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professional networking
``` [After an unconscionable end-of-summer delay, I have enclosed all 14 of the non-anonymous responses to my call, back in July, for insights on the subject of professional networking. My call actually mixed two different agendas, some broad questions and a specific request for comments on the current draft of "Networking on the Network". Accordingly, the messages are somewhat mixed in their purposes and styles. They include a lot that is worthwhile, though, and I recommend them to you. My sincerest thanks as always to the people who contributed. You can find "Networking on the Network" on the web at http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/network.html]
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Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997 23:19:32
From: "richard s. halpern"
Dear Phil,
Spent most of my life in a corporate environment with a major multinational plus a few major advertising agencies. Based on my own experiences I would say that the key to networking is an ability to convey the thought to others that a) you are genuinely interested in what they are doing... but this can't be phoney; b) That you are willing to help them make other contacts within or without; c) offer free, no strings attached about some of the key work related issues affecting them; d) that you can and will keep confidences (and you must develop a reputation for this) ; e) willingness to go to bat for others with higher ups when appropriate. f} being easy to approach...an open, non judgmental personality is helpful. g) One must be seen as not being totally self serving and as someone who has an ability to keep ones ego from overshadowing everything else. Of course. once a person is in position of recognized power, networking is easier since others always gravitate toward power real or perceived and look for help; conversely, it is easier to approach others when one has "power" of some kind; h) unfortunately, a willingness and an ability to participate and contribute to company/industry gossip when appropriate. I) Willingness to trade, supply information of a non proprietary, non confidential kind but which could be useful to those seeking it. j) finally, just being a nice person sometimes helps.
Often observed that those who didn't follow most of these dictums found networking almost impossible and were often left out of the loop when information about company/industry events happened.
Hope this is helpful
Dick Halpern
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Richard S. Halpern, Ph.D Halpern & Associates Strategic Marketing and Opinion Research Phone/Fax: 770 434 4121 E-Mail: rshalpern@mindspring.com
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 10:46:09 -0700
From: "Paul N. Edwards"
Hi Phil -
re. your recent msg. about networking, which is a GREAT idea, I have a couple of pieces posted on my Web page which you might want to link to.
They're in the section called "pedagogical essays," and are aimed at grad students and junior faculty. One is about how to give an academic talk, and the other is on how to read a book quickly and well. Freely distributable, if you'd like to send them around on RRE.
P
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Paul N. Edwards Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer Program in Science, Technology, and Society http://www.stanford.edu/group/STS/edwards.html Director, Information Technology & Society Project http://www.stanford.edu/group/itsp/
Bldg. 370 Rm. 111 (415) 723-6817 (o) Stanford University (415) 725-5389 (fax) Stanford, CA 94305-2120 pedwards@pcd.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 11:42:38 -0400
From: Jim Dustin
Phil Agre asked 4 questions: (reading time= 12 minutes)
1) What is the best advice you ever got?
2) What is the least obvious good advice you ever got?
3) What idea made you see the professional world in a different way?
4) How has your consciousness of the professional world evolved as you have progressed in it, and how can we help beginners and outsiders to evolve more quickly in the same direction?
Jim Dustin
---
Phil: As usual, your work is extraordinaryly thorough and accurate. The only area I felt compelled to comment on was that of e-mail as mentioned in SECTION 5/advanced topics paragraph #7. You said:
>>My sense, though, is that e-mail is poorly suited for the initial stages of establishing a shared context for discussion between people with different cultural or disciplinary backgrounds. If this is true then my emphasis on careful mixing of electronic and face-to-face communication takes on new importance.<<
I mostly agree, but would like to share an experience in February where I contacted a group of Yale computer scientists-- and through e-mail and web site postings conducted an ongoing relationship helping them with a startup company called Lifestreams, recently renamed Mirror Worlds Technologies. [Wired magazine 5.02-David Gelernter's radical Lifestreams Interface]
Our backgrounds are very different (they are PhDs and my experience has been mostly "on the job"), yet somehow we have created a working relationship entirely using the net (and the occasional phone call). We have never met in person basically because of a lack of funds and geography. But I have done a significant amount of work with/for them. I agree that it was not an ideal way to do business, but the sychronicity that was achieved would not have happened with as much speed. In other words the instant gratification of clarifying a thought or drawing, was glued together with great assistance from the speed of e-mail and the abilty to post drawings on the web in the best traditions of the original CERN implementations.
