Recently, I was thinking about careers. For people starting to think about careers, I suggest making a clear distinction in your mind about style versus interests. What do I mean by this and why even mention it? By style, I mean how you like to do things. How do you like to explore your interests? […]
1. Write solutons of problems down carefully When you’re doing a problem or filling in a proof, you should write the solution down very carefully. For example, with a proof, it would be better to slowly write down each step in complete sentences rather than scrawling a bunch of shorthand and symbols. By doing this, […]
In 2011, I started my PhD and also started recording every minute I spent working line-by-line through graduate texts and research papers in mathematics. At that time, the majority of my work was spent understanding various branches of mathematics necessary to do research. I recorded this data in a spreadsheet. It’s important to realize what […]
Applying for jobs after a PhD and my postdoc was one the weirdest things I ever did. I haven’t written too much about it before, but because it is so bewildering I thought I’d give out some stats on how my application process went. The most obvious statistic is the number of jobs to which […]
Have you ever thought about what kind of job you can get after your math degree? I’ve compiled a list of the jobs I’ve seen so far in my own search. I’ve divided this post into two sections: academia, most of which require a PhD, and industry, which usually does not require a PhD. Academia […]
From browsing my publications, you might notice that my research area changed after my PhD. My thesis was on orbital integrals (Langlands-related), but now I’m working on more classical topics in associative ring theory like separable algebras and Grothendieck groups. In this short article I will explain why I switched areas, in the hope that […]
I’m getting close to the end of my postdoc and I’m applying for jobs again! So, I thought I’d write some basic guidelines that I found helpful in this process. I will update this guide as time goes by. Feel free to add your own advice in the comments. Deadlines and reference letters Most jobs […]
Choosing where to get your PhD is an important decision. If you continue onto academia, your PhD might be the longest time you spend at any one institution until you get a permanent position. The most obvious choice is apply to the high-ranking schools. However, you should consider far more than that. Here, we’ll look […]