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Career advice for PhD students:
How to get the most out of yourtime in the PhD program
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Preamble
Why am I doing this?
Not many resources to learn how to be a successful PhD studenttrying to help you
Faculty create new knowledge and next generation of researchers
A professor is as good as his best student
Why now?
As every September, we got fresh PhD students
I might soon forget my PhD student experiences
Talk applies to any CS PhD student despite influence frompersonal experiences and systems/networking background
Acknowledgment: I admit to stealing advices from manysuccessful people (too many to be listed)
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Outline
PhD student stages
Thinking about doing a PhD
Taking classes and getting involved in some research
Choosing research area, topic, and advisor
Doing research Writing the thesis
Getting a job
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Slightly different view of these stages
1. Student: I know everything; Advisor smiles
2. Student: I dont know anything; Advisor: Lets talk
3. Advisor: Lets do X; Student: Youre wrong because of Y and Z
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Why are you getting a PhD?
Prerequisite to a research career
A PhD degree should ensure that the student can later take onindependent, long-term research commitments
The work required to earn a PhD is not worth the effortif you dont intend to do research
You can do better with an MS degree in such a case How do you know if research is for you?
Have inquisitive mind and critical thinking
Like to understand how things work
Like to identify problems and come up with solutions
Did some research during undergraduate studies and liked it
More philosophical reasons: dream of changing the world, goodway to have a legacy beyond your family
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Bad reasons for pursuing a PhD
Afraid of going out in the real world
If you never had a job and not sure about going for a PhD, go andwork one-two years
Ego
Impress your girlfriend/boyfriend/parents
Opportunity to work/emigrate in US OK if your goal is to do research in (still) the best place for that
in the world
Otherwise, working very hard for something that you dont caremuch while living on a PhD stipend will soon make you unhappy
Money (i.e., amount of money you make is more importantthan what you do) While starting salaries of CS PhD graduates are good, can reach
higher salary if you worked since you got your BS/MS degree
Plus money earned during that time5
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What qualities do you need to besuccessful in the PhD program?
Passion and Self-Motivation Doing a PhD is a life changing decision
Be sure that this is the path you want to follow in life (yes, itsnormal to have doubts sometimes)
Perseverance and Self-Confidence It could be heartbreaking to work hard for one-two years and get
your paper rejected
Trust yourself (and your ideas) and dont give up
Independence Its your PhD; you should know what you want to do, how you want
to do it, etc.
Obviously, you need intelligence
Many times you dont know how smart you are until somebodychallenges you 6
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CS department expectations*
Take qualifying exams after first year and pass them all
after second year Proves that you are good enough to continue in the program
Find advisor and choose thesis topic after second year
Defend thesis proposal by the end of third year
Not very strict deadline (depends on progress and advisor)
Defend thesis by the end of fourth year
Can stay longer if necessary if advisor awards you RAship
Take a number of courses and maintain a decent GPA (e.g.,3.5) throughout these years
* refer to full time, department-supported students
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Advisor expectations
Every PhD student must have thesis/research advisor
Advisor decides when student is ready to graduate Process very similar to apprenticeship
Thesis committee makes sure advisors decision is correct and givesfeedback to improve work
Each advisor has own requirements, but they can begeneralized as:
Have enough background in CS and depth in your research area
Work on one or multiple projects and publish the results in several
good conference/journal papers Be able to clearly present your ideas and results
Write a good thesis
Your papers and thesis must include your novel ideas
Of course, they include your advisors ideas as well8
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First year
Get involved in research! Ask professors with research interests matching yours
Combine reading with working on a small part of a project
Steal tricks of the trade from advisor and more senior students Classes and the qualifying exam are required, but dont
spend more time than necessary on them
Nobody cares about the grades of someone with a PhD degree
Dont get bogged down with teaching/grading
Need to do a decent job, but make sure you dont work more thanthe required 20 hours/week (many times you can work a lot less)
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TAship vs. RAship RAship is better
Can spend time on you research instead of teaching Being awarded an RAship means youre doing well
Since RAship comes from a grant, the advisor will ask you to workon the project defined by that grant
Advisor can ask you to work on demos or robust implementations asrequired by grant (which are not necessarily research)
TAship has some advantages as well
Independent to work with several professors before deciding about
advisor Teaching experience required if you think of academic career
Teaching helps you improve communication skills
Every PhD student should teach at least one semester
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Choosing research area
Dont celebrate too much passing the qualifying exams
You are expected to pass
Choose area based on your research interests
Must like it; otherwise, the next few years will be painful
Dont choose it just because you can get an RAship
Need to think strategically as well
Is this a hot area?
