25 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
26 |
27 |
34 |
35 |
36 | {{ content }}
37 |
38 |
5 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
6 |
10 |
11 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
12 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
28 |
17 |
27 | Tag Search Type
18 |
22 |
23 | AND
24 | OR
25 |
26 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
36 | Full Application Profiles
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
44 |
53 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_exampleMaterials/contributionGuide.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Comparisons, Nuance, and A Technique
2 |
3 | While these example materials can be helpful, we encourage you to consider them
4 | with care, lest they mislead you. [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) notes
5 | that most academics suffer from [imposter
6 | syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome). Other job
7 | applicants' materials can easily lead to a mental trap wherein you read them and
8 | think "I have fewer publications than Person A and less teaching experience than
9 | Person B, I'll never get a job!" You may not have noticed that Person A had no
10 | teaching experience, or that Person B, no service contributions. Beware of
11 | comparing your entire self to only the best attributes of others, and remember
12 | that application materials serve to highlight the best, most hirable properties
13 | of a candidate. They effectively never include mistakes, failures or
14 | weaknesses. (Consider Melanie Stefan's notion of a [CV of
15 | Failures](https://www.nature.com/articles/nj7322-467a) as a useful contrast!)
16 |
17 | This page provides neither a random nor indicative sample of applicants, and the
18 | materials are biased towards top-tier outcomes across multiple categories of
19 | positions. These may be the right kinds of jobs for you to consider, but they
20 | also might not be, for your career and personal goals! As a concrete example, Stephanie Forrest
22 | received R1 tenure-track offers from both the University of Michigan and also
23 | the University of Arizona and accepted the offer at Arizona because it was a
24 | better fit for her context.
25 |
26 | In evaluating your own choices and possible outcomes, we encourage you to
27 | consider:
28 | - _Opportunity costs_ relative to the job you're actually seeking.
29 | There is simply not enough time to do everything during your
30 | graduate career. If you are looking for a
31 | teaching-focused position, at a certain point, serving as instructor of record
32 | in a course may be more useful than any number of additional peer-reviewed
33 | publications. Conversely, if you are looking for an industrial research
34 | position, spending a summer or two interning is likely much more useful than
35 | teaching a class. Etc.
36 | - Grounded information about the relationship between department selectivity and general
37 | applicant profile. Leaving aside the
38 | (important) conversation about whether rankings mean anything/are moral/useful,
39 | etc, higher-ranked/"bigger-named" institutions often, on average, expect "more" of
40 | successful faculty applicants.
41 | One way you can get a feeling for this in academia is to go to the
42 | websites of schools you are considering, find recently-hired
43 | faculty, download their CVs/check DBLP, and then _only consider the resume
44 | items and publications they had by the year they were hired_. For example, you
45 | might compare recently-hired faculty at the University of Michigan to
46 | those at the Univeristy of New Mexico to develop a broad sense
47 | of expectations.
48 |
49 | The latter suggestion serves to help you mitigate your imposter syndrome while
50 | giving you the information necessary to make good job search and career choices.
51 | [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) recommends that applicants seeking
52 | academic jobs sit down (perhaps with their advisors) and determine that "on
53 | average, my record is comparable to people who are hired at schools ranked
54 | XYZ". Then start, as a baseline, by applying to other schools in a
55 | distribution around XYZ, but also include some "safety schools" that may be less
56 | selective, and some "aspirational schools" that may be more selective, plus
57 | schools that are particularly interested in (e.g., are building a center in,
58 | have a history of strength in, etc.) an area that aligns with their expertise.
59 |
60 | {% capture quote %}
61 | This guide originally started as a more internal project with a smaller scope
62 | (e.g., writing down advice we would share with friends
63 | seeking certain types of jobs). It has grown to reach a wider
64 | audience, but some aspects of it (e.g., some of the older materials, some of the
65 | framing and writing) still have that old bias. I recommend that you
66 | not view these materials as
67 | a lower bound when considering your own situation; instead, you should view them
68 | as upper bounds.
69 | {% endcapture %}
70 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="weimer" %}
71 |
72 | # How to Contribute Materials
73 |
74 | We are always looking for more application material profiles, especially for job-types or job-locations that are currently under-represented in our guide.
75 |
76 | If you are interesting in contributing your materials, please fill out our contribution form available [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLHwzuCsOcKHNBZBO9LGiWhVZPbcIE5-VpQ5hL8wQcFRAAMQ/viewform?usp=sf_link). This form includes places to upload PDFs of your materials, as well as add any information you'd like to better contextualize your application for readers. In this form, you can also indicate if you'd like to be kept anonymous. All materials are optional -- we greatly appreciate anything you'd be willing to share!
77 |
78 | If you have any questions about contributing, please email Madeline Endres at Title
45 |Cycle
46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 52 |
2 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/footer.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | {%- assign default_paths = site.pages | map: "path" -%}
2 | {%- assign footer_page_paths = site.footer_pages | default: default_paths -%}
3 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
44 |
45 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 |
51 |
52 |
53 |
54 |
55 |
56 |
82 |
83 |
84 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/footerOld.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | {%- assign default_paths = site.pages | map: "path" -%}
2 | {%- assign footer_page_paths = site.footer_pages | default: default_paths -%}
3 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
43 |
69 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/google-analytics.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |
2 |
10 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/head.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | {%- seo -%}
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/header.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |
3 | {{ include.summary | markdownify | remove: "
4 |
8 | {{ include.summary | markdownify | remove: "" | remove: "
" }}
4 |
5 | {{ include.details | markdownify }}
6 |
7 |
4 |
28 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_includes/timeline.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | {%- for person in site.data.people -%}
2 | {%- if person.timeline -%}
3 | {%- capture src -%}/assets/materials/{{ person.id | uri_escape }}/timeline.json{%- endcapture -%}
4 | {%- assign url = src | relative_url -%}
5 |
5 |
27 | -
6 |
-
7 | 8 |21 | 24 |9 | 14 | {%- if author.avatar -%} 15 | {%- capture src -%}/assets/materials/{{author.id | uri_escape }}/{{author.avatar | uri_escape }}{%- endcapture -%} 16 | {%- assign url = src | relative_url -%} 17 |20 |
18 | {%- endif -%} 19 |
25 |
6 |
14 | {%- endif -%}
15 | {%- endfor -%}
16 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_interviewing/phoneScreen.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Phone Screening
2 |
3 | In our experience, about half of institutions will reach out for a phone
4 | screening before inviting you to an in-person interview.
