tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post8636393470311303214..comments2024-03-14T01:32:43.610-06:00Comments on The Geomblog: Guest Post: Update from the CRA Career Mentoring Workshop, Day IISuresh Venkatasubramanianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-77421500128590807372010-03-01T16:39:58.688-07:002010-03-01T16:39:58.688-07:00@Annonymous and Jeff: To give a foreigner's pe...@Annonymous and Jeff: To give a foreigner's perspective, while there is perhaps a surplus of academic applicants in America, doctorates are in great shortfall in much of the developing world, such that the number of faculty positions outstrips the qualified candidates.As such, the market value on these candidates is very high, and their standard of living excellent when one considers the salary/cost of living ration.<br /><br />But by the mantra that one needs quality institutions to do good research, isn't that destroying one's academic career? Well- while there is certainly a compromise, I don't believe it as pronounced as first appears. A Ph.D (and post-doctorate) builds up one's independent knowledge base and research skills, while establishing academic collaborators that one will have throughout one's career. At that point, an excellent institution certainly helps greatly, but what is more required is the time, space and financial independence a secure faculty position affords, and which is readily available to most developing world emigrants with American Ph.Ds. I'd be interested on Suresh's take however, on whether good research can indeed be done at a nascent research university or institute in developing world. <br />I should note that it's possible that the developing world will also eventually face the same glut of Ph.Ds, albeit several years from now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-38988115316780453282010-03-01T13:10:53.984-07:002010-03-01T13:10:53.984-07:00Update: slides for most talks are now posted here...Update: slides for most talks are now posted here:<br />http://www.cra.org/events/cmw-2010-agenda/Jeff Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02817986846758586086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-52626673544320017512010-02-27T15:32:00.974-07:002010-02-27T15:32:00.974-07:00Anonymous:
About 1/3 of the attendants were alrea...Anonymous:<br /><br />About 1/3 of the attendants were already faculty. And about a 1/3 were CI Fellows. Several of the CIFellows I spoke with already had academic jobs lined up for next fall which had been deferred for a year. I would be surprised if a decent percentage (>50%) of the rest of the CIFellows are not able to get academic jobs in the next year or two. Call me optimistic, but there are reasonable number of available academic jobs (see here: http://www.cra.org/ads/) even in a down year, and someone needs to fill them. Many of the best postdocs this year are CI Fellows, so you'd think they would compete for many of those jobs. <br /><br />(There were also a fair number of grad students there, and non-CIFellow postdocs. For the grad students, I would think you would have to be fairly confident in your future to go to such a meeting, and your advisor well-funded. I don't know if I would have necessarily recommended this meeting for graduate students unless you were on the job market this year and had a really really strong resume that you were sure you would get a job. There are other issues that you would need to worry about first.)<br /><br />Second, several of the speakers spent a few minutes to tame our expectations reminding us that we (postdocs and young faculty) had already achieved a lot (i.e. a Ph.D.) and not to be disappointed if we did not get a faculty job or tenure. Also as Suresh pointed out, there was ample representation from research labs. <br /><br />Finally, I realize that there are more Ph.D.s than research jobs (academic and major research lab). I don't think this should necessarily discourage people from getting Ph.D.s. I greatly enjoyed my time as a grad student and now a postdoc. I got 6+ years to work on open ended research projects of my choosing and get paid for it. Its been fantastic. Plus, I feel I contributed to the advancement of science in a meaningful way. How cool is that? How many people can say they got a chance to do that?<br /><br />I also feel strongly that if I do not manage to get a job in research (academic or major research lab) the possibilities for industrial jobs is now much broader than when I just graduated from undergrad. Sure maybe I could have worked my way up the ladder in 6+ years, but I would not have developed the critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving skills that I believe now make me much more attractive for interesting industrial jobs. More importantly, I feel these skills will quite easily translate as the industry job field changes, as its bound to do rapidly in these modern times. <br /><br />I would definitely encourage others to go to grad school. I think the key is finding an advisor who guides you (without too much restriction) to interesting problems.Jeff Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02817986846758586086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-67610245970174448772010-02-27T13:11:07.931-07:002010-02-27T13:11:07.931-07:00anon: While I understand your point, it seems only...anon: While I understand your point, it seems only fair to point out that at three of the panels centered around the research process (planning your research career, mentoring students, and balancing work and family), the panelists were from BOTH academia and industry. So it's not like the other options are completely unrepresented.Suresh Venkatasubramanianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-62791531322701932752010-02-27T12:20:01.427-07:002010-02-27T12:20:01.427-07:00This workshop is an excellent example of a field g...This workshop is an excellent example of a field gone bad. Suresh, I know that you know about the scientist surplus. We are training 10x as many PhDs as there are research positions. In the last year or two, the ratio has probably become much worse. <br /><br />Responsible professors need to recognize this, and help prepare their students for careers outside of research. However, here we have the CRA putting together a "career mentoring workshop" that totally ignores the reality. 90% of the attendees will not be able to get one of these jobs. <br /><br />I know they mean well, but think that the CRA is incredibly irresponsible and short-sighted. Somebody needs to call them on it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-22426689986797192602010-02-23T13:01:07.574-07:002010-02-23T13:01:07.574-07:00On that last note - many other fields (incl./not l...On that last note - many other fields (incl./not limited to English, Sociology, and our closest relative, Math) have at least preliminary interviews at an annual conference (in December/January). Since more people get to have face time with department delegates than otherwise possible, I think it would benefit those applicants who aren't in the top 25% publication-wise but nevertheless would make excellent faculty. I can't imagine how that would happen in CS without a unified annual conference, but perhaps it could be distributed to the major topic conferences that happen in Dec/Jan (SODA, NIPS, ???). But that could be a lot of work for a recruitment committee that is hiring in multiple areas. Then again, for most postings I've seen there are usually only one or two areas plus an occasional "other areas will be considered". Moving to conference interviews need not eliminate the possibility of hiring someone who wasn't at a given conference.Glencora Borradailehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05649821301750106477noreply@blogger.com