It was a case for me that the pen can still be mighty, even in e-mail-and even in the intial stages. My "cold call" had much less formality than your six steps, but I felt I had nothing to lose by cutting through with an intitial cover letter. I outlined my interest and offered my ideas. The relationship started when they wrote back. The difference was, I was networking somewhat radically. I was specifically upfront about my interest and the potential mutual benefit of starting a relationship. Real stuff had to quickly follow to qualify the two parties network; and in this example it did.
BTW, your other comments on email and associated etiquette are outstanding and I particularly liked the techniques for calming down and remembering that conflict management is key. I will keep relearning this.
>>-- send me a short message at pagre@ucsd.edu. <<
Sorry this got long; I wanted to respond while I had some time. If it's helpful-great.
Best regards,
Jim Dustin artcity@southeast.net
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 09:47:58 +0100
From: "S.A.Fincher"
Phil -
[...]
2. Of use ... I am working with some others to try and put together a publication for academics about how to network effectively. We're in pretty early stages, but I've put together some stuff on a web site, URL http://snipe.ukc.ac.uk/misc/saf/seda-papers/intro.html
(this site is not "public" - it's just there for ease of reference for the interested parties - so don't rely on the URL persisting. If you want to reference any of it let me know, and I'll make sure it's put somewhere more permanent)
The project grew from the first paper on this site, which I wrote over a year ago now about an initiative I was working on at that time. The others are bits & pieces which may or may not be relevant. This work in on-going and I shall know more of its future in a fortnight when there is an editorial meeting. If you're interested, I'll keep you posted.
All the best
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sally Fincher, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF
'phone: (01227) 764000 ext.4061 fax: (01227) 762811 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Date: 14 Jul 1997 23:26:20 -0400 From: Pyr@lanet.losandes.com.ar To: rre-maintainers@weber.ucsd.edu Subject: The Next RRE Project: Career Advice
[..]
Succinctly I would express 4 dominant feelings (best advices) I've got from the blessed Net.
[...]
---
Arq. Aurelio H. Bujaldsn Mendoza, Argentina mailto:Pyr@lanet.losandes.com.ar
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Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 22:49:00 +0000
From: "Steven Snedker"
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/network.html
First off you'd better know that I've made an excited recommendation and review of NotN. It's located at
http://www.aod.dk/aod/net-kurs/ssetiket.htm#samarbejde
I'd better check to see if the URL I'm pointing to still works.
Next for an ethical boost to NotN you could try reading
http://www.brahmakumariswso.com/ls/values.html
I always recommend that as the best netiquette course available.
As for progressing in the world of academia (and business), the best advice I ever got was: Make your own company. Become a consultant. I made 1000$ in the company during the first year, but I slowly and thoroughly learnt how to manage customers, money, my own time and professional relationships. The skills studying comp sci had done nothing to improve.
So get a company. Then you have something to talk about, and people will see you more as a competent geek with ambition than a computer geek that just graduated. It helps.
---
Din ven Steven Snedker, http://inet.uni-c.dk/~snedker Eller Steven Snedker, Alt om DATA, http://www.aod.dk PGP: pgp-public-keys@keys.pgp.net, get Steven Snedker
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 10:56:14 -0400
From: Harry Hochheiser
> The Next RRE Project: Career Advice
I'll start with a couple of points. First, a reaction to "Networking on the Network". It struck me that you never quite explicitly discussed the reasons for some of the negative connotations of networking. In particular, I'm referring to the image of "networking" as a purely functional process that involves interacting with people purely on the basis of what they can do for you. Your notes implicitly discourage this practice, but they don't discuss it. A slightly different angle that might be addressed is the use of friends for networking practices, and the bad feelings that may be created by attempts at maintaining a friendship purely for networking purposes.
Regarding the "career advice" aspect of networking, I'm not an academic, so I can't comment on the academic work. However, in my experience doing software development (in both research and business contexts), I've had some good reminders of the old adage about not burning bridges. I've been able to look up old contacts and both get them to help me with some work, and they've given me work to do as well. Furthermore, as part of my freelance work, I recently had the experience of working with someone who had just about offered me a job 18 months earlier. Given the seeming vastness of the non-academic world, it can be easy for folks to think that they'll never see individuals again, once their interactions in a certain context (workplace, project, etc) are complete. Clearly, this is dangerous thinking.
hope this helps,
Thanks,
Harry
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 06:48:35 -0400
From: "H.L. Fuller"
At 08:45 AM 7/13/97 -0700, you wrote:
>How has your consciousness of the professional world evolved as you have >progressed in it, and how can we help beginners and outsiders to evolve >more quickly in the same direction?