5 |
6 | Most institutions will give you a list of
7 | everyone who will be on the call a few days before the interview. This will
8 | typically include a couple members of the hiring committee.
9 | **If the institution doesn't let you know who is on the call, it is totally
10 | legitimate to email and ask.** Knowing who will be on the call is
11 | important because it allows you to look up their publications and
12 | committee appointments. This can help you formulate thoughtful questions and
13 | demonstrate your interest in the school. For example, if you see
14 | that one of your interviewers is a member of a center you're interested in,
15 | you can ask:
16 |
17 | > "I was looking through your website, and I noticed that you are a member
18 | of **Center X. I am interested in this center because Y**. What has your
19 | experience been with...."
20 |
21 | **We recommend that you have several questions prepared before the interview.**
22 | [Madeline](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) found it helpful to write her questions on a notepad on her computer,
23 | so that she could refer to them if needed.
24 |
25 | In our experience, screenings typically last 20-40 minutes, and are conducted
26 | via video conferencing. You will often start by introducing
27 | yourself and your research (some institutions may ask you to
28 | prepare slides). Then, for the next 10-15 minutes, your interviewers
29 | will ask you questions about your career goals and research. Finally, the last
30 | 5-10 minutes are typically reserved for any questions that you have for the interviewers.
31 |
32 | Perhaps counterintuitively, the goal of a phone screening isn't always just to see
33 | if your research is above bar. *If you've made it to the screening stage, the committee
34 | already likes your application!* Instead, the goal is to determine how well
35 | you can articulate your research in a social setting and assess
36 | whether you would be a good fit for the department.
37 | When a university or a research lab hires a colleague, they
38 | are hiring someone that they might work with for decades; they want to ensure
39 | the person is a good fit for their team and culture.
40 |
41 | Phone screenings are also used by institutions to gauge your genuine
42 | interest in the position and whether you would likely accept an offer if given.
43 | This is especially the case for smaller
44 | institutions that can only afford a limited
45 | number of in-person interviews or that are in less desirable locations that may struggle
46 | to attract new hires. **Before your screening, do your research!** Make sure you know
47 | basic information about the location, and have answers prepared regarding what
48 | excites you about the area and why you applied. You might be surprised
49 | how many candidates fail the interview at this stage. For example, [Madeline](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) was told
50 | that a candidate at UMass Amherst had not passed to the next round
51 | because they indicated that they were excited about living in Boston
52 | (Amherst is two hours west of Boston and is a small town with 30,000 people).
53 |
54 | {% capture quote %}
55 | Out of the six schools that I heard back from in some form, four of them
56 | invited me to a phone screening. For the other two, I was invited directly
57 | to an in-person interview.
58 |
59 | All of my screening interviews were conducted over Zoom, and they were
60 | mostly with two or three members of the hiring committee. The one exception
61 | was my phone screening with Purdue, which included the full hiring committee
62 | on the call. I generally preferred the smaller phone screenings, as I had
63 | fun talking to each interviewer more directly. However, it's good
64 | to be prepared for either format.
65 | {% endcapture %}
66 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="endremad" %}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_interviewing/questions.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Individual Meeting Questions
2 |
3 | As mentioned [above](#the-different-types-of-interview-meetings),
4 | the majority of your interview will consist of one-on-one sessions
5 | with senior researchers or faculty members you've likely never met before.
6 | Expect the worst-case scenario: you
7 | will have to fill the entire 30-60 minutes yourself by asking questions.
8 | To help, here are some questions (and follow-ups) that at least one of
9 | us has asked during interviews, along with typical responses you might encounter:
10 |
11 | **Questions you can ask:**
12 |
13 | Generally, try to have a set of questions lined up. For two days,
14 | people will repeatedly ask you if you have questions for them. [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) just
15 | repeated hers when necessary.
16 |
17 | * *What's the funding situation like here?* Have you had good luck with
18 | grants recently? When you were a new faculty member,
19 | did you get much help with grant-writing? Do you know of senior faculty collaborating with junior faculty, for example?
20 |
21 | * *What's your least favorite part about working here?*
22 | Everyone has only great things to say about this place.
23 |
24 | * *What can you tell me about the quality of the graduate students here?*
25 | How did you go about picking your first few grad students? I've heard
26 | rumors that a bad grad student can be a significant drain on a new professor---how
27 | do you avoid that?
28 | * *Answer at schools outside the top 15:*
29 | > The average graduate student here isn't as
30 | good as the average graduate student at Berkeley, so you can't always just take
31 | one from the pool and be assured of getting a winner. However, the best grad
32 | students here are just as good as the best ones anywhere else---it's just that
33 | the tail of the distribution is longer.
34 | * *Answer at schools from 5-15:*
35 | > The students here are great, but we lose our best candidates to Berkeley/MIT/CMU.
36 | * *Answer at schools in the top 5:*
37 | > The students here are stellar.
38 |
39 | * *How important is technology transfer or working with the product
40 | divisions?* What's the funding model here? What happens if I pick something
41 | to work on and no one in development seems to like it? How do I make
42 | contacts with developers? How much academic freedom is there?