Will you get a good job in this area after graduation? Hard to predict if certain areas that are hot now will still be hot
in 4 years
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Choosing advisor
Should be compatible with advisor/get well together
Tenured advisors
Have more experience, could have more money, could have moreconnections
Dont push you hard, dont have time to work closely with you
Tenure-track advisors
Will push you hard (their future career depends on your results),but will work with you (i.e., co-authors of thesis)
Might have more up-to-date information about job searching
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Choosing thesis topic
Its your topic, but the advisor must approve it
Its rare to know the topic from the moment you startworking with advisor
If work supported by a grant, the general topic is somewhat clearer
More common to work on several related topics in yourchosen area
First ideas might not work, new ideas could come up
Some will be more successful than others publication-wise
Many times, thesis will define a common framework for topicscovered by publications
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Take ownership of your PhD
No one is responsible for getting your degree but you
Faculty set up opportunity, but its up to you to leverage it
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Doing research (1)
Be proactive!
Dont wait for advisor to push you Reading papers
Develop critical thinking: identify both strong and weak points
Advisor will point you to important papers as well as conferences
and journals in your area You responsibility to find more papers starting from these pointers
Must read a few papers every week
Read outside your area as well
Follow technology news to know where the world is going Let advisor/colleagues know about interesting things you read
Robin Kravetss advices for reading/presenting papers
http://www.cs.njit.edu/~borcea/reading-papers-talk.pdf
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Doing research (2)
Identifying important and hard problems
Learn to differentiate between cool problems and junk
Advisor will offer a lot of guidance
By graduation time, acquire good taste for selecting problems
Problem solving/design Always ask yourself: whats the novelty of my solution?
Also: how is it different from/similar to alternative solutions?
Advisor suggests a potential solution Never go back and say doesnt work!
Instead, say X didnt work, but how about Y or Z?
Dont get upset/discouraged if advisor points out drawbacks in yoursolutions its technical, not personal 16
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Doing research (3)
Implementation
Except for purely theoretical CS, will have to implement your ideas Every successful project goes through this unglamorous, hard phase
Design is more fun than implementing it
No magic here: work hard!
Dont suffer in silence if you dont know how to implement somethingor have troubles with a bug ask colleagues or advisor for help
Evaluation Prove that your solution works as claimed
Should know from the design time experiments and metrics
Form a hypothesis: what type of results you expect Experiments contradict hypothesis: think of potential reasons and
discuss them with advisor
Work in the lab a significant amount of time
Learn from interactions with colleagues/advisor 17
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Mutual trust between student and advisor
Trust advisor and earn his/her trust (e.g., through good
work, reliability) Advisors, being human, are not perfect, but try their best to help
Almost everyone goes through periods when doubts advisor(the converse holds as well)
Papers getting rejected Different opinions on how to proceed with a project
Seemingly advisor cares only about his career
During these periods, remember the advisor/student
symbiosis Advisors work hard to get grants to support your work You work hard to produce results that will enable new grants
Typically, what is good for advisor is good for student, and what isgood for student is good for advisor
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Communicating your results
Clear communication separates top students from average
An unknown brilliant result is useless Write and publish papers in conferences/journals
If you didnt write it down, it didnt happen
Publish or perish
Reviewed by peers Hard to get accepted (good publication venues have 10-15%
acceptance ratio)
Can start small with conference posters or workshop papers
Talks Presentations of accepted conference papers (or invited talks) Good chance to convince people that you did great research
Successful researchers spend 50% of time writing papers
and preparing talks 19
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Writing papers
A lot harder than you think!
Good results are not published due to sloppy writing Ask advisor for models of good papers
Get feedback from advisor early and often; then re-write
Read Shrunk and White book on writing
One idea per paragraph Do paragraphs follow one another in a logical structure?