[Networking advice i recently offered to a close friend's 20-year-old daughter, an extremely bright young woman with ambitions in film production. This excellent kid had exhausted the first part of her summer languishing by the phone in their apartment, waiting for call- backs on the resumes she'd mailed to assorted potential employers.]
>...it seems clear they need some help recognizing her gifts, because they
>aren't calling her. Probably she is dealing with Dimwits.
>
>Dimwits are often charged with doing the actual calling, i find. perhaps
>that's to keep them occupied, so they don't screw up the real work of the
>company.
>
>the Bright Bulbs, the ones she probably wants to work with, are usually a
>layer or two down inside, beyond the Dimwits. To hook up with the Bright
>Bulbs, she must first penetrate The Dimwit Frontier.
>
>Unfortunately, "penetration" is not accomplished with a postage stamp.
>Young people are urged to produce and distribute resumes, and this
>advice often deludes them into thinking that resumes will land them
>jobs. But, absent any extortionary leverage inherent in some family tie
>or collateral professional relationship, PERFORMANCE is what lands jobs.
>Resumes merely document performance. Auditions are much more powerful
>than resumes, even when you are 40 and especially when you are 20.
>Auditions give you the chance to display your talents. More importantly,
>auditions are a powerful surveillance technique.
>
>If she can just get in the door, she can more effectively monitor the
>landscape for Cool Job Leads. Her immediate task, therefore, is to manage
>the Dimwits into granting her this opportunity. Fortunately, this is
>simple to do.
>
>In my experience, Dimwits are best managed by getting right in their
>faces, doing whatever it is THEY think they need to have done (even
>if its typing and go-fering). By accepting the Dimwit's idea of a
>suitable job, you are actually positioning yourself to hear first about
>Cool Job Leads which subsequently materialize. Critically, you are
>also positioning yourself to be the closest available solution to any
>"interesting" problems which subsequently arise.
>
>An important and useful truth of the work world: Dimwits will ALWAYS
>reach for the closest available solution. Corollary: Bright Bulbs OFTEN
>do this too, though they tend to be more persnickety about what qualifies
>as a "solution."
>
>Young people tend to let this Dimwit tendency work against them. They sit
>home and wait for the phone to ring. Or rather, having mailed out resumes
>to
-------------------- ----^---<@ -------------------- H. L. Fuller D3/APSP-Research Gutman 422 (617) 562-8712 www: http://hugse1.harvard.edu/~fullerhe/index.htm -----------------[ Eudora Pro 3.0 ]-------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 22:30:46 -0700
From: "Kathy E. Gill"
[...]
>What is the best advice you ever got?
The best advice I ever got was to remember Caesar's wife (above reproach) -- this while a young woman working in a very male-dominated, traditional industry. The incident: post-conference barroom networking. The punch line: watch how much you drink; know your limits; don't cross them.
Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of models per se, as the women in my field(s) have been few and far between. I've just tried to use common sense coupled with thoughtfulness. When I read a clip that I think would be of interest to someone whom I wish to have (or maintain) a good relationship with -- I send it to them. Now I also send interesting URLs.
I write thank you notes. I say thank you in person. I ask questions and listen to the answers. And when keeping a conversation going is like pulling teeth, I smile, say thank you, and move on.
At conferences, I try to sit at tables where I don't know anyone. The only time I'll be clique-ish at a conference is by conscious decision not to network with new people, but to reinforce established relationships.
