How to PhD Podcast

Who works at MIT Lincoln Lab? MIT Lincoln Laboratory employs a diverse workforce of scientists, engineers, and support staff. The laboratory offers a wide range of job opportunities for individuals with backgrounds in engineering, mathematics, computer science, physics, and other related fields. Some of the typical job titles at MIT Lincoln Laboratory include research scientist, engineer, software developer, and program manager. The laboratory also offers internships and co-op positions for students who are interested in gaining hands-on experience in research and development. In addition to its research and development activities, MIT Lincoln Laboratory is also involved in outreach and education initiatives. The laboratory offers a variety of programs designed to inspire and educate the next generation of scientists and engineers. These programs include summer camps, workshops, and internships for students of all ages. Associated blog post: https://howtophd.org/2023/05/open-jobs-at-lincoln-lab-how-to-apply-directly.html Wide range of job opportunities in science, engineering, and technology In summary, MIT Lincoln Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center that is dedicated to developing advanced technologies for US national security. The laboratory offers a wide range of job opportunities for individuals with backgrounds in science, engineering, and technology. The laboratory is also involved in outreach and education initiatives aimed at inspiring and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers. Where to apply for open jobs at Lincoln Lab I have been working at MIT Lincoln Lab for over a year now and only recently discovered this link to apply to staff positions here. So I thought I would share it in this blog post. Direct website for open jobs at Lincoln Lab: http://careers.ll.mit.edu/ I joined as a subcontractor myself through another company so I did not know about the regular careers website until now. This is where you can see all open positions and apply to multiple jobs if you like. I believe the application is fairly simple requiring a resume and basic information. The cover letter is optional. Of course, please verify all information yourself. I will share part of an open job description below. This should give an idea of the types of roles available at the Lab. This is just one example though so please do your due diligence looking at all opportunities. Open jobs at Lincoln Lab example Required qualifications: Ability to learn new technical areas quickly and apply that knowledge effectively to solve challenging mission problems Ability to present technical concepts clearly to a wide spectrum of audiences Proficiency with programming languages for computer modeling (e.g. Matlab, Python, C) Doctorate in Physics, Engineering, Applied Math, Astronomy, or a related field. In lieu of a Doctorate, a Master’s degree with at least 5 years of technical experience will be considered. Good luck with your job search!!! Let me know any comments and/or message me on LinkedIn with your questions. My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oindreebanerjee/

What is candidacy?   The 6-week formal exam required by grad school  Advisor/committee chooses a topic  Typically not something you have worked on  But good for you to know  You do a literature review on the topic  Deliverables: 15 – 20 page paper (at the end of 4 weeks) + Talk (at the end of 6 weeks) Timing Professors are busy Ask to be on your committee >= 4 months in advance Schedule your exam on a day and time that works well for you – this is your candidacy Make sure oral exam is on committee members’ schedules If very hard-to-get professor such as the Chair of the department, talk to the assistant for scheduling Once you get the topic remember you are not alone Not a lone journey you will need help and so get ready to ASK FOR HELP Ask clarification from the advisor/committee on the topic What are their expectations? Broadly, what outline should your paper follow? Communicate profusely with your advisor/committee They picked the topic, they want to see that you are interested in it Ask away, they will tell you when they cannot tell you something On d-day Get to the exam early get familiar with the room, and whiteboards, and set up your talk During the exam Station yourself near a whiteboard No hiding behind talk Be very respectful, alert, and attentive Show willingness to work it out on the board Committee wants you to succeed If you get stuck/flustered under questioning They might throw you lifeline – recognize and utilize Relevant to topics: PhD admission, latest PhD admission notification 2022, research type project, research paper presentation, PhD notification 2022, PhD notification 2023, scope of educational research, research paper, operation research, importance of research, research project, OSU  candidacy exam, Ohio State University, PhD candidacy exam, United States PhD, US PhD, Grad School, USA Grad School, US graduate school  

