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

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

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

Maryam Kamvar Garrett

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

Amanda Stent Computational linguist working on dialog systems, natural language generation, assistive technology 1.Principal Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Labs – Research 2.Associate/Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Stony Brook University 3.Postdoc, AT&T Labs – Research 4.PhD student, Computer Science, University of Rochester Also: married, taekwondo student, pianist, EMT in training

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?

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?

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 employers 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?

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 employers bottom-line – Proactively develops new and innovative products and services – Seeks productive partnerships with other business units and external collaborators

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?

Transitioning AcademiaIndustry Active publishing in top tier conferences Active collaborations with academia Establish visibility in research community Must build real systems Up-to-date technical skills Understand business roadmaps Establish visibility in industry, startups How many of you hope to work both in academia and in industry?

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 everyones contributions Avoid derailment

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

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

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

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