Finally, I send out cards at Christmas. Over the years, as my horizons
have been broadened, I pick cards that are spiritual or humorous and that
talk about the holiday season rather than a holiday (there's more than
one in December, you know
Kathy
Kathy E. Gill, publisher, eNetDigest - http://www.enetdigest.com/ Member, HTML Writers Guild Governing Board, http://www.hwg.org/ WWW design =95 writing =95 training - http://www.dotparagon.com/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 15:53:29 CST6CDT
From: "Larry A. Etkin"
Read through your piece on developing networks. While I find myself generally able to agree with the thrust of what you're saying, I have some difficulty with several of the "holeistic" and "natural healing" types of pieces being included. My objection centers around the observation that there seem to be very many people, myself included, who simply are too technical/analytical in their personalities (a men's support group leader called it the "Spock" side of my personality) to move toward or even accept to validity of the "touchy-feely" approaches to life. The early piece about the visualization of animals may turn these types off before they get to other parts of your essay that could be valuable to them. Maybe you could include a caveat before those sections reminding people that the technique works for many but not all, and possibly developing so material on more "concrete" approach to accomplishing the same.
Sorry for typos...I'm late picking up my 6-year-old.
LAE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Larry A. Etkin
Senior Editor--Experiment Station Educational Development System, University of Minnesota 1420 Eckles Ave, 405 Coffey Hall, St. Paul, MN 55108-6068
E-MAIL:
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 97 13:19:07 -0500
From: wrubinstein@pcmail.casc.com
To:
[...]
What is the best advice you ever got?
In planning my career, a manager once advised me to seek out the market leader in my area of interest (broadband data communications). I was about to jump ship and go to work for a "Johnny come lately" in a commodity business. Instead, I held out and waited for a position with an industry up-start in a growing market segment.
When you're working for a growing, leadership business you're at a professional advantage for several reasons:
* - You're typically working with leading technology that becomes the de facto standard in a given market segment. This increases your personal market value. - As the company grows the monetary rewards grow (hopefully). - As the company grows the room for advancement increases.* - You have the opportunity to observe and learn from a winning management team.
What is the least obvious good advice you ever got?
Assume the readers perspective before you send out an e-mail.
What idea made you see the professional world in a different way?
In industry, especially information technology, change is constant. As a professional I either embrace change daily or I stagnate in my career. The idea that "change is constant" may seem like a cliche, but it's 100% true.
How has your consciousness of the professional world evolved as you have progressed in it, and how can we help beginners and outsiders to evolve more quickly in the same direction?
Not to sound too cynical, but in planning your career you need to look out for your own interests first and foremost. Hopefully, your interests will be in line with the company you keep.
In the corporate world, employees are still nameless/faceless resources to the shareholders. I've seen the by-product of corporate lay-offs, downsizing, and right sizing. No one can afford to hope that the company will manage their career. Each of us has a responsibility to manage our own careers.
Who was your model for professional relationships that were effective and ethical, and what did this person do that was special?
A former manager that set clear direction; empowered his workers to fulfill the direction; trusted his employees; constantly acknowledged and rewarded excellence; and, engaged us in fun team building experiences. His effectiveness came through his ability to build a strong team of people.
What mistakes have you made, large or small, and what advice would have helped you avoid them?
My frequent mistakes come through haste. In a rush, rush world we're always moving onto the next task before taking the time to ponder what we're currently working on or what we just accomplished.
What kinds of distress could you have been spared if you had learned certain concepts early enough?
I feel fortunate that I've had little serious distress in my career.
What are the simple, powerful ways that you have discovered to bring people together around shared concerns?
First, believe in the vision/concern. Second, have a clear picture of what it is you hope for your team to accomplish. What are the objectives? Are they attainable? Are they measurable? In what time frame?
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 11:35:01 -0700
From: Michel van Eeten
[...]
As a token of my appreciation, I thought I'd share my most important lesson so far with you. You warn that networkers should control their impulses in responding to mail and criticism. Very true. But it is also true in another sense: more than once I got carried away by my enthusiasm after establishing contact with a well known author in my field. Establishing contact was no problem. But I made the mistake of responding to the rather stimulating responses as if it were a colleague of mine, here in Delft. To soon I prompted questions regarding meeting each other of even proposals to write something together. Too much, too soon; mostly illustrated by the silence at the other end after recieving my message (although I did manage to write an article with a scholar from Berkeley this way, so sometimes it does work; but in this case I invested heavily in his work before contacting him.). Fortunately, most of the time no long term damage appear to be done if you refrain from contact a little while and after that enter communication with a more modest agenda and more in touch with the things that matter to the other person. So your notes should perhaps also warn for too much enthusiasm. Perhaps waiting at least a few days before responding provides a good safeguard.
I hope this might contribute to your excellent paper.
