41–50 of 58 posts
If you work in tech at a level high enough, then conferences, white papers, technical reports and so on are part and parcel of the job. All these generally coalesce into 1-2 academic-like papers per year for important journals in your field.
Obvious caveats are:
* In some areas such as CS, you'll want to publish at a conference. If you submit a paper, one named author will have to agree to present it. If that has to be you, you'll have to pay the travel and registration cost for the conference.
* IP / ownership issues are big, particularly if you work for a BigCorp in a field close to that you are publishing in --- these tend to be pretty inflexible on this. I found it difficult, but not impossible at the BigCorp I worked for. I'm in a small consultancy now, and it's a breeze.
My SO works in a library but does academic research in her own time. It's difficult to find the time, but writing papers during evenings/weekends and, where possible, presenting them at conferences has resulted in some degree of success e.g. a published book, invitations to participate in editing/reviewing. Getting a full-time academic post is difficult, though, as there is a lot of competition for the few in the fie…
I would recommend an academic career, especially at a minor institution, only to some of my worst enemies. Poor pay, bureaucracy, days and nights grading, boredom. Yes, you might spend your career investigating something you are interested in, but there is also something in variety.
I’ve written a few academic papers on my own time after grad school. It wasn’t much harder than writing papers while in school, it just took some nights & weekends time, and I had to work a little to find people willing and capable of reviewing the papers and giving feedback. It cost a bit of personal money to present at a conference whenever a paper was accepted, but it was what I wanted to do so it never bothered m…
Not all that interested in publishing in academic journals persé.
If you work in tech at a level high enough, then conferences, white papers, technical reports and so on are part and parcel of the job. All these generally coalesce into 1-2 academic-like papers per year for important journals in your field.
Working for a tech company that does research and at a level that is high enough is no small feat.
I’ve written a few academic papers on my own time after grad school. It wasn’t much harder than writing papers while in school, it just took some nights & weekends time, and I had to work a little to find people willing and capable of reviewing the papers and giving feedback. It cost a bit of personal money to present at a conference whenever a paper was accepted, but it was what I wanted to do so it never bothered m…
I think what seems to be the hardest part is to not only find the time but combat the imposter syndrome of not producing research within an academic context/with supervision. Also, reduced access to scientific databases is a bit of a turndown, we used to get it at uni. Not all that interested in publishing in academic journals persé.
As for databased or access to journals, luckily there is SciHub.
I don't, but if you are interested in doing this then you should definitely give it a go. Beside actually doing good research in the first place, there should not be major barriers to writing and publishing a paper and I don't think there is the kind of gatekeeping that people think there is. Pick a small conference or workshop to start with, read a few papers from previous years to understand the format, style and c…
There is certainly gate-keeping at decent journals. For instance, not having an affiliation with an institution or a company known to carry out research is not the best presentation you can make.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is certainly gate-keeping at decent journals. For instance, not having an affiliation with an institution or a company known to carry out research is not the best presentation you can make.
But reviewers will not know who you are affiliated with until reviewing is done and the paper is accepted.
I study every day on my career, and consider it an academic exercise to read tech blogs on coding, design, server admin, etc... and I sometimes write about these topics to inform my clients. I kill 3 birds with one stone. I learn, I get to dive into topics deep that benefit my mind, and my work (doubly satisfying) and educate my clients. It lowers my stress when my research provides a very real world solution. (These…
I believe "academic writing" usually refers to original research. One notable exception is a survey of recent advances in the field.
I’ve written a few academic papers on my own time after grad school. It wasn’t much harder than writing papers while in school, it just took some nights & weekends time, and I had to work a little to find people willing and capable of reviewing the papers and giving feedback. It cost a bit of personal money to present at a conference whenever a paper was accepted, but it was what I wanted to do so it never bothered m…
I think what seems to be the hardest part is to not only find the time but combat the imposter syndrome of not producing research within an academic context/with supervision. Also, reduced access to scientific databases is a bit of a turndown, we used to get it at uni. Not all that interested in publishing in academic journals persé.
The supervision might actually matter. But you might be able to get some. Pick the best of your former professors. Drop them an email, giving your approach. Ask if they see any red flags. If they say yes, listen.