How NOT to Have a Successful PhD on Middleware Research The Ten Commandments (to carefully avoid) Paolo Costa Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

# 1 : PhD is A Nightmare  Despite all, PhD is a privileged job  You can work on what you like most  If it you aren’t having fun, there is something wrong

# 1 (revised): PhD is Just Fun  Wrong again!  Take yourself seriously  Although you’re not going to save the world, you should aim at improving it  Believe in what you are doing always challenge yourself always challenge yourself if you cannot convince yourself about the need of your work, how can you convince others ? if you cannot convince yourself about the need of your work, how can you convince others ?

# 2: State-of-the-art ?!?  It does not matter how narrow / wide is your research area but you should be THE expert  Select the best venues and keep yourself updated  Keep annotated versions of the most relevant papers on your desk

# 3: Publish or Perish !  Publications are key to determine a success of a PhD but... strongly prefer quality over quantity strongly prefer quality over quantity the goal should be let other people know about the work, not to increase our ego the goal should be let other people know about the work, not to increase our ego use workshops responsibly use workshops responsibly  they are useful to discuss preliminary ideas  they are not an easy path for publication 1 idea 4 journal papers 16 extended abstracts 64 technical reports

# 4: “You MUST know my papers”  Making your work popular is up to you  Choose right venues: avoid obscure conferences / journals avoid obscure conferences / journals  Talk to people at conferences bring printed papers with you bring printed papers with you  Make your papers available on your homepage  If you produced any software, create a website and keep it updated don’t forget documentation don’t forget documentation

# 5: Never Share Your Ideas  Don’t be afraid of other people stealing your work  Don’t be afraid of bothering other people most academics like being asked for comments most academics like being asked for comments  Be ready to defend and, in case, revise your ideas  Discussion makes your research stronger

# 6: Advisor is Always Right  Most of the time yes but... you have a more in-depth and close knowledge of the problem you have a more in-depth and close knowledge of the problem  Don’t be scared part of your growth is to become independent part of your growth is to become independent  However, you are NOT always right be open to discuss and challenge your ideas be open to discuss and challenge your ideas master students are usually the most critical because they are not biased master students are usually the most critical because they are not biased

# 7: Let Complexity Be Your Guide  Simple (but not trivial) is a benefit  Simple ideas are the most powerful  Usually complex protocols are just patched version of non-working ideas most working protocols are simple (e.g., TCP/IP) most working protocols are simple (e.g., TCP/IP)  If simple, people can understand it people can understand it bugs are easily found bugs are easily found implementation is less error-prone implementation is less error-prone

# 8: Never be Proven Wrong  Whenever possible, implement your ideas and test them in real settings but think before coding but think before coding  Don’t overestimate intuition  Be fair: make other people able to repeat your experiments make other people able to repeat your experiments don’t discard unsuccessful runs don’t discard unsuccessful runs  “If you get it right the first time, you are likely not understanding the problem” (Murphy’s Law)

# 9: Internships are Wasteful  If possible, spend some months in a different university / research center  It helps you to: strengthen your personality strengthen your personality  different topics, styles of work, people improve your cv improve your cv increase your network increase your network  Many opportunities to get funded e.g., EU grant Marie Curie e.g., EU grant Marie Curie

# 10 Thesis: Mission Impossible  Clearly state the problem  List the system model and assumptions  Describe your solution as simple as possible use examples use examples  Provide details of your experiment setup  Don’t hide flaws: be fair  Compare your work against existing solutions

Acknowledgments  To my former advisor, who prevented me from making such mistakes