The Beginning of a Scientific Career (Part 6)
Well, the narration is slowly beginning to go beyond the scope of postgraduate activities and, therefore, approaching the limits of my competence :) As long as there are ideas about what to write, and then you can go to the "readers' applications" - if you ask to highlight any stage or a question in more detail, it can be arranged.
In the same part we will talk about the process of late postgraduate and early post-graduate activities.
When you no longer need to listen to courses, but you have to write articles and prepare for the thesis defense, a relatively “adult life” begins. If you like what you are doing at this stage, you will most likely enjoy it further. Although in the life of a university employee there are also enough problems, the “bonuses” are also great. In particular, there is a great chance to do your favorite business, and in a fairly free mode. As it was said in some funny text, programmers get money for what they would do and for free. But if you do something, why not get some money for it? :) The obvious advantages are low stress levels on average. As a rule, stories related to malicious customers, deadlines, an incomprehensible budget, and other activities that are far from joy , do not arise within the university.
')
In exchange, it is required to meet the formal criteria of “goodness”, in which in practice there is also little joy, but it is quite possible under the condition of trained hands and brains.
“Good” for a graduate student is the ability to competently carry out scientific work and (no less important) correctly report the results. For later stages, another skill is almost to the forefront - the ability to beat out money.
In any scientific study, 20 percent constitute the actual “research” and 80 percent - all kinds of “polishing” associated with the receipt and publication of results. At first, it enraged me, but now I relate to this fact philosophically. In the end, society feeds us and has the right to some kind of reporting. Yes, our reporting is bad, but we are not runners. We cannot be put in a row and made to run - the one who came running first is the good one. Unfortunately, nothing better than the banal amount of waste paper produced (if possible, delivered to a decent receiver , that is, a magazine), humanity has not invented as a report. Well, let's make them happy; Anyone who is able to conduct a competent research can learn to spell it correctly. The wisdom of this science is described in the above-mentioned article by Chona and Phillips and Pugh’s book (yes, the second author’s last name is pronounced that way , I myself was not sure).
Thus, the main skill of a graduate student at the time of graduation from graduate school (of course, my personal opinion) is the ability to intelligently divide a complex task into smaller subtasks with understandable "inputs" and "outputs." The length of the "small pozdadachi" - two or three months maximum. The shorter the better. According to the results of the “minor subtasks” you need to be able to write an article. Then the work is put on stream, and this is exactly what needs to be achieved (except for the completion of postgraduate studies, university career is over).
Another important result is to make the necessary contacts. Unfortunately, at one time I spent much more time at the computer, and not in a coffee shop (accelerated protection, but led to problems later), and as a result, the real contact network began to build up much later.
A difficult moment for a graduate student being graduated is the smooth flow of his studies into further scientific work. Roughly speaking, what status will you have after graduation? There are two main possibilities - to go “according to the scientific” part (to be of one kind or another as a research assistant, laboratory assistant) or according to the “scientific-educational” part (that is, to the teaching staff).
In any case, a wide network of contacts and a new “goodness” - the ability to beat out money for research - is useful.
Now about these two things in more detail. In order to continue any activity, we need money. Shura Gomelsky writes in detail and sensibly about the process of finding them. This old text is almost still relevant today. Is that not all the old links are already working, plus there are interesting new ones.
Now, from the whole Gomelsky narration, I draw attention to the separation of "external" (stock) and "internal" (university) money. Any university has some resources. Many universities are able to contain graduate students, postdocs and teachers without asking for help anywhere "to the outside world." Of course, this money is intended for "their". If you can become “your own” and secure access to the distribution, that’s fine. This method requires known communication skills, but is the least nervous.
Even if the university does not have the money, there are always attempts to knock out “external” grants for a particular group project (carried out by several people). Specifically, two or three people are engaged in “knocking out”, and it’s not a fact that they see themselves as project performers. Accordingly, money is found alone, while others receive it (the “group”). Will you be a member of any group if the university gets a grant? The answer to this question, as you can guess, lies not only in the scientific plane.
From personal experience. The Gomelsky article describes how to obtain a post-graduate grant. In principle, in a very similar way, you can knock out money for yourself and graduate school itself. The article clearly shows that the process is non-trivial and non-deterministic (the essence comes down to a simple formula - knocking on all the doors until they open it). In my case, the magistracy smoothly transferred to the postgraduate study (supported by a scholarship). The supervisor waved his hand - they say, do not worry, everything will be solved. And indeed, he wrote a couple of statements, where the authorities started warning in the meantime - and voila. Conclusion: to be “one's own” is very profitable :)
Here I, perhaps, will make a technical break, because the article becomes too long.