43 |
44 | * *What's the tenure process like here?* Can I suggest my own
45 | letter-writers? Are there mid-point reviews? Is there a "magic formula"?
46 | How many people have failed to get tenure in the last 10 to 15 years?
47 | * *Common Research Academia Answer:*
48 | > There's no magic formula. Teaching, research and
49 | service are all important. Officially, you must excel at
50 | two of the three and be adequate in the third. However, you can't
51 | really pick research (or
52 | teaching) as the one to be bad at. Teaching can hurt you---if
53 | your teaching evaluations are below a certain threshold,
54 | you may fail to get tenure. Otherwise, we largely ignore teaching.
55 | The amount of grant money you bring in might be a factor, but we
56 | care more about paper and venue quality than quantity. One or two
57 | journal papers help. Before going up for tenure, you should teach at
58 | least one undergraduate class.
59 |
60 | * Friends of mine who are professors at other universities have *had to
61 | hide their teaching awards when they went up for tenure*. The subtext was
62 | that if you had that much time to be spending on teaching you should have
63 | spent it on research. *What are things like here?*
64 |
65 | * *What's the teaching load?* Does it change after you get tenure? Can you
66 | "buy out" of a class? What does that cost? Who decides what you teach?
67 |
68 | * *What's it like being a new single/married faculty member here?* How did
69 | you make friends when you first came to the area? Was it easy to find
70 | things to do?
71 |
72 | * *Are the faculty young or old?* Is the university structured and
73 | hierarchical? Do decisions come down from on high? How much power do young
74 | faculty members have? How much do young faculty shoulder the service/teaching load?
75 |
76 | * *What's it like to live here?* How long is your commute?
77 |
78 | * *What's the worst example of office politics you've run into here?* What
79 | do people fight over?
80 | * *Common Answer:*
81 | > We're very collegial. We don't really have office politics.
82 | No one gets mad at anyone else. We sometimes squabble over space.
83 |
84 | * *What's the general view on (your research area) here?*
85 | Is it a second-class citizen? Is theory emphasized? Practice? Building big systems? Is the department planning to grow the area beyond this hire?
86 |
87 | **Questions they may ask you:**
88 |
89 | You should also be prepared to answer questions that interviewers might
90 | ask you during these individual meetings. Here are some examples:
91 |
92 | * Tell me how your interests are aligned with some of the faculty here.
93 | Who could you work with?
94 | * This was by far the most common question. We encourage you to write
95 | down in an obvious place (e.g., at the top of your notebook) the name
96 | of anyone you think you could collaborate with so that you can answer
97 | this question intelligently.
98 |
99 | * *Are you married? Do you have a two-body problem?*
100 | * See below on the [two-body problem](#dual-career-couples).
101 |
102 | * *What will your CAREER proposal be about?*
103 |
104 | * *What will your first student's Ph.D. topic be?* How many students do you plan to have?
105 |
106 | * *What courses would you be willing to teach?* Are you interested in
107 | creating new courses?
108 |
109 | * *How will you divide your time between research, teaching and service?*
110 |
111 | * *Where will you get most of your funding?* The NSF? Other government agencies?
112 | Corporate funding?
113 |
114 | * What sort of research will you be doing in the future?
115 | * This is also a very common question. Nominally your job talk will have
116 | addressed this, but they may ask again in a more general sense---do you think
117 | you'll be in (your research area) forever, or do you see yourself
118 | shifting to (another area)? Take this opportunity to distance yourself from
119 | your advisor---you want to argue that you can pursue your own work
120 | for tenure. In [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)'s experience, the more prestigious the institution, the
121 | more emphasis they give to this sort of question, sometimes phrased explicitly
122 | as *"What do you envision your tenure case looking like?"*
123 |
124 |
125 | **Several of these questions are secretly trying to determine if you know how a
126 | faculty job works**, especially regarding the aspects to which
127 | graduate students are not always exposed. For example, *"have you considered
128 | funding sources for your work?"* is mostly an attempt to determine if you have
129 | have any idea how the grant system works.
130 |
131 | [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) typically used up almost all of the time asking questions of the other
132 | person. Remember, you are there to interview them as well. Moreover,
133 | there are candidates who can't keep a conversation going after the first
134 | five minutes, which is the kiss of (awkward) death ([Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) heard this from
135 | people interviewing her in several departments). You want to convince your
136 | potential colleagues that you are someone they wouldn't mind working
137 | with or sharing a hallway with. Being able to hold a reasonable
138 | conversation for 30 minutes is a good start.
139 |
140 |
141 | {% capture quote %}
142 | From my perspective on the other side, I will echo the above and say, having
143 | some questions/being able to hold a conversation is a genuinely good thing.
144 | _However_, please make sure to let your interviewers get a word in edgewise. A
145 | candidate who _never_ lets an interviewer ask a question can frustrate a search committee.
146 | {% endcapture %}
147 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="legoues" %}
148 |
149 | {% capture quote %}
150 | I would first note that for any type of interview, having looked up the people
151 | on your schedule and noted at least some work they've done recently goes a long
152 | way in the one-on-one interviews. Many people seemed genuinely surprised when I
153 | brought up a recent paper and had questions and comments about it.
154 | Additionally, I cannot speak to the types of questions asked in academic job
155 | interviews, but I was somewhat surprised at the number and range of technical
156 | questions asked of me during interviews. Studying up on common interview topics
157 | (theory and algorithms, mostly) will only benefit you in the regard.
158 | {% endcapture %}
159 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="fry" %}
160 |
161 |
162 | {% capture quote %}
163 | I have two thoughts here:
164 |
165 | First, as I applied during COVID-19, it was
166 | easy enough to keep a spreadsheet of topics to talk about with each
167 | interviewer off to the side in another window during my Zoom calls.
168 | I found this totally necessary because I noticed that most of my
169 | interview questions were some variant of "do you have questions for me?"