I am loving September in Boston. Today when I stepped out the sun was just right. Warms your heart but doesn’t burn the skin. Then after work I went to Home Goods and the evening too was just perfect. You know when you’re driving and the sun decides to blind you and you can’t see the road for a moment, that almost happened but it’s becoming dusk earlier now and a cool twilight had descended by the time I was done buying my new comforter set. Also I’m back home as Boston is home now!!! When I got back it was 4:30 in the morning and I was wondering if I’d get a Lyft or Uber. A nice smelling Lyft car came in THREE MINUTES Among other things, this vacation in the Caribbeans was perfect for perspective about the many conveniences of the mainland. Lyft and Uber and ease of access to many things including unlimited (in comparison) FOOD, ingredients, things to do, jobs, etc. The islands are in the most magnificent blue-green emerald water that is perfect for swimming, snorkeling with onlooking lush mountains. Nothing like it for sure!! However Boston has all the advantages of being on the water without the huge potentially disastrous disadvantages of being an island. For that, we are LUCKY. Sure the water is cold so to solve that we can get away to the islands and the water is dark blue but that’s because the food of the food of whales is in the water and that makes us have whales. And I like whales. I like it here. Of course the best part is FUJI SUJI BAJI (fur babies) live here now. I landed in Boston and realized we live here now!!! I could just go home and meet them and I did and Fuji was waiting at the door at FIVE IN THE MORNING! Some differences between the US Virgin Islands and the Mainland (Boston): The US Virgin Islands (St Thomas) has tax-free, duty-free jewelry!!! Lots of jewelry stores where you can get good deals on diamonds, gold, silver, precious stones, etc. Check this yourself but I believe the limit is $1300 for a single person and $3200 for a household on jewelry you can buy tax-free, over that limit, you will have to pay a small fee at customs at the airport. You drive on the LEFT there. I got a rental car and drove British-style, in American-style car, made in Japan!! It is kind of nerve-wracking but also powerful to be able to drive around the island doing what you want! It is not very walkable there so you do need a car. Without a car, you would rely on taxis or shared taxis/buses. There are no Lyft or Uber there. There are a lot of mosquitos in the Caribbean! I was bit a lot in my hotel room as well at night. Haven't really experienced that in Boston at home.  It is very hot in the Caribbean (I went in late August-September) and I had to be careful about not getting sun poisoning and dehydration! I did get sick one night after being out all day. So be careful!! But if you love the sun, you get a LOT OF IT there  The drinking age there is 18 and open liquor is allowed in the streets! You can just get a drink while jewelry shopping and walk outside with it! The islands can be affected by disastrous hurricanes while Boston has the advantages of being on the water but it is relatively much safer  Everyone knows everyone in the islands, it is a small and close-knit community which can be great depending on personal preference. The life there is more laid back and things are slower... it is nice to get away and slow down with nature in the Caribbeans

I have been told by multiple employers that my resume using this template is the best resume they had ever seen! I always got the interview if not the job! I have also helped many friends successfully use this template and give their careers huge makeovers!! So now it is YOUR turn.  Please don’t hate me, but this resume template is in LaTeX. If you are not familiar with that, now is a great time to learn and that is exactly what I go over here in this episode! You can Google LaTeX and get lots of help. Also, this template will allow you to hit the road running. LaTeX is fully customizable which makes it awesome to use once you get the hang of it.  This template is now extendable to two or more pages. You will see. It can accommodate more than one page and is highly customizable. However, if you are early in your career, you should try to stick to one page! Link to resume template where you will start working on your resume project now: https://www.overleaf.com/read/dnhymzqppptq You can access this one-page technical resume template on Overleaf. I freaking love Overleaf. This is why. OVERLEAF IS AN ONLINE LATEX EDITOR THAT’S EASY TO USE: NO INSTALLATION, REAL-TIME COLLABORATION, VERSION CONTROL, HUNDREDS OF LATEX TEMPLATES, AND MORE. All you have to do is click on the resume template link I provide above, and then edit the Overleaf files that you will then have access to, in order to change out the fields like name, and other specifics. Once you click the link, please save the project with a different name and then turn off sharing unless you want other people to be able to edit your resume. See along the top panel to change the name of your Overleaf project and to change the sharing setting. Next, look at the left panel. In the above picture, we are viewing the PDF result of the files after compiling the LaTeX code that makes your resume. To change what shows up in this PDF result, you need to make edits in the other files like main.tex, page1sidebar.tex, etc. All parts of the resume can be edited by going into each of these files in the left panel. Try making a change, and then go back to the PDF view and click on the green button called “Recompile” in the top panel. You should then be able to see the change you made reflected in the PDF result of your work. After making all the changes, you will have your new resume in PDF format from this template. To save the resume to your computer, you can click on the button near the “Recompile” button with the down arrow on it. You do have to log in. I usually just use my Google login. I made the project for this resume template that you will have to use to edit and create your own resume ‘Read Only.’ This is because I don’t want people to mess up the template once they start editing because I noticed that although I asked people to create their own project first, people start to edit the original template and then the template files get broken for other users! Not fun!! If you have problems accessing this template online because it is ‘Read Only’, please let me know and I will fix the problems. Full blog post: https://howtophd.org/2020/05/one-page-technical-resume-template.html GOOD LUCK!!! Leave a comment on the blog post with your questions!!! Have fun job searching and using this template to create your BEST RESUME!!!!! Note: the blog post provides the files on OneDrive as well. Any problems, let me know. You can also add me on LinkedIn and msg me there with your troubles. I would love to improve this for everyone and make sure that it works!!! 

