Message-ID: <225303Z26061995@anon.penet.fi>
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!howland.reston.ans.net!EU.net!news.eunet.fi!anon.penet.fi
Newsgroups: comp.ai
From: an297956@anon.penet.fi
X-Anonymously-To: comp.ai
Organization: Anonymous forwarding service
Reply-To: an297956@anon.penet.fi
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 22:45:18 UTC
Subject: Advice to students thinking of a PhD in AI
Lines: 39


Here is my advice to students thinking of a PhD in AI.

DON'T ever think of getting a PhD in AI, it is a dead area.
There are no jobs. I will soon be a PhD in AI. I am leaving AI for
good. I will be taking up a C++ programming job.

Here are some of the mistakes I made.

1) Going to an unknown school. 

   Going to a big school helps a lot.  You are more visible. You can 
   develop contacts. It is also easier to publish if you are form a 
   top school.

2) Choosing to do research in AI. 

   Before getting into an area find out the employment potential of the area. 
   Look at the employment pages of ACM/IEEE magazines. Don't judge the 
   popularity of the area from the affiliations of authors of publications.
   Most of the papers in my area are form Bell/Xerox/HP/Siemens/IBM labs. 
   People who have well established careers can do research in 
   anything they feel like. If you are beginning a career in research you 
   have to be in areas which have direct applications, where research ideas 
   can be translated into products right away. 

Developing the code for my thesis in C++ instead of Lisp or Prolog finally
help me get a "real" job.

By the way, I have many publications form my thesis (1 major AI conference,
1 journal, 4 other refereed conferences, and many more submitted/in
preparation).

A frustrated PhD student from XYZ state university.
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