170 |
171 | Secondly, and this may not translate post-COVID, but I encourage saving time in each
172 | interview to ask about life in the city in which the institution is
173 | located. You can pick up on tips (or red flags) about the city and what
174 | to avoid (e.g., if you are trying to minimize commute time).
175 | {% endcapture %}
176 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="kleach" %}
177 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_interviewing/talk.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Preparing Your Job Talk
2 |
3 | If you are applying for Research Academia or Industrial Research positions,
4 | you will likely be asked to give a presentation on your research for
5 | around 50 minutes.
6 |
7 | **Structuring Your Job Talk:** The general structure and content of a job
8 | talk can be easily found through a quick Google search
9 | (e.g., "academic job talk, computer science, structure").
10 |
11 | If you are lucky enough to be at a department that hires
12 | regularly, attend all the talks in the year before you go on the market,
13 | *especially* the ones outside your field.
14 | Take notes on how much introductory material, related work, detailed material,
15 | and future work are presented. Then, forget about it for nine months until you
16 | have to craft your own. In general, your job talk will discuss two to three
17 | papers that you worked on in grad school, connected into an overall narrative.
18 | You'll also want to include a future work section.
19 |
20 | Although the average time is "fifty minutes for the talk and ten minutes for
21 | questions", different places will have different time requirements. At one stop,
22 | [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) was asked to fit the entire thing into 50 minutes. At another, he had 75
23 | minutes. [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) found a similar spread. Prepare your talk in a modular manner
24 | so that you can add or remove sections. Bonus points if you can do
25 | this on the fly---frequent interruptions are common and can consume a lot
26 | of time. Try to avoid giving lengthy answers to questions posed in the middle
27 | of your talk (answer the question, but be succinct). At one venue, [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) actually
28 | had audio-visual difficulties that delayed (and
29 | thus shortened) his talk by ten minutes (!). [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) recommends traveling with your
30 | own laptop and VGA/HDMI/USB-C adapter to defend against such hassles. The exception is the
31 | FFRDCs (like Lincoln Labs), where defense department rules will require you to
32 | email your slides as PDFs ahead of time.
33 |
34 | [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) changed her talk modestly between interviews. Moving things around a bit
35 | between presentations helped keep the talk fresh. After you've done it a few
36 | times, the jokes become very unfunny to you. Do what you can to avoid boring
37 | yourself.
38 |
39 | {% capture quote %}
40 | **Being able to adjust your timing on the fly during your job talk is really helpful**.
41 |
42 | My talk was divided into three main sections, and I paused briefly for
43 | questions after each one. The number of questions varied between schools,
44 | so having a "short version" and a "long version" of a couple of slides
45 | helped me always finish my talk on time.
46 |
47 | Additionally, most schools will give you about 30 minutes before the
48 | talk to check the audio-visual setup. **I recommend that you try and
49 | arrive at the room early during this time. It's better to be ready ahead
50 | of schedule than to risk running late.** I brought my own laptop and
51 | adapter to all my interviews. However, the setup varied from school
52 | to school due to different recording systems. For example, some
53 | schools asked me to share my screen via Zoom, while others used an
54 | integrated room system. At one school, it took almost 25 minutes to
55 | get everything working.
56 | {% endcapture %}
57 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="endremad" %}
58 |
59 |
60 | **Practice, Practice, Practice!** Make sure that you schedule a practice
61 | job talk of some sort, even if only with your
62 | local research group. Everyone there will be able to give you advice on it. Make
63 | sure that people who are not in your field or office come to your practice
64 | talk. During your actual job talks, at most one or two other people
65 | will be from your field. The rest of the room will be made up of people from
66 | other domains within computer science. Besides, the people in your subfield are
67 | probably the reason you're being interviewed; people outside your subfield need
68 | to be convinced. The exception to this is industry. In large industrial
69 | research labs, you will basically only present to people in your
70 | general area.
71 |
72 | If possible, also try to do a dry run at a school to which you're not applying. For example, [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) gave a colloquium talk at Virginia Tech about three months before
73 | submitting her applications. It wasn't nearly so intense as a real interview, and it was nice to practice the talk with an unfamiliar audience before doing it for real.
74 |
75 | **The "One-Third Rule":** A common piece of advice suggests that one-third of your talk should
76 | be understood by everyone in the room, one-third should be understood by
77 | people in your general area (e.g., graphics, programming languages,
78 | systems) and one-third should be understood "only by you". However, this advice is
79 | a bit controversial.
80 |
81 | The trick here is that your job talk must serve many purposes. It must
82 | convince them that you are a good lecturer (i.e., the talk must be engaging
83 | and speak to your teaching abilities). It will also be their first exposure
84 | to your work (as above, many people will be reading you resume at the
85 | beginning of your interview -- unless you're at a small department, don't
86 | expect anyone beyond your host to know anything about you or your work
87 | unless you say it to them) and must help to convince them that your
88 | research has substance. This point is actually somewhat tricky, because if
89 | they asked you for an interview they probably already believe your work is
90 | good enough (based on you resume, letters, and the local evaluation of the
91 | department members closest to your subfield).
92 |
93 | It is our *personal opinion*
94 | that basically the entire talk should be understandable to everyone in the room.
95 | Motivation is key. Remind people of why your research area is worth considering.
96 | As a random example, a tenured AI professor
97 | may well think that "compilers are a solved problem". It won't hurt
98 | to remind such a person that your work is exciting. [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
99 | often used the phrase:
100 | > "This is really exciting because..."
101 |
102 | to help her audience roadmap key contributions. Keeping everyone interested will help to convince
103 | them of you teaching potential. In addition, if people cannot understand your
104 | talk they have no way to spot potential collaborations.