Typical structure: abstract, introduction, related work,design, implementation, evaluation, conclusions
Have clear abstract/introduction If vague or poorly written, reviewers will just look for reasons to
reject afterwards
Dont claim more than you did
Distinguish between will do and have been done 20
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Conference talks
Goal is to make audience read your paper and talk with you
Emphasize the main idea, skip some details Shouldnt follow too closely the structure of the paper
Pay special attention to motivation
The more illustrations, the better
A picture is worth 1000 words Dont take this talk as model
The more you practice, the fewer surprises during theactual talk
Time management is your responsibility; be prepared to skip slides Show excitement
If you are not excited, then why would anyone else be?
Be clear, firm, and polite when answering questions
Show belief in your work 21
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Attending conferences
Typically, you go when have an accepted paper
Could ask advisor to pay or get travel grants to go to topconferences even if you dont have paper there
Check technical program ahead of time and identifypapers/people of interest
Goal is to do networking, not just hear technical talks Take advantage of coffee breaks/lunches/receptions to talk with
people
Be prepared to initiate conversations and introduce your work(prepare an elevator pitch)
Get contact information from people you want to stay in touch
Learn how top researchers present their work and answer questions
People you meet there can hire you, review your papers, orbecome future collaborators
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Summer internships
You should go once or twice
Get real-world experience, make connections Must do it if plan to work in research labs/industry
Go in research oriented places
Doing an internship just for money is not worth the time
Decide together with advisor when and where to go Advisor can help you go to good places (e.g., IBM Research,
Microsoft Research)
Better go once you have at least one publication; can select
internship that allows you to work on related topics Be aware that they can delay graduation as summers can be
very productive research-wise
Cant have the cake and eat it too
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How much should you work?
Students in high-ranked schools work between 60 and 80hours per week
Faculty spend a similar amount of time Dont get fooled that you do better than some colleagues while
spending a lot less time
You will compete for jobs with students form other schools as well
Citing my advisor: school breaks are for undergradstudents
Good time to work in case you have teaching duties
The advisor has more free time to help you
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Work only the number of hours you are paid!
Dont let the master class exploit the workers!
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Dont have time to finish all your tasks?
Must acquire time management skills
Write down your tasks (both work-related and personal),set deadlines, and categorize them function of importance
Randy Pauschs graph for task time management:
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Importance
Urgency
Obviously, finishthese tasks first
Continue withthese tasks
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More on time management
Dont have time for personal life?
Some personal tasks must have high importance
Family/friends help you avoid going nuts
According to previous slide, you might end up not doing urgent, butnot important tasks; its ok, the world goes on
Know yourself and manage advisors expectations
Learn to estimate accurately the time it takes to do certain tasks
Learn to say no if its not possible to do a task before a deadline
Try hard to respect deadlines once you agreed to them
Inform your advisor as soon as you are getting behind the schedule
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When to graduate?
Graduating as fast as possible might not be the best idea
This is not the Olympics where the best finishes first Should become a well-rounded researcher, not just someone very
narrow expertise
Working on larger/higher impact project might take longer, but helpyou become a better researcher and get a better job
Taking classes outside your area and attending seminars/talks canimprove your overall background
Doing paper reviews or helping advisor with grant proposals can taketime, but are invaluable learning experiences
Job market conditions may delay graduation
Taking longer than 6 years not good either
Potential employers dont like it
Even advisor might lose interest in you 27
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Thesis (1)
Thesis: one sentence to describe your contribution to theprogress of humankind
Dissertation: the 100s pages that prove the thesis
Dissertation is very much a collection of your publications
Of course, need to link them well under one clear thesis
Also, need extensive related work and potentially more experiments
Thesis proposal
~= thesis without a chapter or two
Not as important as you may think because early validation of your
research comes from good publications Form thesis committee and get feedback from committee members
Both student and advisor must agree on committee members
Contract between you and committee: agree on content to be added
in the final thesis 28
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Thesis (2)
Finish writing during your final year
In parallel with job searching Models: theses that received ACM awards
Thesis defense is reason to celebrate Advisor/committee wont allow you to defend if not ready
Not a good idea to defend if you dont have a job(especially for foreign students who plan to stay in US) Unless you dont receive support any longer
You could get job before thesis defense
Risk: you might never get the drive to finish Useful things to know about PhD thesis research by H.T.
