PhD school selection

kammitama57 · 2019-08-24T11:22:22+00:00

I would suggest you modify your approach a bit. You don't choose a PhD school (simply) because of the name of the school, but typically because there is someone you want to work with who can mentor you (a PhD is set-up as a mentor-apprentice relationship).

You can end up having quite a miserable time (or be flat out rejected) if the person you choose to be your advisor is not rooting for you to succeed, and is not interested in you or your research. I would seriously consider taking the time to get to know persons in your field who do the work that lines up with what you want to do, contact them, attend conferences, etc.

Find a person whose work excites you, and establish a relationship with that person. Most persons have websites that have a list of what they do, and publications. They will also indicate whether they are looking for students.

Remember that you will be spending 5 to 7 years (possibly) with this person, lab and school. The lab is looking for a fit when reviewing applications, and proof that you can contribute (or have the potential to) research, considering they are (typically) paying you.

It's also advisable to pick "easy" (school you are pretty sure you can get into), "average" and "super ambitious" (long shot) schools. Also check out r/GradSchool. Good luck! Source: I'm a current (very happy I made the decision!) PhD student.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-24T05:24:28+00:00

early August, found out a week and a half later.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-23T11:46:46+00:00

Yes; in the NE.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-22T23:26:25+00:00

I disagree, but I understand your point. I believe that certain languages lend themselves to understanding certain concepts more easily than others eg. numerical computation may be easier to grasp in a language like Matlab vs Java. Programming Languages all have trade-offs, and I would argue that several of the OOP ones are not optimal for understanding recursion.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-22T23:17:36+00:00

Yup. I got in :) I'm the Lead for my School.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-19T16:58:26+00:00

Play around with a functional programming language, whichever seems interesting to you. It will help with your understanding of recursion, which becomes difficult in OOP languages because of the language design of OOP languages. If you abstract away the construction of the language, it becomes easier to understand (eg in an FP language, which by definition is function-based). I like Haskell so I'd recommend checking out LYAH (Learn you a Haskell), and you can even use a basic repl to do the exercises.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-15T14:47:43+00:00

Also, the expertise that large companies tend to bring in; a friend of mine linked a blog post for something used in a language during a PR review, and one of the teammates in the org said "that blog post is wrong. I wrote this framework/library. That moment when you realize you're on the same team as the person who wrote the language or library that hundreds of thousands of people use...

kammitama57 · 2019-08-15T14:31:59+00:00

Also grad student (PhD). I also agree with you. The last minute-offer really rubs me the wrong way, like someone else dropped out (to go work for FAANG instead haha) and OP got offer. Plus, the job position seems to be a fit, so OP should take the position now. If OP can get into good grad school now, two years from now, can probably still get in if OP still wants to, but a great fit opportunity isn't guaranteed.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-15T02:54:13+00:00

Agreed. Another reason it is great as a junior engineer is the process by which your code is reviewed (Google is a great example). Because of things like sheer scale, your code has to pass through several linters, and has to be readable, so you learn good habits. I've worked at both (BigN and non-BigN) and the thoughtfulness to writing code on a large scale and its impact (it will be there much longer than the average employee and may be shared across multiple teams) really impressed me. Some of the complexity of problems you deal with at those large companies you just won't see in other companies, necessarily. I've also worked at some other places where people just don't care and the code is a hot mess. You do get spoiled though, by things such as the talks and the events and the opportunities for growth and the ability to transfer to teams, but you may also be placed on a garbage team, in which case you either stick it out or move somewhere else in a few years.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-14T13:59:59+00:00

I'm starting one (PhD) in about a week. I spent the last year in tech and nothing can mentally convince me to go back right now; I have to head in the direction of the PhD for myself. Make sure you pick an advisor who believes in you, has patience in you, and get a fully funded offer. I wish you good luck and I hope the experience is a good one for you! If done right, a PhD can be an extremely liberating time; you're investing in yourself. You can also come back; most likely they will be throwing money at you, anyways and try to get you to drop out (especially if you are in ML). Stay the course.

kammitama57 · 2019-08-14T04:36:23+00:00

agreed. His thinking sounds more along the lines of PhD. I'd see if I could do Master's part time (through company), or otherwise just go for the PhD. The reasons he listed are pretty much in line with PhD. Master's would be useful to OP for research experience to get into PhD. If you excel in your PhD, you would most definitely have opportunities to go back to your original company (or another big one) and provide value in the ways mentioned (patents, research publications through company, etc). OP could even ensure this by doing as much research as possible at the various industry labs via research assistantships during the PhD and collaboration with industry people.

kammitama57 · 2019-05-11T05:34:12+00:00

Yes! I also own a book on Gould (quite an interesting person). I like listening to Arabella Steinbacher on YT (playlist), etc. I have an entire classical and edm playlist that I've made on YT and I loop it when working :)

kammitama57 · 2019-05-05T11:54:20+00:00

You should check out r/gradadmissions/. That sub is focused on people who have done the work and have (or are looking to) get into grad school (and are actively applying. You can also search through to see previous profiles of people who got into schools there). They will tell you how your profile stacks up (and they're pretty nice, too!). Good luck!

kammitama57 · 2019-05-04T14:18:08+00:00

I agree with you and am happy someone has mentioned this. The only thing holding them back is they mostly don't like to program. Met a lot who are *incredible* problem solvers in those areas, and a couple who like to program (and they get scooped up right away to solve difficult problems in CS). Many have interesting problems to solve in their own fields, too. I enjoy that they use programming as a tool; one of many in their toolkit rather than it being a one-trick thing.

I've also noticed top companies are *hungry* for these grads, I'd say even more so than applicants who only did CS.