In this episode I cover what it means to be a systems analyst and share from my personal experience spanning three jobs post academia. A systems analysis role is 1) problem solving 2) big picture architecting of how to solve a problem backed by technical analysis 3) not focused on building tools for other users but rather leveraging existing tools and using them for your analysis and only building a tool from scratch if it is needed and in a way where you will be the main user of it 4) making PowerPoint slides on your analysis and presenting this work and spending time understanding how best to communicate through this and for the right audience etc 5) communication with team members or across organizations to do due diligence on what’s been done already so much like literature review before embarking on original research work. This type of role has lots of parallels with academic research and transferable skills from scholarly work would be very useful here.

In this episode, I share from my recent experiences as program manager and what I learned. Being in a leadership position is very different from being an individual contributor and I think it’s good to strike a balance of having both aspects on separate projects if that is important to you. In leadership, the primary focus is to serve the team and do what is right for the team and performance of the projects and often times if things are going well your main job is to get out of the way! Develop and maintain trust. Don’t micromanage and remember to communicate the right amount: not too much nor too little! Hope the conversation helps to go over how to do this!!!

Follow on LinkedIn and let me know if you need any help or advice with finding a job at any of the organizations I have worked in so far. Chances are I can at least point you in the right direction if I have not worked there yet. A referral is the most efficient way to get a job so don't forget to reach out and get started on this process! It is not you, it is them if you are not getting a job or a good offer. We will work on this together!