105 |
106 | Most of us designed our job talks to be easily understood by everyone (heavy on motivation, context,
107 | analogies and pictures). [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors), [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors), and [Madeline](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) all received comments about
108 | how understandable they were, and we also got quite a few offers for
109 | collaboration based on them (e.g., graphics and database people were able to see
110 | possible fits, not just PL/SE people). The exception here is for industrial research
111 | (e.g., Microsoft, IBM): if your audience is be more closely aligned to your research
112 | area, you can
113 | sometimes skimp on motivation. However, including it anyways
114 | probably won't count against you (because they explicitly mention that they
115 | realize that no one prepares two job talks, and that they know that the intro is appropriate in
116 | academia) but you can possibly earn bonus points by tailoring your talk to those
117 | audiences.
118 |
119 | [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) specifically asked people after his
120 | talk if the lack of "Greek letters" or "complicated-looking material" hurt his
121 | case. Typical responses included *"it wasn't a problem because were able to see
122 | how intelligently you handled yourself when answering the questions"* or *"it was
123 | fine because we already know how good your work is"* or *"no, not at all."*
124 | However, [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) was advised of the 1/3-1/3-1/3 rule many times throughout her
125 | job search. Thus we cannot give you a blanket guarantee that following our
126 | approach won't hurt your employability. **We were willing to take that risk to
127 | stand up for something we believed in. We encourage you to consider it
128 | carefully.**
129 |
130 | # Preparing Your Teaching Talk
131 |
132 | If you are interviewing for a teaching-focused position, you will likely
133 | be asked to give an example undergraduate lecture instead of (or sometimes in addition to) a research-focused job talk.
134 |
135 | Unlike with a Research Job Talk, the topic and time limit of a teaching talk
136 | can vary widely between schools. Some might ask for a lecture on a specific
137 | topic, while others leave it up to you. You may not be able to use the
138 | same lecture topic at all of your interviews.
139 |
140 | While most common for teaching-focused positions, even for a research faculty position,
141 | some schools will ask you to
142 | prepare either a short commentary on your teaching style (in 2013, Iowa State
143 | requested 10 minutes of the job talk be dedicated to teaching), or an actual
144 | teaching demo (Waterloo requested a 20-30 minute example lecture, given
145 | separately from the job talk). [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) advises you to not skimp on
146 | teaching demo preparation. It can make a big difference in helping you stand
147 | out from the crowd, the rest of which probably did skimp.
148 |
149 | {% capture quote %}
150 | I found the research talks to be fairly standard, but the teaching-track
151 | talks were all unique and required significantly more prep. Some
152 | institutions required a talk about a pre-selected topic. Others let you
153 | pick your own. One required submitting a recording. All of them had
154 | different timing requirements (from 25 minutes to 90 minutes). Some had students present.
155 | Some schools wanted active learning, others wanted standard slides.
156 | As a result, it was more difficult to incorporate everyone's feedback.
157 | Part of this may have been reaction to the pandemic, but
158 | I tend to believe teaching-track faculty talks are more
159 | difficult to prepare for than tenure-track research talks.
160 | {% endcapture %}
161 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="kleach" %}
162 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_interviewing/twobody.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Dual-Career Couples
2 |
3 | *In this section, we talk about strategies for dual-career couples, and if
4 | you should disclose your partnered status.*
5 | The advice in this section applies to both regular dual-career couples and those
6 | facing the actual *academic two-body problem*.
7 |
8 | For context, [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) and
9 | [Kevin Angstadt](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
10 | were single when they were on the market; [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
11 | and [Hammad](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
12 | had partners who were
13 | planning to move with them and find a job in the software industry; [Kevin Leach](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
14 | and Yu were partners seeking academic positions together in
15 | the same department (the traditional two-body problem);
16 | [Madeline](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) had a partner who wanted to be in a location where
17 | they could pursue their career in the arts. [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors), [Kevin Leach](/grad-job-guide/about#authors), and [Yu](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
18 | mentioned their relationship statuses in their cover letters;
19 | [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors), [Madeline](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
20 | and
21 | [Hammad](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
22 | did not.
23 |
24 | You may be asked about your marital or relationship status during your
25 | interviews, though [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) never was, and believes that interviewers have become more attuned to this issue in general (especially with candidates who present as female). Regardless,
26 | the question is illegal.
27 |
28 | {% capture quote %}
29 | Everyone will want to know. I put it at the top of my CV and I am
30 | fairly sure my marital status was mentioned in at least one of my
31 | letters. We did not want any confusion over what we wanted together.
32 |
33 | The risk I see with revealing this status is that you will have
34 | institutions reject you outright because they simply cannot hire two
35 | people at once. In that regard, it may give one body less negotiating
36 | power later with institutions that do make offers together. *However*,
37 | I believe the flip side is that institutions interested in helping you
38 | resolve your dual-career issue will be receptive if you mention it
39 | outright (e.g., they will move more quickly if one body has a deadline).
40 | It also made other discussions easier later (scheduling
41 | interviews, and negotiating salary and startup).
42 | {% endcapture %}
43 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="kleach" %}
44 |
45 | {% capture quote %}
46 | *Everyone may ask anyway* (even if you have put the answer
47 | explicitly on the front of your resume). Just deal with it. I have at least two
48 | data points of people being put in very awkward positions here (one was loosely
49 | "we have a lot of great women on campus and if you can't find someone within a
50 | few years there's something wrong with you" and the other was loosely "what's
51 | you religion and sexual orientation?"). Have a nice way to back out of such
52 | conversational cul-de-sacs. If you are asked anything more intrusive than "are
53 | you married?" feel free to mention it to your host. It's better to point this
54 | out to someone who likes you than to have the evil questioner's possibly
55 | negative opinion of you hurt your chances.