In the next part, which will appear very soon, let's talk about “external” funds and other aspects of post-graduate education.
In the same part we will talk about the process of late postgraduate and early post-graduate activities.
When you no longer need to listen to courses, but you have to write articles and prepare for the thesis defense, a relatively “adult life” begins. If you like what you are doing at this stage, you will most likely enjoy it further. Although in the life of a university employee there are also enough problems, the “bonuses” are also great. In particular, there is a great chance to do your favorite business, and in a fairly free mode. As it was said in some funny text, programmers get money for what they would do and for free. But if you do something, why not get some money for it? :) The obvious advantages are low stress levels on average. As a rule, stories related to malicious customers, deadlines, an incomprehensible budget, and other activities that are far from joy , do not arise within the university.
')
In exchange, it is required to meet the formal criteria of “goodness”, in which in practice there is also little joy, but it is quite possible under the condition of trained hands and brains.
“Good” for a graduate student is the ability to competently carry out scientific work and (no less important) correctly report the results. For later stages, another skill is almost to the forefront - the ability to beat out money.
In any scientific study, 20 percent constitute the actual “research” and 80 percent - all kinds of “polishing” associated with the receipt and publication of results. At first, it enraged me, but now I relate to this fact philosophically. In the end, society feeds us and has the right to some kind of reporting. Yes, our reporting is bad, but we are not runners. We cannot be put in a row and made to run - the one who came running first is the good one. Unfortunately, nothing better than the banal amount of waste paper produced (if possible, delivered to a decent receiver , that is, a magazine), humanity has not invented as a report. Well, let's make them happy; Anyone who is able to conduct a competent research can learn to spell it correctly. The wisdom of this science is described in the above-mentioned article by Chona and Phillips and Pugh’s book (yes, the second author’s last name is pronounced that way , I myself was not sure).
Thus, the main skill of a graduate student at the time of graduation from graduate school (of course, my personal opinion) is the ability to intelligently divide a complex task into smaller subtasks with understandable "inputs" and "outputs." The length of the "small pozdadachi" - two or three months maximum. The shorter the better. According to the results of the “minor subtasks” you need to be able to write an article. Then the work is put on stream, and this is exactly what needs to be achieved (except for the completion of postgraduate studies, university career is over).
Another important result is to make the necessary contacts. Unfortunately, at one time I spent much more time at the computer, and not in a coffee shop (accelerated protection, but led to problems later), and as a result, the real contact network began to build up much later.
A difficult moment for a graduate student being graduated is the smooth flow of his studies into further scientific work. Roughly speaking, what status will you have after graduation? There are two main possibilities - to go “according to the scientific” part (to be of one kind or another as a research assistant, laboratory assistant) or according to the “scientific-educational” part (that is, to the teaching staff).
In any case, a wide network of contacts and a new “goodness” - the ability to beat out money for research - is useful.
Now about these two things in more detail. In order to continue any activity, we need money. Shura Gomelsky writes in detail and sensibly about the process of finding them. This old text is almost still relevant today. Is that not all the old links are already working, plus there are interesting new ones.
Now, from the whole Gomelsky narration, I draw attention to the separation of "external" (stock) and "internal" (university) money. Any university has some resources. Many universities are able to contain graduate students, postdocs and teachers without asking for help anywhere "to the outside world." Of course, this money is intended for "their". If you can become “your own” and secure access to the distribution, that’s fine. This method requires known communication skills, but is the least nervous.
Even if the university does not have the money, there are always attempts to knock out “external” grants for a particular group project (carried out by several people). Specifically, two or three people are engaged in “knocking out”, and it’s not a fact that they see themselves as project performers. Accordingly, money is found alone, while others receive it (the “group”). Will you be a member of any group if the university gets a grant? The answer to this question, as you can guess, lies not only in the scientific plane.
From personal experience. The Gomelsky article describes how to obtain a post-graduate grant. In principle, in a very similar way, you can knock out money for yourself and graduate school itself. The article clearly shows that the process is non-trivial and non-deterministic (the essence comes down to a simple formula - knocking on all the doors until they open it). In my case, the magistracy smoothly transferred to the postgraduate study (supported by a scholarship). The supervisor waved his hand - they say, do not worry, everything will be solved. And indeed, he wrote a couple of statements, where the authorities started warning in the meantime - and voila. Conclusion: to be “one's own” is very profitable :)
Here I, perhaps, will make a technical break, because the article becomes too long.
In the next part, which will appear very soon, let's talk about “external” funds and other aspects of post-graduate education.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/51631/
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