Starting Our Career a Collection of Essays and Advice on Professonal Dev

Every graduate program in mathematics should hand every beginning student a copy of this book the moment they enter the program. One month later, they should be given an exam over the material to verify that they read the book. Then, if the student is sensible, they will reread it twelve months before graduation and again right after they accept a tenure-track position. The knowledge that you can obtain from this book is that valuable, and can literally help make your career. I have been on almost every side of the mathematical fence, having been a full-time college instructor in mathematics for several years, a research programmer at a university and a research scientist at a startup company. I currently own a consulting company and teach mathematics and computers as an adjunct and edit [a journal]. Throughout all of this, I have also maintained a steady stream of professional output of papers and problems. From this perspective, I can say that the information about life in industrial mathematics is absolutely right on. Not for everyone who has spent decades in school, it does present enormous opportunities for challenging work. If you think that you are following the proper strategy to be granted tenure, then you must read the story "The Tenure Chase Papers" by Dana Mackenzie. Unfortunately, this horror story is not as unusual as it should be. The message is clear, start constructing your tenure application your first day on the job and never assume that college and university officials are above being inept and disingenuous. The advice about building your credentials and cultivating allies is something that you cannot afford to ignore. The balance of the book deals with how to pursue research while teaching a full load and how to obtain grants. Everyone underestimates the amount of time you really put in teaching a full load and unless you absolutely have no life outside of your work, finding time to conduct research is extremely difficult. The best answer is to simply schedule research time with yourself and consider any failure to keep the commitment on a par with canceling a class. The bulk of this book was written by young mathematicians with recent experience in entering the job market. Their stories are real and packed with knowledge that no one beginning a mathematical career can afford to ignore. I cannot recommend this book enough to that group.