Princeton University Grad School Orientation

Today is the Grad School Orientation.
There are a couple of tips to note:

"Success in Graduate School" by a number of people at Princeton University.  They are faculty members as well as senior graduate students.

1. Many people here will struggle at a point that they think they are not going to make it through the graduate school.  They got depressed, worried, etc.   Don't isolate yourself.  Don't just talk to those you have been talking with.  Try to meet new friends and then you will find that you are not the only one.  Build your social capital which will be your important resources throughout your career and life.

2. What really important is your RESEARCH.  The department imposes on you many requirements such as course work, exam etc.  There were people who almost failed their generals (i.e. qualifying exams) eventually were highly recognized because of their research achievements.

3. Ask yourself, what it means to you to be successful.

4. You don't have to do better than others.  All you need to do is to do well enough.  The schools had trained us so well to criticize.  Look around and talk to people.  Try to know what interests others, find and appreciate the good work they've done and learn the way they work.

5. Work smart.  Not just work hard.  Working 24 hours a day is not going to work.  Your brain needs rest in order to work efficiently and cleverly.

6. Set priority!  (This has been repeatedly mentioned throughout the day - therefore it has to be really really important!)  You will have tasks in categories A, B and C.  Find out the time in a day that you are most awake and efficient.  Work on your tasks A at that time.  And then you can go on to tasks B.  Tasks C would be those that can be forgone if necessary.

7. Time flies!  So do PLAN!  When you do something, ask yourself, is it the best use of my time?  Your efficiency falls when you get tired at the end of the day.  (sort of like point 6 though)  As an experience shared by a faculty member, she said she would satisfy herself in the morning by completing a certain task she has promised herself to do and then work on other tasks in the rest of the day.

8. You can't work if you feel depressed or feel having no friends.

9. Social capital (again).  Develop relationships with your fellow students/colleague/people who appeared in a conference you went to.  Do collaborate more with people. This forms a professional academic family.  When you later on go look for jobs, go to another university, you might see them again.

10. Advisors are to help you than to judge you.

11. Keep reminding yourself the purpose of attending grad school.

12. When you read papers, do criticize : is it too good to be true?

13. Think yourself as a professional, as a junior colleague and be contributive to your academic community.

14. "What do I like?" "What don't I like"  Think these today!  Don't think until it is time for you to graduate and to look for jobs. The graduate school is where you will discover yourself and and your potentials.

15. Ask all the stupid questions you need to ask.

16. Be open to new ideas even you have to get focused into a certain topic in an area.  Transformation is allowed.

17. Don't leave anything (task) incomplete.  Let's say you've put off a report for 3 months.  Then the report now has to be 3 months better than it should be 3 months earlier! (Ohhh this is so true)

18. Have a personal life outside the academic life.

19. Research and teaching are not necessarily competing with each other.  Try to make teaching beneficial to your research and vice versa.

20. Just make sure what you've done in teaching is all that is necessary for your students.  Don't let teaching be an escape from other more frustrating responsibilities such as exams and research.

21. get to know the graduate program administration in your department.  Make her/him your friend.  From her/him you will know a lot more about the culture of the department as well as many unwritten rules.

22. The most important thing in your graduate study would be your dissertation advisor.  Choose well!

23. "Eyes on the Prize".  Think a year or two ahead about what you want to be.

24. Don't lose momentum after the generals (qualifying).  Yea it is okay to relax for a week or two after the exam but if you continue relaxing throughout the summer or even till the Christmas, you've lost momentum and much precious time that could instead be spent on working on the next step e.g. deciding dissertation committee etc.

25. Learn how to communicate effectively with multiple and a broad range of audiences.  By communicating with a more general public, you will be challenged by questions such as why you are doing this project, what your project is about...etc which are important to keep you on track.

26. Become involved in campus life and activities.  You may decide the portions say how much time you should spend on activities and on your research.  Pick 1 or 2 or 3 non-academic activities.  If you already have some, don't give them up!