56 | {% endcapture %}
57 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="weimer" %}
58 |
59 | {% capture quote %}
60 | *Everyone really wants to know and you should
61 | almost certainly tell them.* During my interviews, I would
62 | find a way to drop my partner's existence and job ambitions into an early
63 | conversation. *In every case*, I was met with a relieved "Oh I'm so glad
64 | you told me that because we really want to know and we can't ask." I strongly
65 | encourage you to be open and honest about any two-body or dual-career situation
66 | you may have. The sooner a department knows about your partner's job needs, the
67 | more likely it is that they can find something for your partner in time to
68 | convince you that accepting the position is beneficial for you and your family.
69 | There is a school of thought that one should wait until one knows a department
70 | is interested before divulging a two-body situation. However, I have seen this
71 | backfire for other couples more than once, at multiple places, in that by the time an offer is on
72 | the table, it is too late to arrange for an interview with another department.
73 | This is obviously a bigger problem if your partner is also in academia.
74 |
75 | I freely admit that I am lucky in that my spouse has made very portable career
76 | choices. That said, I was extremely upfront about my partner and his job
77 | aspirations, and departments that made me offers simultaneously made connections
78 | for him at local companies. He even did some onsite interviews during second
79 | visits.
80 |
81 | The interview process is a giant two-party courtship exercise in which the
82 | interviewee is trying to convince the department to make a job offer, and the
83 | interviewer is trying to convince the interviewee that the department/location
84 | is the ideal place to live/work. As such, a legitimate department at which you
85 | want to work should fall over backwards to convince you that they can get your
86 | spouse/partner a job. Anecdotal example: The dean at UIUC opened his meeting
87 | with me by saying "I am not interested in your family circumstances, and it
88 | would be inappropriate and illegal for me to ask you about them. However, I
89 | would like to share with you unprompted all of UIUC's policies regarding
90 | dual-career couples..."
91 |
92 | Look at it this way: The only reason not to be up front about this issue is that
93 | you are worried that doing so will hurt your job prospects. However, if a
94 | department (illegally) decides not to hire you because your spouse needs a job,
95 | you probably would not have gone there anyway, because
96 | *your spouse would not have had a job in time for the decision to be
97 | reasonable.* Moreover, and I freely admit that this statement arises from my
98 | privileged position of working in an academic field that is, by and large,
99 | hiring: I personally do not want to work with people who will not hire me
100 | because I am in a romantic partnership or because I have or may one day have
101 | family obligations. If anyone decided not to interview me or offer me a
102 | position for these reasons, they would have saved me the trouble of having to
103 | uncover their misogyny some other way.
104 | {% endcapture %}
105 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="legoues" %}
106 |
107 | {% capture quote %}
108 | I pre-filtered the schools that I applied to based on location constraints for
109 | both me and my partner (a classical music composer). However, some locations
110 | were still better on paper than others.
111 |
112 | As a result, I also tried to drop my partner into conversations at schools.
113 | When I mentioned that he was a composer,
114 | interviewers at every school offered to put me in contact with
115 | local musical contacts. From these connections, my partner and I were able to better
116 | understanding of the musical environment around each school.
117 |
118 | *If you are planning to relocate with a partner, I highly recommend that you ask
119 | about opportunities and support during your interview.*
120 | {% endcapture %}
121 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="endremad" %}
122 |
123 | {% capture quote %}
124 | On the topic of being honest about things and covering somewhat personal topics,
125 | I feel as though I should mention that coming across like a real person is
126 | helpful in a heavily technical field like ours. While I may be biased, as I
127 | felt like I came from a somewhat less-strong technical foundation, I found that
128 | people genuinely appreciated me trying to make idle conversation and be
129 | personable. There are plenty of tips in, for instance, the business world about
130 | being personable, but I think people in all industries look for potential
131 | employees that they think they could work with every day on a personal level.
132 | {% endcapture %}
133 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="fry" %}
134 |
135 | One final note on partners and jobs: emigrating to Canada with a partner appears
136 | to be pretty trivial, based on [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)'s (serious) conversations with Waterloo on
137 | the subject. The Canadian immigration system remains straightforward, at least compared to
138 | the US, and their HR departments are practiced in
139 | providing support for the process.
140 |
141 | Now that you've finished your interviews, it's time to [make a decision](/grad-job-guide/deciding)
142 | and accept an offer.
143 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_jobs/subfields.md:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | # Academic Positions: Research Area and Where to Apply
2 |
3 | Academic job postings may or may not be research-area specific.
4 | Most academic job ads use similar boilerplate language:
5 |
6 | > "We encourage all qualified applicants from all
7 | > areas of computer science to apply, we are an equal-opportunity employer...".
8 |
9 |
10 | **However, the specific focus of a department's search can greatly influence your
11 | chances.** Below, we break down the two primary types of job ads and
12 | how to interpret them.
13 |
14 | 1. **Specific Focus Areas**: Some job postings explicitly state the areas of interest,
15 | such as compilers or data mining. If your research aligns with these areas,
16 | you have a stronger chance of being considered. If not, it may be difficult to secure
17 | an interview. Here are a couple of examples:
18 |
19 | - From Purdue's 2005 search:
20 | > "The Department of Computer Sciences at Purdue University invites
21 | applications for tenure-track positions beginning August 2005. Positions
22 | are available at the Assistant Professor level; senior positions will be
23 | considered for highly qualified applicants. Applications from outstanding
24 | candidates in all areas of computer science will be considered. **Of
25 | particular interest are candidates in the areas of programming languages
26 | and compilers, software engineering, operating systems, data mining, and
27 | bioinformatics.**"
28 |
29 | - From Yale's 2024 search:
30 | > "The Yale Computer Science Department
31 | continues to invite applications for multiple tenure-track faculty positions to start in
32 | the 2024-2025 academic year. **For this year’s search, we are interested in candidates working
33 | in the areas of (1) AI and Trustworthy Computing or (2) Programming Languages.** With recent
34 | explosive growth of large-language-model based technologies such as ChatGPT, we are
35 | particularly interested in candidates who can take on the leadership role and help shape the
36 | research and education impact of AI for the rest of the University.
