Jamie Starke bio photo

Jamie Starke

I develop for my career, but I also develop for fun, and whenever I think it can solve a problem I'm having. This has lead me to create side projects, such as Rental Map and BusTimes, among others.

Consulting Newsletter Email LinkedIn Github Stackoverflow More

Today marks the end of my first semester as a PhD student. Over the last several months, I have talked to many interesting people about academic career opportunities. The large majority of what I have heard is that there are less and less professor positions in Computer Science available (especially at Canadian institutions), and that if I wanted to get one eventually, I would have to do something that really made me stand out among the crowd.

So with this in mind, as a fairly new PhD student, what advice would you give me now to have the best chance for good opportunities down the road? I would love to hear responses from people currently in academic positions (especially if they’re involved with hiring), or those who are currently or will soon be seeking an academic appointment.

As always, you can leave feedback in the comments below, or respond to me via Twitter (@jamiestarke), and I update this article with all the feedback I receive.

Update:

Alright, I had some good feedback. No, I’m not set that I HAVE to get an academic position. I really enjoy research because I get to work on interesting problems, and I enjoy finding patterns, but I would probably be happy with Any position where I got to work on interesting problems, and pursue my own interests.