2013 CRA-W Graduate Cohort Workshop

1. 2013 CRA-W Graduate Cohort Workshop PhD Industry Career Paths Maryam Kamvar Garrett (Google) Suju Rajan (Yahoo!) Amanda Stent (AT&T)

2. Outline • Introductions and career journeys • Careers in industry • Making the choice: Research or non-research? • An engineer in industry • A researcher in industry • Preparing for a career in industry • Transitioning • Becoming a technical leader • Networking and collaboration • Resources

3. Questions How many different career paths can one have in industry?

4. Maryam Kamvar Garrett

5. Suju Rajan • Education: • PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering, UT Austin • BE in Electronics & Communications Engineering, University of Madras, India • Research interests • Machine Learning, Data/Web Mining, Information Retrieval • Work: • Sr. Manager leading a team performing applied research on Personalization & Content Science

6. Amanda Stent • Computational linguist working on dialog systems, natural language generation, assistive technology • Principal Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Labs – Research • Associate/Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Stony Brook University • Postdoc, AT&T Labs – Research • PhD student, Computer Science, University of Rochester • Also: married, taekwondo student, pianist, EMT in training

7. Careers in Industry • Software or hardware or services companies • Start-ups • Research labs • Govt. agencies • Non-IT companies • High finance, healthcare, legal, … How many of you have worked at a non-IT company?

8. Making the Choice • Industry-quality coder vs. prototyping? • Deep technical support, debugging and testing? • Well-defined goals and project deliverables? • Patenting and/or publishing? • Working on deep research problems? • Be your own boss (to an extent)? • Want to go to academia later? • Impact to company product roadmap? • Pace of career growth? Who has done an informational interview?

9. An Engineer in Industry • Participates in the design, test, implementation, and/or support of software applications, products and solutions • Design, code, unit test • Quality Assurance: Functional Test, System Test, Regression • Performance: measurement, analysis, change • Deep technical support and debugging • Tools development • Contributes to Intellectual Property • Patents and papers • Contributes to employer’s bottom-line • Supports the sales process and ongoing customer satisfaction • Proactively pleases customers How many of you worked in CS or IT before going to graduate school?

10. A Researcher in Industry • Proactive leader in the creation of new and innovative products and services (applied research) • Task definition • Design: requirements specification • Tools development • Collaboration with product development teams • Participates in foundational inventions (basic research) • Task definition • Tools and prototypes • Contributes to Intellectual Property • Patents and papers • Contributes to employer’s bottom-line • Proactively develops new and innovative products and services • Seeks productive partnerships with other business units and external collaborators

11. Preparing for a Career in Industry • Internships • Try out a corporate culture, job type, industry • Establish connections • Experience counts a lot! • Work on real-world relevant problems • Technical skills need to be up-to-date and fluent • Build your professional network, make yourself visible • Build a list of references • Keep your web presence up-to-date Have you done an internship?

12. Transitioning How many of you hope to work both in academia and in industry?

13. Becoming a Technical Leader • Technical depth and breadth • Your “brand”: what do you want to be known for? • Credentials • Vita, patents, publications, awards • Communications skills • Correct, concise, clear, match form and style to occasion • Basic skills • “Business” sense – understanding the broad goals • Prioritization and time management • Analytic and negotiation skills • Learn to lead without power • A good character • Trustworthy, committed, positive, self-aware, empowered • Recognize everyone’s contributions • Avoid derailment

14. Becoming a Technical Leader Who comes to mind when you think “technical leader”? How are you different from or similar to that person?

15. Networking is Important • Networking is important • Visibility, research • Mentors, team members • Contribute to your network • Making professional connections • Not a substitute for doing quality work • Collaborate with academia • Funding, internships, joint projects/publications • Partner with business groups within the company • Technology transfer

16. Networking is Important Do you belong to an online professional network? Do you have a mentor? Do you mentor someone else?

17. Resources • Cracking the Coding Interview, Gayle Laakmann McDowell, 2011 • How To Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed, Robert E. Kelley, 1998 • Ask For It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want, Linda Babcock & Sara Laschever, 2008 • First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, 1999 • Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections, Ivan Misner, David Alexander, Brian Hilliard, 2010 • Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results, Morten Hansen, 2009 • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton, 1991 • Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office, Lois Frankel, 2010