LADIES, change your profile photo and LI headline this New Year. (I need to as well once I find someone to take a headshot of me, lol!) Here is what I have learned and like to share!! 🌱 Get someone to take a headshot of you in the outdoors against a natural background with natural lighting. Look professional yet approachable, which you are!!! 🌱 Change your headline to something like this: "Entry 1 | Entry 2 | Entry 3 | Entry 4 | Entry 5" where the entry values can be stuff like what I have in my headline describing myself, my role, etc. The last entry should be something that humanizes you or gives even more extra information about you that normally wouldn't be known. It could be "Travel Enthusiast" and has nothing to do with your job. See below for why the entries are so important. 🌱 Use the entries in your headline to make yourself more searchable on LinkedIn, leverage that space to put in keywords important to your industry or area of work like "Machine Learning Expert" so that the keywords help you to show up on search results. Don't just put your current title or job there. Think KEYWORDS 🌱 You can put things like "Open to Relocate" or "Remote" as your entries if you are willing to do those. Lots of people, for example, are not open to relocating and if you say that you are upfront it helps the right people find you on search results. 🌱 If you have a security clearance and looking for a job in the defense industry, make sure to put "Active Security Clearance" as one of your entries!!!!! And also in your role's job description!!! If you are trying to get into the defense industry and are a US citizen, meaning you are eligible for getting a security clearance, then put "Security Clearance Eligible" as one of your entries, please!!!!! 🌱 Comment your LI profile on here or DM me if you want me to personally review your LI profile and give you changes. We can iterate indefinitely. 🌱 GO GET THAT HIGH PAYING JOB NOW!!!!!!!!!!! Also, for your headline, which I suggest should be like this "Entry 1 | Entry 2 | Entry 3 | Entry 4 | Entry 5" you can be more fun and use emojis as the dividers like I do instead of this character "|" but it is whatever you like more! The most important thing is KEYWORDS! And note that my profile pic is just a selfie right now but at least it is outdoors in natural lighting, so you can do something similar till you replace the pic with a more professional-looking headshot. Incremental progress is still progress. Don't wait for things to be perfect before you start implementing changes. If recruiters are not hounding you right this moment, that means you can make changes in the next 30 seconds to improve your chances of being found or showing up on search results!!!! SO DO IT (or I will beat you! just kidding) Finally, this advice is especially relevant for those who are still in school or grad school, so people know you are job searching and that is normal. So go nuts!!! For some who are in jobs right now and don't want it to be known that they are job searching, it may be a bit trickier, still for those, too, you can do a lot of these incremental changes without hurting anything and also increasing your chances of being found manyfold. For me, for example, due to being in the defense industry already, I get approached all the time and know enough people whom I can reach out to for a job change, so my LI profile is not the end all be all for job searching, plus I am very happy in my current role! But please recognize that it is an incredible tool for you if you are new to job searching!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Women have everything it takes to be very successful, that is, more than average-level successful in STEM. We discuss:  STEM opportunities that women might feel are not for them like roles in defense, physics, engineering, etc. pay extremely well so even though women would be fewer in numbers in these types of roles, they would be paid well, become independent professionals, and thrive in spite of existing challenges (more on that below). Making good money is the first step to having independence and doing well in your life regardless of personal challenges. I have lots of content on how to negotiate salary, job search, etc.  Govt. salaries are public and modern policies make it so that it is considerably harder (officially) to discriminate against women, so if discrimination or harassment happens, women can address these issues now instead of living with them. This does not mean that things are perfect, the point is that policy and rules are supposed to help women get paid with equality and to address issues, so know your rights. Microaggressions against women and boys' clubs in the workplace still exist and can make it a hostile/unwelcoming environment for women. If this happens, and in spite of this, women can still thrive (not just survive) by typically being more focused than the boys-club-men, and by having a small network of high-achieving women to help them keep on track and help to pursue opportunities. It is extremely important to discuss day-to-day problems and pursue opportunities with the help of other women in your network, for example, a successful woman in your network knows about an opportunity that would be great for you, and then recommends you. This is how you can grow quickly rather than stay stuck where you are and also where you have problems (where you will go, you will have problems too, but at least, you would have progressed your career). Prioritize self-care and hire help. Traditionally, men have been able to be super successful with the help of their wives who took care of their lives, family obligations, etc. If you are to be successful, you need to realize that you can't do everything and it is highly encouraged to hire help like a housekeeper, nanny, lawncare - whatever you can afford. In high-paying jobs, chances are you can afford these and it is on you to pay for this help and help yourself get the rest you need and to practice self-care like taking a bath, getting a massage, eating, and sleeping well. If you don't do these, you will burn out and be less good at your job anyway, so these are not an option, these are essential. 

This is my talk given on Nov 19, 2021, at the University of Mount Union at the Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Physics! I cover my Ph.D. thesis which is in the field of particle astrophysics. I also go through content from my books, and blog to help students succeed in academia, industry, and government! I have experience in all three worlds now (academia, industry, and government) so anything I can share to help students and young professionals to navigate challenges in these fields, I am happy to!  The journey from Ph.D. candidate to government scientist is worth sharing for those who feel the same uncertainties that I used to feel when I was in graduate school. It IS possible and this is how. Excerpt from my blog on how to finish your Ph.D. in a timely manner: Do things that will directly translate to the contents of your thesis. And, only those things. If you have been keeping good notes, putting your thesis together should not take more than a couple of months. Do not put off writing. Block off time to write every day. Basically, if you are a good graduate student, that’s great, but also, it won’t be easy. You will be working really hard till the last minute. You are fully capable of getting the work done, though. That’s WHY you are a good graduate student. So, what do you need to do to finish? The FOUR things you need to accomplish to graduate are: Finish your projects Finish writing your thesis Find/train your replacement graduate student(s) Find a job that your advisor/committee will approve of (good postdoc or top industry job) Full blog post: https://howtophd.org/2018/08/how-to-actually-finish-your-phd-in.html Let me know any questions!!!