Regards,
Michel van Eeten
School of Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management Delft University of Technology The Netherlands
Email: M.J.G.Eeten@sepa.tudelft.nl WWW: http://pluto.sepa.tudelft.nl/webstaf/michele/index.htm
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 21:48:03 -0400
From: Ted Wall
You won't like this, but the draft as it is does not work, at least not for me:
It mixes apples and oranges. Some sections seem to assume a familiarity with networking, other try to teach about it from scratch. Maybe try two versions, one for tyros, the second for those with a little experience?
What can one learn of networking (I abhor that term) by reading about it. As with riding a bicycle you learn by doing. Graduate students "network" with their schoolmates. Build on that.
It's just too long. How many words in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?
I really don't mean to be negative. There are some beautiful pearls in the draft. Shine them up and let them shine out. Chuck the dross. The game is worth doing.
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 08:16:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Robert R. Henry"
Phil:
I don't know if this is what you're looking for... I wrote this document in 1983, and it was helpful to many people I knew who graduated from Univ of WA in the late 80s; some of it might be stale or simply naive.
You are free to distribute this as you see fit.
% % Copyright (c) 1983 by Robert R. Henry % % Permission is granted to freely distribute and update this % document provided that the attribution to Robert R. Henry % is not removed. % % @(#)$Header: /u1/rrh/RCS/lookfor.tex,v 1.1 1991/05/31 11:55:03 rrh Exp $ % \documentstyle[sane]{article} \pagestyle{sane} \title {What to Look for When Interviewing in Industry and Academia\\ (Written for the New PhD in Computer Science)} \author{Robert R. Henry} \date{Fall 1983, and updated since} \begin{document} \maketitle
\section{Scope}
These notes were written as a personal guide and ``prompting sheet'' when I was interviewing for industrial and academic positions as a single 28 year old male with a PhD in Computer Science. There are two major sections, the first for industry, and the second for academia. There is no particular order to the points within each major section; some (many?) of the points in industry are applicable to academia. These points represent the questions I have thought of and asked (directly or indirectly) when interviewing. Consequently, the notes are highly biased, reflecting my concerns!
Evaluating the answers you get to these questions is, of course, a highly personal process; beware high pressure sales techniques! Your final choice may be based on something totally irrational.
\section{Industry} \subsection{Publication and Secrecy} \begin{enumerate} \item Do you mind working on company confidential projects? How much of the company secrecy is paranoia? \item Will you be allowed to publish your current research in general circulation, refereed and respected journals? Or, will you have to wait until the project you are working on has eventually yielded a product, or the manager gives his/her blessing, or your group has moved onto something else? \item Does the center encourage outside publication, by providing you with time, support, page charges and such? \item Does the company require you to publish in internal memorandum and documents? What kind of respect do these documents have in the company? In the outside world (if they are eventually released)? \item Is merit review based on publications? \item How much of what you will be working on can be discussed outside the company? Who decides what can be discussed? How would you feel when you talk to an old friend, and couldn't say anything more than: ``I work for company X, doing Z?'' \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Research Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item Does the research center invite outside speakers to come in and give seminars? \item Does the center have a program in which its members give informal (or formal!) seminars about their research to everybody else in the center, regardless of their discipline? This tends to encourage multi disciplinary problem solving, and knowledge of what others outside of your group are doing. \item What kind of technical library does the center have? \item Are you free to change (sub)disciplines by horizontal transfer within the center? How easy is such transfer? Does it entail getting a new manager? \item What is the ratio of PhD to MS to BS to support staff? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Development Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item Is the center development oriented or research oriented? \item Is the center interviewing you to fill a specific position and specific project? Conversely, do they want to hire you because you are good and can be used as a resource? \item If the center is developing software, is the software distributed directly to in-house customers, directly to paying customers, or to a buffer in the company that does quality assurance and documentation before the software is shipped, and do customer support after the product is shipped? \item What kind of lead time do the developers have for the project they are currently working on? For projects they are planning on for the future? \item When a project, idea or what-not is transfered to development and marketing and out of your hands, will those groups do a good job with your work, represent it correctly and make you proud of its incarnation? Does development have a reputation (be careful here) in botching or improving things? \item What will happen to the group when the current project is finished? Will the group be broken up and re-assigned to other development projects? \item Does the center view the current project underway as extradorinary in any way? Eg, ``after we finish this one, we'll settle down and do research?'' \item How much time does the center allow you to work on ``hobbies?'' A hobby is a technically related side interest (``this looks interesting; I wonder how it really works'') community programming support, work