27. When looking for jobs, have plans B and C after plan A.  Be flexible and have backup plans.  Just remind that there will only be one person getting the "X" job and that might not be you.

28.  Goal settings.  Both personal and career goals.  Evaluate how well you are doing now and how you will be doing.  Re-evaluate yourself every semester.  Make a timeline or chart about your progress: semester goals/yearly goals/3-to-5-year goals.

29. Keep a research journal to collect your research ideas and thoughts!

30. Be proactive in self-care: health and well-being.  This is very important.  Don't put it to your task C.  Make it a task B or A (cf. point 6)

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很久之前，我就說對於那些只叫「正面、樂觀」的說法很不爽，覺得這根本是自欺欺人。在《科學人》也有文章指出「正向心理學」其實沒甚麼科學根據(雖然那些人也是心理學家……)。
本書同樣指出在研究中，一味叫人樂觀和夢想成功，其實沒有效果。叫人壓抑負面思想反而還令人想得更負面。作者提出了其他較有效的方法，例如﹕
—培養感恩—想像如何達成目標的過程，而非達成目標之後的感覺
—對重要的人寫信表達感情
—做善事—花錢買經驗而非買東西
—多微笑
—別對自己的錯誤太在意，讓它影響之後的表現
—想讓人喜歡你，就請他幫忙
—少講八卦閒話，尤其是別人的缺點—加點幽默
—禮尚往來
—把工作拆成細項，可免拖延
—為自己寫悼詞
—想節食的話，寫飲食日誌、在廚房掛一面鏡子
—多為人祈禱 <----------(注意是對祈禱者有好處而不是得到別人祈禱者有好處)—不想憤怒持續的話，與其發洩不如找這壞事有甚麼正面影響
—聽古典音樂和開懷大笑也有助減輕壓力
—多面對植物，盆栽也好
—養動物，不養的話看動物節目也有益處
—想要創意的話，放鬆不一定有用，倒可以找其他事給自己忙
—仰臥著思考比較能激發創意
—想從身體語言看別人是否說謊，應留意思考徵兆而非焦慮緊張的徵兆，寫電郵又優於講電話
—讚美小朋友的「努力」而非「能力」
當然更詳細的原因和做法，就請自己看書啦。

另一個大家有很有興趣的話題，當然就是愛情和家庭關係啦。作者也提供了一些有趣的觀察﹕
—女人玩欲擒故縱，其實不見得比隨和更吸引男人
—輕輕觸碰異性的上臂，可以增加異性答應要求的機會 (當然程度要掌握得好也不容易)
—留意自己是情慾型、友誼型或多情型戀愛者，同類一起的關係會比較長久一些
—約會時說問有創意的問題，適度地模仿對方
—男人想找長期伴侶的話，不要讓自己看來太完美
—女人見到有其他女人對你笑的話，會認為你較有魅力
—餓的男人會比較喜歡豐滿的女性
—約會一開始時不用太熱情，之後再加溫
—做些令大家心跳加速的事 <---(總於明白為何以前有女友要我陪她看恐怖片，因為我沒能耐令她心跳加速吧，偏偏恐怖片是我討厭的片種)
—可以討論一下大家都討厭的事，有同仇敵愾之效
—透露個人資訊可以增加親密感
—「積極聆聽」沒甚麼用，倒不如接受對方的一些建議，分享權力
—多點互相對望 <------(又一個自閉症的死穴)
—找機會做點新奇、合作性質的活動 <-----(難怪那麼多夫妻喜歡去旅行)
—要明白男人和女人對甚麼是「浪漫」的看法很不同
—多稱讚少批評，要批評的也請找些可以讚的地方
—多在身邊放些能勾起對另一半回憶的物件

