People Skills

Nick Feamster and Alex GrayCS 7001

Personal Promotion

The Market

• Think of yourself as a kind of mini-startup company that is selling– research technique, results, etc.– yourself (reputation, problem solving ability)

• Your goal: high-quality buyers

Finding a Buyer’s Market

• “Hot topics” will change– The buyer’s market is not about research area– …rather, it’s about putting yourself in some

kind of niche

• Ultimately, if you are looking for a job, you may have to place yourself in a certain niche…versatility helps

Develop a Brand

• People want to assign labels to everything, or put you in a “bucket”– It’s better if you choose that bucket for them– What problems, people, etc. are your

“customers”?

• Previous lecture: Sound bytes/memes– Someone outside of your area should be able

to succinctly summarize your value

Business Model

• Effectively, this is what we’ve been talking about in previous lectures

• What is your “product”, why will people buy it, why/how is it sustainable, etc.?

Advertising

• Think of having an advertising “budget”– Currency: Time

• Many possible media for advertising– Talks (in particular, job talks)– Web site– Popular press– Awards– Schmoozing at conferences

Web Page: Your Advertisement

• How people find you• They may also use it to form their first impression

of you• Often, they come looking for something and find

other things about you• Things to include

– Recent developments– Papers and talks– Photo and contact information– Pointers to project pages

Staying Marketable

• People are forgetful– Need consistent (though not necessarily

continual) reminders of your work

• Reminders are not personal annoyances, but rather accomplishments and results– Papers– Results– …

Networking

Know Your Goals

• Why do you need to network?– Getting a job– Meeting collaborators– Enhancing your social or work life

• Knowing what you want to accomplish will help you figure out who to talk to (and budget your time accordingly)

Identify Relevant People

• What does “relevant” mean?– Typically, in research, this means that you

share a common interest, etc.– Chance of forming a connection for research,

career, etc.

• How do you find them?– Other well-connected people– Bibliographies, etc.– Name dropping– The best people of your own generation

Approaching People: Writing

• Maintain a persona– Others know you by a combination of your

publicly visible activities (writing, talks, email correspondence, etc.)

• Your papers can be a valuable representative for your persona– In some cases, your work may precede you– …very different from ordinary social settings!

Approaching People: In-Person

• Study some aspect of the person’s research– Ask questions for which you are generally

interested in the answer– Approach them with an intelligent question

• Avoid negativity and gossip

Exchanging Paper Drafts

• Providing or receiving feedback about a paper is a good way to form a connection– By exchanging feedback, you may converge

to a new idea to work on– Form another connection (perhaps eventually

helpful)

• Phrase criticism constructively

Following Up

• Keep your network “warm”

• Once you have identified a few key people, keep them up to speed– Send them your recent papers– Meet them at conferences and pring them up

to speed

• Stay low-key– Exchange favors our of courtesy and respect– Don’t have colleagues fill social voids

Email

• Think of email as– The front page of the newspaper– …searchable– …highly distribut-able

• You should assume that your email will be forwarded

• Email shrouds subtleties, like tone it also has brings out a lot of tendencies

Email Tendencies

• Knee-jerk reactions

• Treating people like machines

• Getting overwhelmed

• Having your time wasted…

Multi-person research

You and your our advisor

• Ideally, your advisor:– Feeds you with funding– Feeds you with good problems to work on– Guides you along the way to a good solution– Teaches you all the unwritten skills of

research, explicitly or implicitly, including writing, speaking, reviewing, grant-writing, etc

– Promotes you, internally and externally, for fellowships, jobs, committees, etc

You and your our advisor

• This is the closest of all your interpersonal relationships

• Look for compatibility in:– Ideas: ambition level, vagueness level, goals– Management style: independence, hands-on

vs. hands-off, structured vs. unstructured– Personality: humor, life perspective, etc

You and your advisor

• Your advisor is:– Overloaded– Ultimately an intellectual, and excited by ideas

• Your advisor is happy if:– You save him or her time– You don’t create last-minute emergencies– You understand the high-level goals, and

come up with things he/she didn’t think of– You learn on your own, and teach him/her– You don’t give up instantly

Working well in a team

• Clear division of labor– No duplication of same parts of the

task/project– Accountability– Clear coverage of all parts of the task/project– Clear leadership (if large or remote)

• Regular/tight communication