for a professional society (IEEE, ACM), etc. \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Start Up Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item Where did the researchers, engineers, staff and management come from? Why did they leave where they were before? \item If the ideas for the principle product (or the product itself) were developed someplace else such as at a university, how does the university feel about the company? How does the company feel about the university? What kind of ties do the employees have to the university? What kind of ties or strings does the university have to the company? \item What direction is the company going to take after it releases its first product? Do they have long term goals? \item How is the company's product different from other start ups' products? What distinguishes the company? How much of what you hear is blind optimism? \item Did the company grow too fast? Do the managers think the company grew too fast? What about the employees? \item Who are the customers of this company? How many customers are there? \item What is the attitude about releasing products that are incomplete, but are perceived as needed to make an impact? \item Has the company made any blunders, such as pre-release of a product, announced but never delivered a product, or bad management? How do the current managers and employees feel about the blunders? How do the customers feel about blunders? Have the customer's contracts and delivery schedules been adhered to? \item How much of a stake do the employees have in the company? How long will it take for their stock to be vested? How is poor (conversely good) employee performance penalized or rewarded? Can low numbered employees be fired for incompetence? \item How much of the company is owned by the venture capitalists? How many rounds of financing, and for how long, did the company get? What kind of control do the venture people have over the company?
How many shares of stock are outstanding? What fraction of the company are you being offered? What happens when the company goes public? When is the company planning on going public? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Computing Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item Is there enough computing facilities to solve the problems you want to do in reasonable amounts of time? During the afternoon? \item Do you wish to work with the same computing environment that you were used to in your previous job? How long will it take to be retrained? \item Is the computing environment flexible? Is the system manager approachable? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Personal Growth} \begin{enumerate} \item On what basis are pay raises given? Who and what determines your ``merit?'' \item How do the pay ladders between researchers, engineers and managers compare? \item If you choose to go into management, how does that affect your job future, and conversely? \item If you go into management, can you easily step back down? \item Does the company pay for and encourage attending conferences? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Morale, Stability and Continuity} \begin{enumerate} \item How many people have joined the group in the last year? Two years? Five years? Why did they chose to come here? \item How many people have left the group in the last year? Two years? Five years? Why did they leave? \item How insulated is the group from the whims of top level management? Mid level managers? \item If the ``important person'' (assuming there is one) were to leave the group, would the entire group fall apart? \item If the company is hemorraging money and manpower in some division, trying to get an important product out the door, will the management bring out the researchers to ``temporarily'' work on the project until it is shipped? \item What kind of commitment does management have to the center/group? Are researchers and pure or applied research research an expensive luxury management can afford now, but maybe not in the future during the next recession? \item Can you extrapolate from the groups last year/two years/five years the same distance into the future? What kinds of big changes in management, products, and research emphasis are forseen? Is the center/group living in a state of suspense? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Management} \begin{enumerate} \item Where have your managers gotten their experience? Why did they leave where they were previously? \item What does management see as its biggest challenge managing the company and the group you will be in? \item How is the management organized? What is the management fan out? \item How do the managers get along with one another? Are there turf wars? How consistent are the answers to your questions from one manager to another manager? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{People} \begin{enumerate} \item Do you like the people you interview with or would be working with? \item Would you be working in the shadows of giants, where you can die for lack of exposure or being squashed? Can you deal with the giant's (or dwarves) egos? \item Are your interviewers on normal behaviour, company behaviour, or just themselves? Has the group staged an elaborate charade for your behalf to convince you to come work for them? (Unfortunately, you'll probably not find out about this until you are already there. Consult the grapevine and read the body language when you are there.) \item Did people come voluntarily to your research presentation and show genuine interest? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Work Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item How are the offices organized? Do you need natural light to work by? An outside scene to focus on with tired eyes? Quiet? No disturbances? Private offices? No telephones? Access to other people with problems? \item Is management willing to purchase special furniture, terminals or equipment for you if you feel it will make you do your job better? \item Can you work at home? Can you set your own hours? Do other people work the odd hours you may want to? Can you get into the building during odd hours? Is there a general time slot for meetings and seminars when everybody should be around to participate? \item Does the company provide you with a terminal and modem to take home, with adequate ports into it? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Community Environment} \begin{enumerate} \item Do you like the surrounding community? \item Are the ``advertised'' perquisites of the area pragmatically reachable for an evening or weekend vacation? Is the area a hole or Eden? \item How far away from work do people live? How do they get to work? What kinds of places do they live in? \item How much do apartments/houses rent for? How much do condos/houses sell for? How available is the housing? Does the company have a housing service? Provide a reasonable relocation allowance? Provide discount mortages? \item What is the political situation of the town, county and state? Are zoning ordinances likely to change? Corruption? Police and fire protection? Insurance rates? Crime? \item What is it like to commute to work on the worst imaginable day? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Company Hiring Policies} \begin{enumerate} \item Are you ``hired for life,'' in that the company will do its hardest to keep you employed with them locally, or by a transfer? (This of course assumes your performance is satisfactory!) \item What fraction of the company's business is contract work? Contracts from the Federal Government? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Company Benefits} These only scratch the surface, reflecting what I have seen, thought of, or is important to me. \begin{enumerate} \item How long must you be employed before you can take part in the benefits? \item If you purchase stocks through a stock option plan, how long does it take to become vested? What fraction of the price does the company put up? \item Is there a company supported savings plan? \item Is there a company supported profit sharing plan? \item How many days of paid vacation are there? Does it accumulate? Who determines when you can take it? Can you take leave without pay for personal things, such as extending a vacation? \item Does the company support you if you decide to return full or part time to school? \item Does the company have a fund matching program to your favorite university, non profit organization (arts, conservation, etc) or charity? \end{enumerate}
\section{Academia} \subsection{The University} \begin{enumerate} \item What is the reputation of the university? \item What are the opportunities to collaborate with other researchers not in the department? \item How competent is the administration, at all levels? What kind of administrative turn over has there been in the last $n$ years? Political squabbles or scandals? What is the administrations attitude about computer science? Has it changed dramatically in the last few years (fear of Japanese, computer literacy, etc)? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Funding} \begin{enumerate} \item What fraction of your funding, and the department's funding will come from state support (public schools only), student tuition and fees, endowments, blanket grants, or grant money you must hustle yourself? \item What are the major grants supporting the department? What are the prinicple investigators? Are they meeting the goals they established when they wrote the grant? \item If you are funded by DOD (DOE, NSF, etc..) how do you feel (politically, morally, etc) about working for that agency? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Support and Equipment} \begin{enumerate} \item What kind of services (secretarial, administrative, duplicating, computing, janitorial) does the department supply? What is the staff's morale, and how often has the staff turned over in the last $n$ years? \item Is the space in the building adequate for the department? Is it well maintained? What kinds of political squabbles are there over space? \item What kind of equipment is there? How was it obtained? If equipment is donated, what kind of strings are attached? \item If you want some special equipment, is there money to buy it? If you buy special equipment with grant money, will the rest of the department demand to use it? \item How does the quality of equipment used by undergraduates compare with that of graduates, staff and faculty? \item Who maintains and operates the computers? Does the ``Computer Center'' manage the research machines? Does the computer center manage the machines used to support teaching? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Teaching} \begin{enumerate} \item How many classes must you teach per academic term? Will you have to teach different classes in one term, or can you teach multiple sections of the same class? (Eg, how much do you have to prepare?) Who decides which classes you must teach? \item Who teaches introductory classes? Does all the faculty share this load equally? Does the department hire outside teachers to do the scut work, such as generic engineers to teach introductory (Fortran) programming? \item If you can't get outside (research) support, will you have to teach more classes to earn your keep? \item How often can you teach classes on your pet subject? What kind of administrivia is involved when you teach pet classes? What happens if you don't get enough students to sign up for the class? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Committee Work} \begin{enumerate} \item How many university, college, department or division committees are there? How many committees must you serve on? What kind of committees are there? How much time do the other faculty members spend on committee work? Is there adequate and competent staff support for the committees? \item How is the department chair appointed? What is the chair's tenure? What are the chair's responsibilities? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Outside Work} \begin{enumerate} \item What are the consulting opportunities in your area? What do the other faculty members do in the way of consulting? Are there faculty members so wrapped in their consulting they have little involvement with the department? \item How many hours/week of outside consulting work are you allowed to do? \item If there are no opportunties for consulting (eg, you are in the sticks), are salaries higher to compensate? \item Are the salaries based on a 9 month year (assuming you'll find outside work for 3 months), or for 12 months? What administrivia is involved in spreading a 9 month salary over 12 months? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Patent Agreements} \begin{enumerate} \item Who owns the patentable/trade markable things you invent while on the faculty? What kind of a royalty cut do you have? \item Who owns the ideas you develop when on the faculty, but sell if you start your own company? What share of your profits from your company will the university lay claim to? \item Does the university actively encourage patenting things? Does the university seek to license their patents? (Eg, how good is their patent office?) \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Students} \begin{enumerate} \item Is the department's focus on undergraduates, graduates, or the faculty themselves? \item What kind of reputation does the department have to attract students? How many of what caliber students are recruited? \item How does the department go about recruiting students? Does the department actively recruit them, for example flying them out for interviews? \item What fraction of the students have fellowship, TA, RA or outside support? What fraction of the incoming students have support? \item How does the department look after their students once they are arrived? Is there an active graduate student counseling program? \item How do the faculty members go about ``trolling'' for students? \item What is the normal course load for $n$ year graduate students? What is their preliminary and qualifying exam schedule? What is the normative time? How much time can you expect your graduate students to work with you? What is the longest tenured graduate student in the department? What happens if students stay too long? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Sabbatical and Industrial Leaves} \begin{enumerate} \item What is the department's policy on sabbatical and leave? Who decides, and on what basis, when you can go on sabbatical? \item What do other faculty members do on their summers/sabaticals? How many of them have stayed and worked at the university? \item If you go on industrial leave, what impediments do you face when you come back? \item How does the university support you on your sabbatical? Full/part salary? Travel expenses? Can you continue to use university facilities when you are on sabbatical? Does the university have any exchange program with other universities, so you can use others' facilities without charge? \end{enumerate}
\subsection{Tenure} \begin{enumerate} \item Is the position you are interviewing for on the tenure track? \item How is tenure based? Quality of papers? Volume of papers? Professional involvement? Consulting work? \item Is the department/university known to be hard for getting tenure in? \item How many of the faculty members are tenured? In the past $n$ years, how many faculty members have made/been denied tenure? Why did they succeed/fail? How does this compare with the college and university average? \item Will the university ever renege on you after your receive tenure? How can they fire you? What happens in a budget or student crunch? For public schools, how capricious is the state legislature? \end{enumerate}
\end{document}
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997 08:45:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Phil Agre
The Next RRE Project: Career Advice
For the last several years, I have been collecting useful advice and perspectives on the process of professional networking. I want to spread the skills of network-building, and I want to redefine these skills in ethical terms, freed from their often-deserved connotations of superficiality and manipulation. To this end, I have gathered what I have learned so far in an article for graduate students called "Networking on the Network", which is available on the Web at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/network.html
Although I have learned from many wise people in writing "Networking on the Network", I am certain that much more remains to be said. Therefore, I want to ask everyone to send me their favorite insights on the general subject of networking and community-building in the professional world. What is the best advice you ever got? What is the least obvious good advice you ever got? What idea made you see the professional world in a different way? How has your consciousness of the professional world evolved as you have progressed in it, and how can we help beginners and outsiders to evolve more quickly in the same direction? Who was your model for professional relationships that were effective and ethical, and what did this person do that was special? What mistakes have you made, large or small, and what advice would have helped you avoid them? What kinds of distress could you have been spared if you had learned certain concepts early enough? What are the simple, powerful ways that you have discovered to bring people together around shared concerns? Let me know -- send me a short message at pagre@ucsd.edu. I particularly hope that you can read the current version of "Networking on the Network", reacting to particular points or filling in gaps. What aspects of professional life have I missed out on altogether?
When I receive your message, I will do two things with it:
(1) I will try to fold your insights into the next version of NotN. If I succeed then I will certainly acknowledge your contribution.
(2) Unless you specifically ask me not to, I will include your message in a collection of everybody's messages that I send out to the Red Rock Eater mailing list (http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/rre.html for more details) and to everyone who contributed. I will sort the messages roughly by length, with the shortest ones first. I reserve the right to omit any messages that don't seem appropriate, but I don't expect to omit very many of them.
Thanks very much for your help
Phil Agre ```
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