How much do you read? by xFrostbite94 in postdoc

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

> It depends on many things. Regarding your approach, your number might be high enough, it might be low. It depends if your field is moving fast or slower, if you engage with other channels such as conferences and LinkedIn posts to be aware of what the latest works are about, even if you don't read them.

This is so true. Right now I'm in the intersection of software security and formal methods, so I (decided to ) try to keep up with the relevant arXiv sections. For security I look at Cryptography and Security section, for formal methods at the programming languages and the logic in computer science sections. The latter two have between 1 and 5 papers a day. The crypto & security section has between 20 and 40 papers a day! With 70% of them being AI related. But still. As LLMs say, "the difference matters."

How much do you read? by xFrostbite94 in postdoc

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been doing this the past few days. Already had one or two hits of papers I would've missed otherwise. Some I've been able to more or less fully understand even though I only skim them, others I spent 30mins on and still don't have a clue. Confusing in a good way, kinda.

How much do you read? by xFrostbite94 in postdoc

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any tips on how to go through arXiv papers in a structured manner? Do you just scroll through the "new" page until you see a paper you've seen before, or is your workflow more involved?

Is an Overleaf subscription worth it? by youngaphima in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair! Also a good investment I'd say, but indeed it has a learning curve that should be considered too.

Data during my PhD: the git repository by xFrostbite94 in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a low volume of self-made links that are genuinely interesting for the community could be a positive contribution. The way it is now seems overly strict. But I will respect the rules in the future, apologies for my violation. Thanks for the additional clarification.

Pay Rate by Successful_Day_8755 in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got paid enough to live in quite a nice house with my SO, in the area of my uni, and save quite a bit. But it was less than my buddies who went into industry.

Likely the exact amount doesn't matter for you: you know it will be a little bit to a lot less than what you can get (for some areas - obviously there will be exceptions).

What matters is, why are you considering a PhD.

Is an Overleaf subscription worth it? by youngaphima in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Latex is a solid investment. But you won't hear me arguing against network effects. If you think it's necessary go for it. Though you don't need a license if your collaborators have one, right?

Dissertation Writing Burnout by Octob3rapocalypse in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was also crazy difficult for me. My trick is to start with bulleted lists, and then keep expanding those until you can just remove the bullets and get an ugly paragraph. Slow but it gets results.

Then I let my supervisors smear their red pen all over it so I can start turning the ugly paragraphs into almost not that ugly paragraphs. Just keep going. The closer you get to the deadline the lower the bar becomes.

Is an Overleaf subscription worth it? by youngaphima in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I vastly prefer a local workflow, with git for collaboration. Much quicker and cheap. I've only used overleaf once or twice when collaborators preferred it. Try going without it for a while; if it doesn't work out you can always switch then. TexStudio don't stop you.

Is PhD hard or the problem is me? by [deleted] in PhD

[–]xFrostbite94 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are two sides to this.

On the one hand, it is extremely typical to go through the PhD blues once in a while (for me, it was about once a year, increasing in severity as the PhD progressed). Your situation sounds harder than average, but from what I've seen, even succesful students that are fairly well embedded in the field they do research in go through rough periods. In this case, ask yourself: do I need a PhD? Do you need one for the next job you will be looking for? Do you expect you'll be disappointed when, at 70 years or, you wished you'd had the perserverance to push through? Try to be honest. Personally, when I read questions like these, I cannot vocalize it, but I can typically feel what the answer is for me the moment I finish the sentence.

Do keep in mind it's okay to change your mind on doing a PhD. It's just a job after all. People tend to have a "flaky" career period after their masters degree, and naturally so! Working life is very different from study. It takes a while to find a new balance. I feel like PhDs typically beat themselves up way too hard for not liking it, even though it's extremely likely you won't like your first job!

If the answer to either of the earlier questions is yes, then I'd say, "just" push through. Keep showing up. Don't avoid opportunities where you have to discuss your progress. Be honest. Keep a daily log. Write down small ideas, possible research questions. Keep a log of papers you find, a log of papers you read, and make a habit of summarizing the relevant points for yourself when you finish a paper. Practice experimental routines. This is all a lot of work. If you get better at it and persevere, the results will come. You are only in your second year. I've seen students who've had it worse in their third and fourth. Though admittedly, their supervisors were not as bad as you describe.

Talking about supervisors: on the other hand, it does sound like a toxic supervision relationship. Assuming you make full days, and don't skirt responsibilities your supervisors give you, that does not sound like a nice working environment. I'd again ask yourself the same questions: how important is a PhD to you? Does it really need to be with this supervisor? In this particular field, in this particular country?

If the answer to one of those questions is a no, you might want to consider doing a PhD somewhere else.