要如何管理程式設計師

How to Manage Programmers
http://tuomaspelkonen.com/2010/03/how-to-manage-programmers/
我想作者自己本身是個程式設計師吧, 所以對於這件事有很深刻的體會, 他列出了一堆事情, 值得經理們注意
1. 記得一再反覆閱讀"Peopleware"
- 不要跟我說你不知道這本書
2. 不要把程式設計師視為二等公民
3. 不要認為每個程式設計師都相同
4. 不要試圖把你在商業上用的那套鬼扯, 加諸到程式設計師身上
5. 不要浪費他們的時間
- meeting, 或是太多無聊的company events
6. 不要增加他們工作的困難度
- 不要有太多官僚程序
7. 不要把他們視為excel試算表中的數字
8. 不要忽略他們的意見
9. 不要忽略他們的努力
10. 不要忽略他們的需求
11. 不要對他們說謊
12. 不要試圖用你有限的專業知識去愚弄他們

Analyst Programmer 入門小檔

Analyst Programmer 入門小檔

如果說程式編寫員(Programmer)負責砌磚，分析程式員(Analyst Programmer)的職責就相當於管工-負責管理指導，亦需要按照上方的要求協助下屬完成實際工作。

Analyst Programmer位於Programmer之上，System Analyst之下；三者組成Programming Team，專門負責設計和編寫程式。Programmer負責編寫程式，Analyst Programmer需要依照System Analyst的指令設計和分析系統，發展軟件功能，並對Programmer提供指導。System Analyst的角色屬於決策性，除了分析和設計系統外，還負責計劃管理(Project Management)的工作。

Analyst Programmer必須有能力編寫程式，所以需要熟悉軟件發展工具，能夠將System Analyst或Project Manager的要求翻譯成電腦語言。

入職要求

人事資源顧問公司InfoTech Services (Hong Kong) Ltd的發言人譚國翹(Edwin Tam)指出，不同公司對Analyst Programmer的學歷有不同的要求。一般來說，隊伍或公司越大，對於Analyst Programmer的要求亦越高。如果隊伍超過二十人，公司人數超過二百，通常要求Analyst Programmer起碼要有電腦學位或高級文憑課程。但2000年前後市場對於Analyst Programmer的需求甚大，要求的學歷亦隨之降低。

技能方面亦視乎工作要求有所不同，能夠精通以下各種工具的話，找工作就暢通無阻：

網頁發展語言 - Java, ASP, HTML
電子商貿工具 - Websphere, Site Server
前端工具 - Oracle Forms, PowerBuilder, Visual Basic
伺服器語言 - C/C++, COBOL, RPG
數據庫 - Oracle, MS SQL Server
作業系統語言 - UNIX Script JCL

僱主聘用Analyst Programmer一般希望受聘者謹慎、思維清晰、有耐心、做事有系統、精於算術及勤奮努力，並且最少需要一年Programmer經驗，薪金由$12,000至$19,000不等。合約員工的薪金比起長期員工的薪金約高20-30%。

晉升歷程

Analyst Programmer可以按兩條路晉升，一般晉升過程：

Analyst Programmer --> Senior Analyst Programmer -->System Analyst -->

Senior System Analyst --> Project Manager --> IT Manager/Director -->

Chief Information Officer(CIO)

若在電腦供應商、軟件公司、互聯網服務供應商(ISP)工作，Analyst Programmer亦可以晉升，歷程也可以是：

Analyst Programmer --> Consultant -->Project Leader -->

Chief Technology Officer(CTO)

市場趨勢

Edwin表示近年來Analyst Programmer負責越來越多程式編寫工作，牽涉程式設計、分析的工作卻逐漸減少，職責越來越近似Programmer。現時市場要求Analyst Programmer除了對多種電腦語言/發展工具有認識以外，還要對幾種語言/發展工具.數據庫,平台有專門的認識。如果精通一些少人認識的發展工具 (如COBOL、RPG等)，更有助提高身價。:)

(轉載招職雜誌第10期，2001年8月10／日,稱心稱職欄，題:Analyst Programmer入門小檔，文:Queenie)

The AIDA Marketing Model in Web Design

The AIDA Marketing Model in Web Design

A = Attention
I = Interest
D = Desire
A = Action
Bonus: S = Satisfaction