Today IST held a Graduate Career Seminar. At first I thought the information discussed wouldn't be of much value yet since I just started this semester. However, before the morning was over I soon realized how important it is to start early in preparing for your next steps, whether you want to enter industry or academia. Even as a first year student I need to start thinking of where I want to work when I finish my studies, where I want to publish my work and who I want to include in my network of contacts. In fact, it was at the last session of the day when we began to discuss the importance of networking and were given tips on how and where to network that I began to tie the entire days discussion to this week's blog post.
When I hear other graduate students talk about wanting to publish or present at a conference it seems as if their focus is only on the paper or the event they will be attending. However, conferences are also excellent avenues for meeting future career contacts. So, with this in mind I began to think about the conferences I wanted to attend a little differently. Instead of looking at the conference as a presentation or publication outlet I started to consider it as an opportunity to do career networking. I asked myself a few questions: "Where will my work make a difference? or Where do I think my work will make difference?". And, "Where do I want to meet people who are also doing research in areas similar to my interest?"
Since I am interested in Education Technology, I believe SIGCSE is a natural choice. I've attended the conference before so I know it's format and what to expect. It isn't as large as other conferences but the program has a lot to offer those of us that are interested how technology is used in education. I also know it isn't the only Special interest group of the ACM. Another is CHI, the Special interest group for Human Computer Interaction(HCI). I have never been to any of their conferences. However, what I've heard from other students and professors this is the conference to go to for those of us interested in HCI.
It's been a couple of years since I've been to a Grace Hopper celebration of Women in Computing conference. In fact, I've only attended one, but it was a great experience and I want to consider it as a future publication venue. The organization works on promoting women in computing, getting more women to consider technology careers and there are opportunities for anyone that is interested in doing work in gender research. I am very interested in learning more about women, education and technology, hopefully my research work will lead me to incorporating all three. I recommend all students check out this website. You never know when you will find yourself on a committee helping with the recruitment and retention of students.
The last conference I'm including is one that was mentioned in an email in the last week, IDC. It has to do with Interaction Design and Children. From what I have been able to find out from their website, it is a conference that I definitely want to discuss with my advisor to get more information. Since I hope to work with technology that will benefit children as well as adults, it may be a conference that will be a good venue for future presentations.
These are the conferences I have come up with so far, I know there are some I am not considering, mainly because I don't know about them...yet!
When I hear other graduate students talk about wanting to publish or present at a conference it seems as if their focus is only on the paper or the event they will be attending. However, conferences are also excellent avenues for meeting future career contacts. So, with this in mind I began to think about the conferences I wanted to attend a little differently. Instead of looking at the conference as a presentation or publication outlet I started to consider it as an opportunity to do career networking. I asked myself a few questions: "Where will my work make a difference? or Where do I think my work will make difference?". And, "Where do I want to meet people who are also doing research in areas similar to my interest?"
Since I am interested in Education Technology, I believe SIGCSE is a natural choice. I've attended the conference before so I know it's format and what to expect. It isn't as large as other conferences but the program has a lot to offer those of us that are interested how technology is used in education. I also know it isn't the only Special interest group of the ACM. Another is CHI, the Special interest group for Human Computer Interaction(HCI). I have never been to any of their conferences. However, what I've heard from other students and professors this is the conference to go to for those of us interested in HCI.
It's been a couple of years since I've been to a Grace Hopper celebration of Women in Computing conference. In fact, I've only attended one, but it was a great experience and I want to consider it as a future publication venue. The organization works on promoting women in computing, getting more women to consider technology careers and there are opportunities for anyone that is interested in doing work in gender research. I am very interested in learning more about women, education and technology, hopefully my research work will lead me to incorporating all three. I recommend all students check out this website. You never know when you will find yourself on a committee helping with the recruitment and retention of students.
The last conference I'm including is one that was mentioned in an email in the last week, IDC. It has to do with Interaction Design and Children. From what I have been able to find out from their website, it is a conference that I definitely want to discuss with my advisor to get more information. Since I hope to work with technology that will benefit children as well as adults, it may be a conference that will be a good venue for future presentations.
These are the conferences I have come up with so far, I know there are some I am not considering, mainly because I don't know about them...yet!
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