Combining theory and practice in business studies: how changing universities and part-time jobs can lead to success

After completing her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in Mannheim, Linh Nguyen made a conscious decision to pursue a Master's degree in Business Administration at RPTU's Kaiserslautern campus - attracted by electives that matched her initial practical experience. There she combines theory and practice: through research seminars and working student jobs, she finds her professional path into an international team at SAP. Her career shows how much a change of university and practical experience can achieve.

When Linh Nguyen began her bachelor's degree in Mannheim, she was interested in the basics of business administration. She doesn't have a concrete idea of where she wants to go professionally. Perhaps she would like to go into banking, insurance or real estate later on. In order to clarify her goals, she looks for a job as a working student in a start-up. Linh Nguyen came across a subject area that immediately fascinated her: patent law and intellectual property rights.

"My working student job was the first time I delved deeper into the topic of intellectual property," she explains. "It fascinated me so much that I wanted to study it in my Master's degree." However, finding a university with the right program is difficult. Only RPTU offers the electives and research specializations she is looking for. This is what tipped the scales in favor of moving to Kaiserslautern.

Small hurdles and great opportunities

The move from the University of Mannheim to RPTU in Kaiserslautern is an important step for Linh Nguyen. Before she enrolled for the Master's degree, she did a lot of research into chairs, electives and fields of research. "I found a lot of well-structured information about the research fields and electives on the website. That was incredibly helpful in making my decision," she says.

The change of university brings with it everyday challenges: "Just topping up my Mensa account was something completely new for me," she says with a smile. At the same time, she received a lot of support from fellow students in the first few days, which made it easier for her to get started. At the same time, the change has given her a great opportunity to pursue her interests and get to know new professors whose perspectives and research focuses have noticeably expanded her specialist knowledge.

Growth through mistakes and role models

Linh Nguyen particularly remembers the close supervision structures and the intensive support she received during her research work on the Master's course. After all, not all experiments went as planned, especially at the beginning. "I had a lot of failures at the beginning," she says, "but Professor Steininger and the staff at the chair showed me how I could improve my research. I received incredibly great support."

During her studies, Linh Nguyen conducts online experiments in which participants evaluate products and their reactions are analyzed. In her Master's thesis, she is working on the question of what influence customer reviews have and what strategies companies should use to deal with them. She is learning how to develop study designs, interpret results and understand errors as part of the scientific process.

"Even if not all hypotheses were always confirmed, I took a lot away from these moments in particular. I learned to keep at it and approach complex issues in a structured way."

Between lecture hall and large corporation

During her Master's degree, Linh Nguyen applied for another student trainee position, this time at the software company SAP. She was accepted and quickly found her feet in the structures of the large corporation: "I was able to work in the team right from the start and realized that I really enjoyed the work.".

Linh Nguyen is once again experiencing how she can apply business management methods, analytical thinking and the technical basics from her studies in the corporate world. The working student job also shows her which tasks suit her and how important team culture and a suitable working environment are for her. "It's incredibly enriching to work with an international team," she says. "Everyone brings different strengths and perspectives to the table."

During her time as a working student, Linh Nguyen has also found that she feels comfortable in roles that lie at the interface of business and technology. Where strategic thinking, teamwork and real added value for customers come together.

Working at SAP: complexity as motivation

SAP also sees that the work is a perfect fit for Linh Nguyen: She is offered a permanent position after completing her studies. The fact that she was already part of the team as a working student made the transition to the job easier. She knew what to expect - and her team knew what she was capable of.

Today, Linh Nguyen works at SAP in the Customer Success department. Her area of responsibility is where customer consulting, business development and strategic process support come together. What sounds abstract to the outside world is a fascinating field of work for her, in which she draws on the skills she learned at RPTU on a daily basis. "Analytical thinking, structured work, scientific precision - I need all of that all the time these days," she says.

Patience and willingness to learn as a recipe for success

When Linh Nguyen talks about her path, one thing comes through above all: a clear, practical attitude. Based on her experience, she advises students to consciously combine practice and theory and to deal openly with mistakes. She says that research has taught her that not every result has to be immediately clear and that patience and trial and error are part of the learning process.

When asked whether she has always been so organized and determined, she laughs: "My mother still rolls her eyes at the chaos on my desk sometimes." She learned how to work in a structured way during her studies: planning days, setting priorities, organizing to-dos. Skills that became particularly important during exam periods and now benefit her in her day-to-day work.

A path that has grown through experience

Linh Nguyen's career clearly shows what has advanced her career: the willingness to try things out, take responsibility and learn something from every step. Whether in a start-up, in research or at SAP, it has always been complex issues and concrete experiences that have pointed her in the right direction.

This is precisely why Linh Nguyen sees her path as the result of many small steps, decisions and encounters. Practical experience, academic work and people who have accompanied her along the way have sharpened her view of her own professional profile. Today at SAP, she realizes how all these building blocks come together to form a whole. And that the move to RPTU and the part-time jobs gave her exactly the right impetus at exactly the right time.