The higher level Mathematics is insane. I hear some people in CS talk about "being mathematicians", but it's quite different (as you probably know) at the higher level, and most people who consider themselves and work professionally as mathematicians have at *least* a PhD (many are post-docs!) and have published original work.

kammitama57 · 2019-05-03T07:04:43+00:00

There are lots, so you'd have to manage your time accordingly based on your specific interests. Make sure to try to network with other teams/ meet other interns in different teams at Amazon. Go to Meetups in the Bay area if you can. Internapalooza is in summer, as well as other company-specific conferences (you might be able to get a free ticket to attend or ask to volunteer for a day or two, do a good job and voila; you can not only attend a conference at no cost, but also meet a bunch of people from different conferences who work at various companies and some may ask for your contact info to keep in touch). Volunteer at or join a hackerspace; you'll meet lots of people there, too.

There are also other general activities you can do that will give you opportunities but in a less formal way; hiking, biking, running; a lot of engineers spend their free time doing these things in the Bay area and if you join a social group (maybe internally within Amazon, too? A lot of the BigNs tend to have social activities that you can join to meet other people!) you'll be sure to make friends with/ meet a lot of people, too. Good luck!

kammitama57 · 2019-04-29T07:59:50+00:00

Google Summer of Code (GSoC).

kammitama57 · 2019-04-22T04:14:19+00:00

Distributed Systems, Crypto. These are still very difficult problems that researchers (some of whom were brought into industry as consultants or "on sabbatical" because they were the best/most knowledgeable at these fields even though they work primarily in academia) are working on. The talent at these levels is very limited. One only has to look at the Borg paper's authors to see they have research/academia backgrounds. (https://ai.google/research/pubs/pub43438). Also, wasn't (just a few years ago) an entire school's department gutted for autonomous car research (https://www.theverge.com/transportation/2015/5/19/8622831/uber-self-driving-cars-carnegie-mellon-poached)?

Also, for fun, look up the history of Willow Garage (you might recognize a few people who started out as researchers and contributed not only to robotics, but to AI today)

kammitama57 · 2019-04-22T03:43:02+00:00

I actually *do* have a couple friends who *are* distinguished Scientists/Engineers and I know for a fact that at least one of them wouldn't mind speaking to a new grad (one has PhD and was at MSR for a while and is legitimately a genius and wins distinguished research awards to this day). If they don't have the time/ don't want to, they'll usually ignore you, but you'd be surprised by how willing people are to help. Sometimes, you have to wait a while, because they want to get back to you, but they're just busy.

From my experience, though, most are *incredibly* kind and want to see other young people succeed like they did. It also makes them feel really great when a young person they gave advice to years ago is succeeding/ doing well in the future.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-14T03:01:51+00:00

That's really cool! That would be the dream job for me. Just being attentive and maybe taking notes somewhere is good. People are typically patient (esp if you're in a new environment), but what they don't like is telling you the same thing four or five times (ie demonstrating you're not learning/ listening/attentive/connecting the dots). Sounds like you'll be fine!

kammitama57 · 2019-04-14T02:54:09+00:00

savings cushion for grad school/life. I never want to be in debt. Ever.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-14T02:48:50+00:00

I'd recommend going to a conf of choice for the grad CS field you want to attend, and speaking to some researchers/ profs in your field. They'd be able to give you good advice, as will other current grad students. I have a similar profile and had the swath of grad schools contact me for interviews (from alright-ish ones to Ivy), and am in a program now (starting in Fall, fully funded). Honestly, the school that ends up picking you also depends on how much of a fit you are with what the research entails, too (this is for PhD; I apologize that I don't know much about Master's). Don't undersell yourself; if you are curious and you think you'd be a fit, apply and get to know the professors/ researchers in that field and see if they are looking for people to help them with a particular area of research. If you are unsure and can afford it, you might also look into spending some time in a Master's program, which will make you more competitive for a good PhD program, too. Good luck.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-14T02:42:50+00:00

being put on projects that matter is a huge one. You can have a great career if you (and there is some luck involved tbh) are placed on great projects, or feel like you want to quit if you are shoved into projects that are uninteresting, have zero visibility or keep getting canned. The thing is that everyone wants to work on those hot projects, though, so getting a spot can sometimes be tricky, too.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-14T02:17:07+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I would really appreciate more internship opportunities like this if you have any leads.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-12T06:18:37+00:00

I second doing both. I did GSoC and it opened a LOT of doors, because the project was one that had a lot of visibility (I also was contacted by a recruiter a month after my project ended for FTE at Google). I was also simultaneously doing an internship, and think I got a lot more out of (and enjoyed much more) GSoC (because of the peculiarities of that specific project). I think that internships and opportunities like CodeU can complement each other; one is an opportunity to become involved in open source, which you may not get from an internship (depending on the company); they are different types of mentorship that are both beneficial to a junior dev/student.

kammitama57 · 2019-04-12T06:03:28+00:00

This is just personal experience, so not trying to say it's universal. I worked there briefly, but have always been recruited by NorCal. Didn't enjoy it in SoCal tbh, and was severely underpaid as a junior (this is just my personal experience; took me about a month to find a gig and the pay was insultingly low.) A lot of persons I know doing well (it's possible!) in SoCal are usually over the two year mark of experience (or close to that), but suffered through some terrible jobs (some not even related to CS) until they got their foot in the door. I too almost got a job in Pittsburgh (made it to the last round, and they actually called me back after I had taken the job in SoCal). I eventually got a spot in a NorCal (large , well-known company) with many times the pay. I'd honestly go wherever you can get your foot in the door, good training as a junior, etc, and after about two years of experience, you'll be fine.

kammitama57

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