The Theory community has a tradition of a crowdsourced spreadsheet of sharing who has accepted which jobs (see, e.g., 2025). You can report jobs accepted via this form (anonymous), and view the results on this sheet. If you feel a change needs to be made to the results reported in the form, please email me or fill out this Continue reading "Theory Jobs 2026"
Some of the discussion online has been about how not to use AI in making academic talks (see, e.g., this post by Jessica Hullman). A junior researcher asked my opinion on using AI to help make slides and posters. I shared my thoughts with them, and I thought it was worth writing down in a Continue reading "Making a talk, without and with AI"
If you are incredibly lucky at some point in your life, you will be blessed with the choice of multiple opportunities, of which you can only accept one. This might be for graduate school, an internship, or a full-time job. This post is how to decline such an offer with grace and poise. Why is Continue reading "How to turn down an offer"
This is a guest post by Chhavi Yadav a personal and thoughtful retrospective on her PhD experience and lessons learned therein. Also posted on her own blog. I expected a spark of joy upon graduating from my PhD. Instead, there was stillness. A quiet that didn’t celebrate the finish, but asked: What did all of Continue reading "Guest Post: Margins of My Dissertation : Life Lessons that My PhD…
The Theory community has a tradition of a crowdsourced spreadsheet of sharing who has accepted which jobs, previously hosted by Grigory Yaroslavtsev and Lance Fortnow. Past years have been slightly chaotic, due to the sheet being an anonymous free-for-all in terms of edits. This year, you can report jobs accepted via this form (which is Continue reading "Theory Jobs 2025"
I was a kinda awkward teenager. If you are a CS researcher reading this post, then chances are, you were too. How to navigate social situations and make friends is not always intuitive, and has to be learnt. This is particularly true at a conference, where the event is short (just a few days) and Continue reading "Tips on How to Connect at Academic Conferences"
The following is a guest post by Abhradeep Guha Thakurta, on differences between the interview process for faculty and industry research positions in computer science. What follows is his post, and I ll add a bit of my own perspective at the end. By Abhradeep Guha Thakurta My background I have spent significant time both in Continue reading "Guest Post: Advice for Faculty and Industry Interviews"
Adam Smith, Jon Ullman, and I compiled a collection of profiles of FORC-y people on the faculty job market this season. FORC stands for foundations of responsible computing, which means mathematical research in computation and society writ large , including work on private data analysis, fairness, robustness, and mathematical approaches bridging computer science, law, and ethics. Continue reading…
Clément Canonne asked to pass along the following registration info for ISAAC 2024, which will be in Sydney in early December. I was lucky to visit Sydney in July 2017 for ICML, and it was one of the most fun conference trips I ve had! (Painfully long flight from Boston aside ) Definitely attend if you can! Continue reading "Guest Post: ISAAC 24 in Sydney: Registration deadline soon!"
Workshops are my favourite type of academic meeting. Smaller than conferences, more focused on a particular area of interest, and featuring the latest results. Planning a workshop can be a challenging endeavour. As an organizer, it is hard to foresee what makes for a good experience for the audience. I have co-organized a number of Continue reading "Principles for Planning an Academic Workshop"