37 | Qualified applicants in computer science are invited to apply.
38 |
39 | 2. **General Calls**: Other ads may list a broad range of departmental strengths, leaving you with
40 | little specific information about what areas they are truly hiring for.
41 |
46 |
47 | - From UVA's 2005 search:
48 | > The University of Virginia... offers baccalaureate, master,
49 | and doctoral degrees in Computer Science
50 | and Computer Engineering. The department is undergoing significant growth
51 | and programmatic evolution and aims to be one of the top departments in
52 | experimental systems research and the leading institution in
53 | undergraduate computer science education. **Its existing strengths include
54 | algorithms, architecture, compilers, distributed systems, graphics, grid
55 | computing, mobile computing, networks, operating systems, programming
56 | environments, real-time and embedded systems, security, sensor networks,
57 | and software engineering.**
58 |
59 | Despite the general phrasing, *most schools with this type of posting have an
60 | internal area-related priority for hiring*. However,
61 | unless you have a contact at the school, it can be difficult to know if they are hiring in
62 | your specific subfield.
63 |
64 |
65 | **Overall, we recommend prioritizing schools with job postings that match your
66 | research area.** Regarding general calls, we recommend applying only if the
67 | school aligns well with your career goals and personal preferences.
68 |
69 | **One notable exception to this rule is "top 10" schools.** Such programs
70 | (especially the very large ones) often have multiple hiring lines, and may
71 | hire candidates they find exceptional, regardless of research area.
72 | *Thus, even if their calls are open, it's probably worth applying, because
73 | you never know.* For example, CMU's School of Computer Science is large,
74 | with multiple departments. Their job ads are typically very general, and
75 | applications are routed based on the area to relevant departments. [Claire](/grad-job-guide/about#authors)
76 | actually asked [Wes](/grad-job-guide/about#authors) if it was even worth sending in an application as "it wasn't
77 | going to happen." He insisted she apply, which is funny in retrospect. She believes
78 | that her sincere belief that she wouldn't receive an offer from CMU helped during
79 | the interview, because she wasn't especially nervous or stressed about messing up.
80 |
81 | {% capture quote %}
82 | With one exception, all of my interviews were at schools that were either explicitly hiring in Software Engineering,
83 | or had historical strength in the area.
84 |
85 | The exception was a top public research institution in the U.S.. While the call was general, at my interview,
86 | the department chair told me that software engineering wasn't a designated priority my year.
87 | *However, he also told me that they reserve about half of their interview spots for exceptional
88 | candidates, regardless of their specific research subfield.*
89 |
90 | In my opinion, if a school that you'd really like to go to doesn't explicitly
91 | list your area as a priority,
92 | it can still be worth applying if you believe you're a strong candidate. However, I would still
93 | prioritize calls that explicitly mention your research area.
94 | {% endcapture %}
95 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="endremad" %}
96 |
97 |
98 | {% capture quote %}
99 | It is my *personal opinion* that as a software engineering
100 | researcher, where you apply can matter a great deal. It is "accepted wisdom" in
101 | the community that SE researchers do not receive invitations to interview for
102 | open job calls that do not mention SE (or possibly PL). By and large, I
103 | observed this to be true. All but maybe two of my interviews were at places
104 | that listed SE or PL in their job ads explicitly. One of the exceptions was
105 | Waterloo, which has a long and storied software engineering tradition (as do
106 | most Canadian institutions).
107 |
108 | To generalize, I would encourage you to apply to places that you have
109 | reason to believe are interested in your research area, either based on
110 | word-of-mouth or the job ad copy itself. Examples: in 2012, NC State had an
111 | established SE faculty leave for another position, while UIUC had an established
112 | SE faculty retire. Both specifically mentioned SE in their 2013 ads. I
113 | did apply to a few places with "open calls" based on location (and I would
114 | encourage you to do the same), but it mostly didn't pan out.
115 |
116 | One more somewhat editorial note: there's typically a subfield that's "hot" in a
117 | given hiring year, such as big data or health care informatics in 2013. Please
118 | don't pretend to do these things if you don't. It's tacky and
119 | obvious.
