthrough or my casual docker experiments might not be relevant for a thesis
+concerning SR-IOV, it helped me to acquire a basic understanding of virtualization
+solutions, which I would like to improve further. I believe the iLab helped me to develop
+the right mindset for solving problems I initially only posse a rather general overview
+of; I am interested in deepening my knowledge and curious to learn more.
+
+Is this thesis still available for the upcoming summer term? Finally, I do not insist on
+this particular topic or a particular language (de/en are both fine) to write the thesis
+in; I am happy to pick up any opportunity to learn more about Linux, automation and
+networking and - in the best case - work on something I am interested in. I would be happy
+to receive a reply and - if the thesis is still available - to be taken into
+consideration.
+```
+
+Promptly I was invited for a small interview, where I first talked about myself about 5-10
+minutes, my previous knowledge and experiences at TUM and interests. Then my future
+advisor introduced the topic to me and gave me more information about technical details.
+It was a lot to take in and I probably didn't remember more than 10%, but it sounded like
+something I could figure out.
+
+Next, I took about 5 days to research the given details and figure out if I wanted to
+accept the thesis. After messaging them back, I was given another appointment to receive
+access to their infrastructure and information about the process. This appointment was
+scheduled to be on the 2nd of March.
+
+Timeline:
+
+- Initial talk - shortly before the official start
+- Official start - 15th of the month
+- Mid talk - after ~ 2 months of work
+- Deadline - 15th of the month, 4 months after the start
+- Final talk - weeks after the deadline
+
+## Putting together a proposal
+
+After receiving all the details of the thesis and actual git projects, I started to
+formulate a small 2-page document detailing what my thesis would be doing - commonly known
+as the proposal. Since I was speaking English for years daily I decided that I would be
+writing the thesis in English. I filled out the required documents for the administration
+and set the official starting date to be the 15th of April (theses only start on the 15th
+at TUM). So I had plenty of time left to submit a proposal and discuss it with my
+professor.
+
+From then on I had weekly virtual meetings scheduled with my advisors. During the proposal
+time, I would upload my document each week and they would comment on it during our
+meetings. This already clarified many questions I had and made it much clearer to me, what
+the goal of the thesis should be. I would say, the proposal is an integral part of the
+thesis especially for yourself to know what you are gonna get yourself into. Remember, you
+can decline a thesis within the first third without repercussions.
+
+The initial talk with Prof. Carle happened towards the end of March and was extremely
+valuable to me. While I was scared shitless before, it turned out to be extremely relaxed
+and enriching. Prof. Carle remarked on a couple of details and advised what exactly I
+should focus on. Going back over my protocol of the meeting, he remarked upon details I
+was able to work out and put into my thesis. Valuable. Don't underestimate the experience
+of a professor who has been doing research in the field for decades! They surely know
+where to poke to get valuable results.
+
+## The project period
+
+Most of the work on the project is supposed to be done during this time. A thesis is
+considered to take 20 h per week, so you really should not slack and start with your
+research and implementation right away. Don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to
+handle the measurement and evaluation part of your thesis. It's often not trivial to test
+your prototype in a scientifically correct manner.
+
+A word on the weekly meetings: Weekly meetings still happen, where I got to discuss
+problems with my advisors. You should always be prepared for such a meeting; don't waste
+the precious time of your advisors. I always made a small document, where I quickly wrote
+what I did since the last meeting, problems I was facing, questions, and finally my plan
+for the upcoming week.
+
+I enjoyed this part of the project. I got access to state-of-the-art hardware such as AMD
+EPYC 7551P and Intel X710 10 GbE with special time stamping capabilities. Really fun
+stuff!
+
+During that time I was frequently working 11-12 hours a day, well into the night. It was
+probably the most intense part. It paid out: after just a couple of weeks I implemented a
+basic prototype. I thought I would take some quick measurements and be done; I could chill
+for the remaining time. Oh boy, was I wrong. It had barely started. Getting the
+measurement setup right was a task that would accompany me until the last weeks. There is
+so much complexity involved when it comes to timestamping packets; I recommend reading
+Chapter 6 of the thesis to get an impression of my final setup.
+
+## The mid talk
+
+When the two-month period approached, we scheduled my mid-talk. I was supposed to prepare
+a couple of slides and talk for exactly 10 minutes about my topic, related work, my
+approach, and preliminary results. Luckily I was able to finish a basic testing setup to
+record and show off some latency measurements. Not every student gets to present results
+already at this stage, although it is desired.
+
+I was told the mid-talk is not TUM specific, but an exclusive thing to the chair. It is
+supposed to give students the chance to have another discussion with the professor and
+maybe get nudged in another direction. The weeks before I prepared my slides and discussed
+them with my advisors. This time around, I was not as scared as for the initial talk.
+Regardless, I practiced my talk a whole bunch and had an interesting discussion with Prof.
+Carle.
+
+## Writing the thesis
+
+Up until now, I had only worked on the project but not written a word of my thesis. The
+week after the mid-talk I started to put together a structure and work on the first
+sections. Meanwhile, I still had to fix up my measurement setup. Initially, I was
+extremely insecure about my structure and what to put into each section. I ended up moving
+around sections a lot in the process.
+
+I was allowed to send in chapters to my advisors and they would correct them. In our
+weekly meeting, we would discuss my mistakes. This part was integral for me in learning
+about academic writing, the necessary formalities, and expectations. I already wrote down
+most of my mistakes in another [post](/blog/writingathesis).
+
+work. Lots of mistakes were spotted and corrected. Also, my advisor took a last look over
+In week 15 of the official handling time, I had my girlfriend and family proofread my
+the finished thesis. There is still one honest mistake in the PDF. Did you spot it? The
+next step was to get 3 printed versions of the thesis. One for the examination office, one
+for Prof. Carle, and one for my advisors. A firm in Munich, printy, offers such services.
+It cost me about 20 € per printout (70 pages, double-sided).
+
+** Please make sure to consult your faculty's formalities regarding cover and the next few
+pages. ** Also check the deadline and potential public holidays and calculate for traffic
+when handing it in. The drop-off point was only open for a couple of hours.
+
+## The defense / final talk
+
+My final talk was scheduled for the 9th of September, so about 3 weeks after the deadline.
+I prepared my slides, got feedback on them in the weekly meetings, and even had a dress
+rehearsal with my advisor. He provided invaluable feedback so that I would not make
+(obvious) mistakes in my real final talk.
+
+For my final talk, I was not terribly excited. I practiced my talk a couple of times
+before, but not too much. I was almost looking forward to presenting my exciting results
+and having a discussion with Prof. Carle. The talk went well; the professor seemed happy
+with the results and scope; I was able to answer all his questions. The final talk is a 20
+minute presentation of my results and in addition to that about 5-15 minutes of questions
+or rather a discussion. If you put as much work into the thesis as I did, you should not
+need to prepare specifically for this part.
+
+## Key Takeaways
+
+- start your work early
+- be prepared for every meeting; it is part of your grade
+- talk to your advisors! They are here to help you; they have supervised many theses; they
+  (mostly) know how to avoid mistakes.
+- avoid easy mistakes -> [my list](/blog/writingathesis)
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