So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.

bootload · on Jan 16, 2011

"... We discovered that we could tell what performance group the interviewees belonged to within a minute or two by their attitudes toward people and politics. Individuals who were ranked low by their managers spoke of organizational politics as if it were poison. They were exceptionally annoyed by the people side of the business. ... They characterized the social side of organizations as "soft and gushy." They sounded like Spock turned bitter... The difference between them and those ranked at the bottom of the totem pole was clear. They had found a way to make peace with organizations, people, and politics. They climbed to the top of their field by mastering both hard things and soft and gushy people ..."

Is this why people try so hard to be popular? Training for mastering the 'soft & gushy'?

iqster · on Jan 16, 2011

This is an old old article. I read it many times when I was doing my CS PhD. There is a quote on initiative that always resonated with me. "The difference between people who exercise initiative and those who don't is literally the difference between night and day. I'm not talking about a 25 to 50 percent difference in effectiveness; I'm talking about a 5000-plus percent difference, particularly if they are smart, aware, and sensitive to others."

joshrule · on Jan 17, 2011

The same article, posted on the author's homepage, hit HN about a month ago. There are some pretty good comments there as well. Check it out. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1999010

I will say that, as I'm preparing for grad school, this sort of writing is incredibly helpful. If anyone else is considering writing a piece like this, I encourage you to do so.

stevenbedrick · on Jan 16, 2011

This article is full of excellent advice- anybody out there thinking about a PhD would be well-advised to read it, and pay especially close attention to the part about figuring out why you want the PhD.

lightcatcher · on Jan 16, 2011

Anyone else notice the mention of Randy Pausch? Quite sure this article was before he became famous for his "Last Lecture"

tom_b · on Jan 17, 2011

Sure. Pausch had a connection to Fred Brooks, who founded and built the CS program at UNC-CH. And Brooks was on Azuma's (the article's author) committee.