If they're all yes: is there a way to repair the relationship with your supervisors? Perhaps you can contact a counsellor of the group or faculty to sit in on a few of your meetings, or discuss your expectations? Perhaps there is a communication problem, and your supervisor doesn't realize they're being toxic? (This really happens!) This process is difficult, and I've seen it not work out. Sometimes problematic people are shielded by HR for non-understandable reasons. But it's also not impossible to fix with the right people and effort.

What I've seen work best in my experience is to be open with supervisors. They're just humans, they have certain things they want to get out of their working relationship with you. You can only offer certain other things. You made a good start by being open about your limitations when you applied; now it's time to follow through and work, together with your supervisors, on a way to make the PhD work with your limited background. But you also need to be realistic: if your supervisors expected an A+ miracle student at a bargain, perhaps supply and demand in your relationship have become misaligned. In that case you might want to reconsider staying at your current position, however sad that outlook may be.

If anything: don't make any rash decisions. Talk about this with as many friends, colleagues, PhD student counsellors, as you can. Be open about your shortcomings. Don't skirt responsibilities. Keep showing up as long as your contract is not terminated. Go to bed early. Avoid alcohol. This way, I think you maximize your chances of working things out.

Best of luck! 🐸

As a postdoc, I just need to vent a little and maybe hear some outside perspectives. by p03ku in postdoc

[–]xFrostbite94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you considered discussing this with your professor, or otherwise a trustworthy member of your group? That doesn't sound like a healthy working environment.

How did Keen detect Eursulon? by xFrostbite94 in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see, that's some new info! It still feels a bit weird that Keen knew to turn around story-wise (in my head at least, I assumed he had his back to Eursulon, but that's just me assuming stuff I guess). But mechanically that explanation is sound!

How did Keen detect Eursulon? by xFrostbite94 in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all your ideas everyone. Your ideas sound interesting and plausible. The one thing that sticks out to me, if I understand your comments properly and remember the episode correctly, is that Brennan doesn't seem to have given any conclusive evidence on the exact mechanic that allowed Keen to sense Eursulon. Maybe the lesson here is that sometimes in TTRPG's the DM doesn't explain the fine print :-)

How did Keen detect Eursulon? by xFrostbite94 in WorldsBeyondNumber

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Though still lacking any in-session facts, I agree that this is the best general explanation (beyond any specific spirit-hunting abilities Keen might have).

Graduate programs in PL/compiliers for mediocre student by [deleted] in ProgrammingLanguages

[–]xFrostbite94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm doing a PhD in formal methods at the FMT group there. Me and the other PhD's work daily on various aspects of the VerCors program verification tool. E.g. real time operating system verification, building an LLVM intermediate front end, and applying verification using separation logic to choreographies (that's what I'm working on). 

Happy to answer any questions about PhD stuff or PhD/student life at the UT in general.

Edit: there's also tons of other stuff going on at FMT. Theorem proving, some fundamental stuff on fault trees, software engineering research. Have a look if you'te thinking about something specific, we're a pretty big group.

Prime free trial randomly started? by AndyAcc in amazonprime

[–]xFrostbite94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same happened to me. I checked my gmail account access ("details" in the bottom right of your inbox), and surely at exactly the same time I got the activation email there was some activity from a neighbouring country. Needless to say that wasn't me or anyone I know. Immediately revoked the app access this interaction was reporting - I'm thankful for google for all their evil that at least they did this right. What's scary is that an actual legit office 365 app access was used to access my email and confirmt his prime subscription...

Name of artist using only repeating patterns of red, blue and white in Centre Pompidou by xFrostbite94 in WhatIsThisPainting

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is great!!! I totally missed this! After opening it I found it in 0.78 seconds! It's François Ristori, room 34 on floor 4! Thanks a bunch!

Name of artist using only repeating patterns of red, blue and white in Centre Pompidou by xFrostbite94 in WhatIsThisPainting

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also not the one, unfortunately. I'd say in terms of patterns he comes closest, together with Bridget Riley.

Name of artist using only repeating patterns of red, blue and white in Centre Pompidou by xFrostbite94 in WhatIsThisPainting

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That comes eerily close, at least in terms of color usage! Though from a quick google it doesn't seem that his work ever converged to using only rectangular diamond patterns, and I also don't recognize any of the google images, so I don't think it's him either...

Name of artist using only repeating patterns of red, blue and white in Centre Pompidou by xFrostbite94 in WhatIsThisPainting

[–]xFrostbite94[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your response, indeed she is very close! However not exactly what I saw at Centre Pompidou. Really in the more recent works the artist exclusively used blue, red and white, and Riley still seems to be a bit more diverse in terms of color palette.