120 | {% endcapture %}
121 | {% include quote.html content=quote user="legoues" %}
122 |
123 |
124 | The job search process can be challenging, but by taking it step by step, you can find the right
125 | fit for your career goals. Now that you know what jobs exist and when and where to apply, the
126 | next step is to [write and compile
127 | your application portfolio](/grad-job-guide/applying).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/_layouts/default.html:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 | {% include head.html %}
5 |
6 |
7 | {% include header.html %}
8 |
9 | {%- if page.title -%}
10 |
7 |
10 |
13 | {{person.display}}, {{person.cycle}}: {{person.target}}
8 | (click to expand) 9 |
11 |
20 | {%- endif -%}
21 |
22 |
12 |
19 | {{ page.title }}
13 | {%- if page.description -%} 14 |15 | {{ page.description }} 16 |
17 | {%- endif -%} 18 |
89 |
101 | `;
102 |
103 | $("#peopleContent").append(cardHtml);
104 |
105 | // Populate sections dynamically based on contributionTypes.json
106 | Object.keys(types).forEach(key => {
107 | if (item[key]) {
108 | var sectionHtml = ``;
109 | $(`#${key}Content`).append(sectionHtml);
110 | }
111 | });
112 | });
113 |
114 | allTags.forEach(tag => {
115 | const tagColor = getColorForTag(tag);
116 | $("#tagContainer").append(``);
117 | });
118 | }
119 |
120 | $.getJSON("../assets/materials/contributors.json", function(data) {
121 | $.getJSON("../assets/materials/contributionTypes.json", function(types) {
122 | // Create the HTML structure for each type
123 |
124 | const siteUrl = $('.grid-container').data('site-url');
125 | const baseUrl = $('.grid-container').data('base-url');
126 |
127 | Object.keys(types).forEach(key => {
128 | const [order, label, detailsLinkLoc] = types[key];
129 | const sectionHtml = `
130 |
90 | ${item.profileImageLoc ? `
` : ''}
91 |
100 |
92 |
96 |
99 | ${item.name}
93 |${item.cycle} cycle
94 | ${tagHtml} 95 |Example ${label}s 131 | 132 |
133 | ${detailsLinkLoc ? `(Click here for more information about preparing your ${label})
` : ''} 134 |
135 |
136 |
137 | `;
138 |
139 | $("#linkCellContent").append(sectionHtml);
140 | });
141 |
142 | generateContentSections(types, data);
143 | });
144 |
145 | // Handle tag filter logic
146 | function updateFiltering() {
147 | const selectedTags = $(".tag-filter.selected").map(function() {
148 | return $(this).data("tag");
149 | }).get();
150 |
151 | const filterMode = $("#filterModeToggle").is(":checked") ? "OR" : "AND";
152 | $("#toggleLabel").text(filterMode);
153 |
154 | $(".person-card, .link-cell").each(function() {
155 | const tags = $(this).data("tags") ? $(this).data("tags").split(',') : [];
156 | const matches = selectedTags.filter(tag => tags.includes(tag));
157 |
158 | if (filterMode === "AND") {
159 | if (matches.length === selectedTags.length) {
160 | $(this).show();
161 | } else {
162 | $(this).hide();
163 | }
164 | } else {
165 | if (matches.length > 0) {
166 | $(this).show();
167 | } else {
168 | $(this).hide();
169 | }
170 | }
171 | });
172 | }
173 |
174 | $(document).on("click", ".button[data-open='exampleModal1']", function(event) {
175 | var id = $(this).data("id");
176 | var timelinePath = "/grad-job-guide/assets/materials/" + $(this).data("timeline");
177 | var item = data.find(i => i.id == id);
178 |
179 | $("#modalTitle").text(item.name);
180 | $("#modalCycle").text(`${item.cycle} cycle`);
181 |
182 | if (item.profileImageLoc) {
183 | $("#modalImage").attr("src", "/grad-job-guide/assets/materials/" + item.profileImageLoc).show();
184 | } else {
185 | $("#modalImage").hide();
186 | }
187 |
188 | var modalContent = '';
189 |
190 | // Dynamically add the content based on the contributionTypes.json
191 | $.getJSON("../assets/materials/contributionTypes.json", function(types) {
192 | Object.keys(types).forEach(key => {
193 | if (item[key]) {
194 | modalContent += ``;
195 | }
196 | });
197 | $("#modalContent").html(modalContent);
198 | });
199 |
200 | // Open the modal
201 | $('#exampleModal1').foundation('open');
202 | });
203 |
204 | $(document).on('open.zf.reveal', '[data-reveal]', function(event) {
205 | console.log('Reveal modal opened');
206 | var modal = $(this);
207 | console.log('Modal top position:', modal.css('top'));
208 | });
209 |
210 | $("#search").on("input", function() {
211 | var query = $(this).val().toLowerCase();
212 | $(".person-card, .link-cell").each(function() {
213 | var name = $(this).data("name");
214 | var tags = $(this).data("tags");
215 |
216 | if (name.includes(query) || (tags && tags.includes(query))) {
217 | $(this).show();
218 | } else {
219 | $(this).hide();
220 | }
221 | });
222 | });
223 |
224 | $(document).on("click", ".tag-filter", function(event) {
225 | const originalColor = $(this).data("original-color");
226 | if ($(this).hasClass("selected")) {
227 | $(this).removeClass("selected").css({
228 | "background-color": "#a2a2a2",
229 | "border": "2px solid",
230 | "border-color": "#a2a2a2"
231 | });
232 | } else {
233 | $(this).addClass("selected").css({
234 | "background-color": originalColor,
235 | "border": "2px solid",
236 | "border-color": "black"
237 | });
238 | }
239 |
240 | updateFiltering();
241 | $(document).foundation();
242 | });
243 |
244 | $("#filterModeToggle").on('change', updateFiltering);
245 | }).fail(function(jqxhr, textStatus, error) {
246 | console.error("Error loading contributors.json:", textStatus, error);
247 | });
248 |
249 | $(document).foundation();
250 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/assets/javascript/timeline.js:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 | $(document).ready(function() {
2 | console.log("Document is ready!");
3 |
4 | var tls = $(".guide-timeline");
5 |
6 | tls.each(function(_, tl) {
7 | console.log("Processing timeline for " + $(tl).data("person"));
8 |
9 | var header = $(tl).find('.timeline-header');
10 | console.log("Header found: ", header.length); // This should be greater than 0
11 |
12 | // Attach click event
13 | header.css('cursor', 'pointer'); // Ensure the header shows as clickable
14 | header.on('click', function() {
15 | console.log("Clicked on " + $(tl).data("person"));
16 |
17 | var content = $(tl).find('.timeline-content');
18 | var toggleText = $(tl).find('.toggle-timeline');
19 |
20 | // Check the current visibility state before toggling
21 | if (content.is(":visible")) {
22 | toggleText.text('(click to expand)');
23 | } else {
24 | toggleText.text('(click to collapse)');
25 | }
26 |
27 | content.slideToggle(300); // Slide animation for better UX
28 |
29 | // Check if the content is already loaded using a custom flag
30 | if (!$(tl).data('loaded')) {
31 | console.log("Loading JSON for " + $(tl).data("person"));
32 | $.getJSON($(tl).data("src"))
33 | .done(function(data) {
34 | console.log("Data loaded successfully for " + $(tl).data("person"), data);
35 | $.each(data, function(_, search) {
36 | var items = [];
37 | search.events.forEach(function(evt) {
38 | items.push(`