Kung http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~htk/thesis.htm
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Job searching
Once advisor confirms you will be ready to graduate thatyear, prepare:
CV (long, not the typical 2-page resume)
Research statement (at least 2 pages) outlining your researchcontributions and future plans
Teaching statement (if applying to academia) outlining your
teaching experience, teaching philosophy, etc List of references
Have them ready by early December
Most academia and research jobs are posted by January
Must submit the above-mentioned documents by their deadlines
Have your job talk ready by January
Learn about research interviews by January
Wait for call/email and hope 30
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Job in academia
Research universities have similar starting salary withresearch labs (but doesnt increase at the same rate)
Teaching university have significantly lower salary (and noresearch)
Flexibility to choose research topics
Can work on fundamental research and explore higher risk ideas
Need to get them funded through grants
Can publish and go to conferences more often than inresearch labs
Can make your own schedule In the beginning, you work more than in industry
Can influence people directly through education
Safer job (after tenure)
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Job in research lab
Over a number of years, salary will be slightly higher thanacademia (could go for management positions as well)
Can have impact on real world through productsincorporating your ideas
Research topics need to be in line with companys goalsand approved by managers
Short-term profit-oriented research may preclude you fromworking on fundamental or high risk topics
Working in an R&D department is even more about practicalresearch that can quickly turn into profit
Still need to worry about funding (convince your managers toinvest in your ideas)
Cant publish everything
Patents first, publication later (if at all)
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What do interviewers look for in your CV?
Thesis title, research interests, and name of advisor
The advisors reputation matters a lot Research contributions
Projects you worked on and their main results
Software distributions
List of papers & talks (& patents if any) Teaching experience (for academia)
List of references Reference letters are very important
CS community service (e.g., conference/journal reviewer) NO!
GPA
Programming languages, tools, etc (you have a PhD in CS! Youre
supposed to either know or be able to learn everything) 33
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Job talk
Single most important part of your interview
Two main purposes Sell yourself
Sell your research
Write down 3-4 ideas youre going to say per slide
Practice and remember those ideas Do dry runs with advisor, colleagues, friends
Videotape yourself and try to improve after the shockof watching the recording has passed
Practice questions and answers More information on job talks and interviews from
Jeanette Wing http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wing/www/tips.pdf
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One-to-one interviews
Typically, 30 minutes about your research and everything
else They look for
Creativity
Brainpower
Independence Technical skills
Leadership
Energy
Fitting in
Be prepared, articulated, honest, genuinely curious Ask questions about the persons research
Ask questions about the place to see if its right for you
OK to engage in less technical discussions (e.g., benefits, housing)35
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Selecting a job
Congratulations, you got several job offers!
Many factors to consider besides money Reputation of the place
Can you grow there? Possibilities for promotion?
Will you get along well with your colleagues/bosses?
Geography
Two-body problem
Cost of living
Quality of schools Are you a city person or more of the outdoor-type?
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More readings instead of conclusion
How to Be a Good Graduate Student by Marie desJardins
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html
So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.! by Ronald T. Azuma
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html
You and your research by Richard Hamming http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html
Technology and courage by Ivan Sutherland
http://research.sun.com/techrep/Perspectives/smli_ps-1.pdf
How to have a bad career in academia by David Patterson http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/talks/BadCareer.ppt
Paper writing and presentation by Armando Fox
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox/paper_writing.html
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http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.htmlhttp://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.htmlhttp://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.htmlhttp://research.sun.com/techrep/Perspectives/smli_ps-1.pdfhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/talks/BadCareer.ppthttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox/paper_writing.htmlhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox/paper_writing.htmlhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox/paper_writing.htmlhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~fox/paper_writing.htmlhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/talks/BadCareer.ppthttp://research.sun.com/techrep/Perspectives/smli_ps-1.pdfhttp://research.sun.com/techrep/Perspectives/smli_ps-1.pdfhttp://research.sun.com/techrep/Perspectives/smli_ps-1.pdfhttp://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.htmlhttp://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.htmlhttp://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.htmlhttp://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.htmlhttp://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.htmlhttp://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html -
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Your time in the PhD program is a uniqueexperience: Enjoy it!
Good luck and make us proud!