some advice to graduate engineers mikko h. lipasti university of wisconsin – madison pharm
TRANSCRIPT
Some Advice to Graduate Engineers
Mikko H. LipastiUniversity of Wisconsin – Madison
http://www.ece.wisc.edu/~pharm
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Outline Why this talk?
Experience counts for something Try to distill advice into one place
General advice for graduate students Why become a graduate student How to become a graduate student How to succeed while a graduate student How to stop being a graduate student
Specific advice for CMPE and architecture students at Wisconsin
Tips for success in the workplace Finding a job Keeping your job Climbing the ladder
Questions?
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Why Become a Grad Student? Academic ambitions
Ph.D. a prerequisite Professional ambitions
Career path shortcut Visibility, recognition, leadership opportunity
Team to department to division to corporation to industry-wide
Published Ph.D. work inverts this sequence M.S. to a lesser extent
Bad reasons Financial Family or peer pressure Ego “Because I can”
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
How to Become a Grad Student You’re already here… Preparation
GPA: Coursework GRE: Prepare, practice References
Undergraduate research Get involved with faculty UW: Hilldale and SURE
Apply to many places Not much additional overhead for n apps Solicit advice from in-area faculty as to
where
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
The Road to Success -- I In the beginning
Coursework View as opportunity, not burden Broaden your horizons
Read “Read 50 papers before you write one.” Be proactive—seek out relevant, interesting work Identify top venues for your area, work backwards
Breadth-first search of references (citeseer.ist.psu.edu) Write
Not just project reports or paper submissions Attend outside seminars and talks
Arrogance (areaism) kills You will never have (as much) time or opportunity for it again
Use technology Google, citeseer, IEEE Explorer, ACM Digital Library Tools: emacs modes, bibtex, gdb, cvs, IMAP, etc.
Volunteer Be altruistic, find ways to serve group, department, area
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
The Road to Success -- II Thesis grope
Read critically and thoroughly Keep notes, start writing literature survey(s) Take note of weaknesses, incomplete solutions, unexplored problems Pay attention to presentation, structure, organization, style – imitate the
best! Teach your advisor
We have a lot to learn, don’t rely on us or trust us to know everything Think
Thought experiments, what if scenarios Limit studies to measure bounds, potential, significance Extend observations to their logical extremes Challenge assumptions, conventional wisdom
Find a new nail (application) or a new hammer (tool) But not both! Find analogous problems (this is just like…) and search literature for
solutions Or, hear about cool solutions and then find analogous problems
Hack Learn by doing Discover via implementation Write stuff down as you encounter it (don’t trust your memory)
Keep a “treasure chest” list of interesting problems
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
The Road to Success -- III Thesis grope cont’d
Write, revise, polish constantly Don’t be deadline-driven and write at the last minute Benchmark against “best” papers you have read
Participate in proposal preparation It’s your paycheck! Learn how to write persuasively, motivate problem You will need this skill in industry as well
Argue, debate, analyze With your peers, advisor Use visualization tools!
Believe! Convince yourself first, others later Must have some level of passion for your work
Give talks to critical audiences David Patterson’s 10 commandments for a bad talk
[http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html] Attend conferences and behave yourself!
Meet people, interact, network, do your homework[http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-etiquette.html
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
The Road to Success -- IV Have a life
Work/life balance Limit hours
Learn limit of productive hours/week Abide by it
External stimulation, relaxation, exercise Let your unconscious mind solve problems
Think through and formulate problem Don’t force a solution but sketch possible
directions Let it go, move on to something else or go run 5
miles
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
The Road to Success -- V Thesis
Thorough, “complete” treatment Be prepared to put all/most of your
intellectual energy into a single task Not to be taken lightly
Iterate: Hack, experiment, reduce/graph, analyze,
synthesize Write, revise, write
Solicit feedback from peers, advisor, UW writing center [http://www.wisc.edu/writing]
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
How to Stop 3 necessary conditions [Mark Hill]
Sick of your thesis topic Sick of your advisor Sick of ECE/UW/Madison/Wisconsin
Write, revise, rewrite Defend your thesis
Not a confrontation Persuasive document & presentation
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Wisconsin-specific Advice Network
Advisors/faculty are the present Your peers are the future
Learn from many faculty Broaden yourself Don’t fall prey to areaism
Take courses outside area/dept. Participate in
Seminars (Arch. Seminar, CMPE seminar) Mailing lists (arch, reading, os) Reading groups Lunch groups Affiliates meeting Architecture outings Pizza Fridays
Help out (volunteer) with these events
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Finding a Job Resume/CV preparation Finding openings
Engineering Career Services, on-campus interviews Advisor, committee contacts Internships Peer contacts
Interview preparation, research/Ph.D. 30-second version (pigeonhole) 5-minute version (technical non-expert audience) 30-minute version (expert audience)
Salesmanship Not everyone appreciates the essential beauty of your thesis Not everyone appreciates the importance of your research area Not everyone has heard of Wisconsin Don’t be arrogant
Interviewing Do your leg work, know who you’ll be talking to Be Interested! Or, at least pretend to be interested…
If you want people to like you, (act like you) like them! Prompt them to talk about themselves (most people like to do that)
Find commonality to tie your work to others’
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Keeping Your Job First impressions
Better to be overdressed than underdressed Pay attention to dress code at your on-site interview (write it down)
Be enthusiastic & eager to learn Understand others’ jobs and interests Don’t step on peoples’ toes Find a mentor Don’t be afraid to ask for advice
But don’t be afraid to be independent Find out the proper channels
Don’t escalate Don’t skip levels of management
Be persuasive Be persistent
Less pain to satisfy your request than ignore you Be generous with assigning credit
Better to share credit and have everyone know you did the work Worse to claim credit and have everyone know you don’t deserve it
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Climbing the Ladder Gaining visibility
To first order, grad school is a shortcut Sometimes, toot your own horn
Quid pro quo Gaining responsibility
Don’t be afraid to ask Live up to it Rewards proportional to risks & effort
Keep track of accomplishments Be fair, generous, honest to others Political battles
Don’t be naïve, life isn’t fair Find allies, build networks Leverage accomplishments
Mikko H. Lipasti--University of Wisconsin
Questions?