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> academic projects also benefit quite a lot from this non-core work Yes, of course they do. The whole point is that this type of labor is valuable. > if your
by throwawaygh 5y ago
> academic projects also benefit quite a lot from this non-core work
Yes, of course they do. The whole point is that this type of labor is valuable.
> if your goal is to build something that people actually want to use, as opposed to just pushing out papers.
Neither of those things is the purpose of a phd...
If a student's goal is to build something that people actually want to use, they are much better served by taking an industry position in a product group.
> pushing out papers
From my perspective, the obsession with publishing is just another version of the same problem.
- Topolomancer 5y ago> If a student's goal is to build something that people actually want to use, they are much better served by taking an industry position in a product group. Agreed, I should have phrased that better. Fundamentally, the focus should be on 'generating new knowledge,' right? > From my perspective, the obsession with publishing is just another version of the same problem. Yes. :(
- lmeyerov 5y agoA lot of systems research is socially guided where community-of-practice approaches help. If you haven't, I recommend reading something like Rogers' surveys of papers in 'Diffusion of Innovation' for why, especially before writing publicly that students following such methods would be better off abandoning them for industry jobs. Industry jobs, including R&D, are generally not like the old days of Bell Labs. Startups are kind of like that, but still quite different because VC/P&L/growth/sales still warp things. (And PhD programs are great places to experiment before that jump, as the learning & investigation can take an unknown amount of time.)