3 ms·

Your post made me create an account because I'm in a very similar situation. I was not "good" at math until later years of undergrad, where more abstract topics

Your post made me create an account because I'm in a very similar situation. I was not "good" at math until later years of undergrad, where more abstract topics made me fall in love with it. I never could follow courses by going to class and had a much easier time just reading and taking notes. I'm now finishing a robotics PhD where I had the opportunity to do pretty well as a slow thinker by taking the time to understand and apply concepts from computational algebraic geometry. Currently I'm doing an ML research internship at a SV company and this problem of "slowness" at meetings is really resonating with me. I have a hard time following quick verbal communication, I just need the time to think in order to contribute. I don't know it's like I just phase out or forget what we were talking about. Have you found any useful techniques to do better in this type of environment? Is there any advice you would give your younger self?

jebarker 4y ago
Sorry for the delay, I had to think about my response... I think I know some good strategies, but I often fail to live by them still. Firstly, encourage written/async communication by setting a good example: - Keep up-to-date written descriptions of projects and progress in a wiki that is available to all colleagues. - Deliver high quality presentations on your research periodically. These don't have to be reserved for big public conferences. - Send regular but concise status update e-mails to a list of likely interested colleagues. Advertise your wiki here. - Send out edited meeting notes within a day or two of working meetings. General advice I'd give my younger self is pretty cliche, but to trust in my abilities and the value I can provide by working in ways that are comfortable to me. It's more important to take care of my long term mental health than it is to be in the spotlight or maximizing output all the time. Quality work speaks for itself and doesn't need to be continually delivered. Don't get sucked in to false urgency. Delivering a couple of genuinely useful things per year (and publicizing those appropriately) is enough to keep you in people's minds but give you the space to think deeply about the real work. I say this from a place of privilege though where, somehow, I've managed to accrue a large amount of experience and ended up in a secure research position. The company (and team) I work for give me a lot of autonomy and I have a very supportive manager. Applying computational algebraic geometry to robotics sounds fascinating. What are some highlight papers in that area?

jebarker 4y ago

Sorry for the delay, I had to think about my response... I think I know some good strategies, but I often fail to live by them still. Firstly, encourage written/async communication by setting a good example: - Keep up-to-date written descriptions of projects and progress in a wiki that is available to all colleagues. - Deliver high quality presentations on your research periodically. These don't have to be reserved for big public conferences. - Send regular but concise status update e-mails to a list of likely interested colleagues. Advertise your wiki here. - Send out edited meeting notes within a day or two of working meetings. General advice I'd give my younger self is pretty cliche, but to trust in my abilities and the value I can provide by working in ways that are comfortable to me. It's more important to take care of my long term mental health than it is to be in the spotlight or maximizing output all the time. Quality work speaks for itself and doesn't need to be continually delivered. Don't get sucked in to false urgency. Delivering a couple of genuinely useful things per year (and publicizing those appropriately) is enough to keep you in people's minds but give you the space to think deeply about the real work. I say this from a place of privilege though where, somehow, I've managed to accrue a large amount of experience and ended up in a secure research position. The company (and team) I work for give me a lot of autonomy and I have a very supportive manager. Applying computational algebraic geometry to robotics sounds fascinating. What are some highlight papers in that area?