Timeline for Mathematics Stack Exchange as an indicator for academic career
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 18, 2017 at 3:04 | comment | added | bmosov01 | The OP states he is starting his PhD program next month. While it's not unheard of for undergraduates to begin research in mathematics, I would venture the majority of math PhD students don't engage in research until after a year or two in a graduate program. It seems a bit pedantic to me to assume the OP is participating in MSE at the expense of doing research at this stage in his career. | |
| Sep 16, 2017 at 19:53 | comment | added | einpoklum | Doesn't it actually indicate the opposite? That instead of working on your research ideas, you're passing time on MSE or MO? | |
| Sep 15, 2017 at 16:49 | comment | added | bmosov01 | @Armfoot gets at the gist of my point. The question of level of success in academics and how that correlates to level of MSE reputation is a bit different (and likely more complex). However, I think someone who posts here and enjoys answering mathematical questions/contributing to the community has a leg up against those who might go into an advanced degree thinking of academia as more of a 9-5 job that'll pay the bills. I've seen such people fail to succeed, both at the graduate student level and at the professor level, due in large part to improper or insufficient motivation. | |
| Sep 15, 2017 at 9:55 | comment | added | Armfoot | @Wildcard I wouldn't get lost in correlations, it's simply that "interacting with MSE in their personal time, ... indicates ... their motivation to participate in the mathematical community". Answering and asking questions depicts the involvement and interest in the subject. Reputation points is just a feature of the website and can be seen as a simple measure of the popularity of those interactions... People with successful careers prove their success with interactions with other communities, through papers or books... Comparing those communities with SE sites may be fruitless. | |
| Sep 15, 2017 at 9:46 | comment | added | quid | The other thing is that SE sites provides instant gratification for routine achievements being doable in a few minutes, in a way exactly the opposite of what is usually needed for mathematical research. So I would not give all that much predictive value to it re research. I may give it more regrading being a dedicated teacher. | |
| Sep 15, 2017 at 5:06 | comment | added | Wildcard | I'll acknowledge the likely correlation, but note there is no likelihood of a reverse correlation: most highly successful math academicians are not on MSE. The population sizes are different. | |
| Sep 14, 2017 at 17:51 | history | edited | bmosov01 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
typo fix
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| Sep 14, 2017 at 17:15 | review | First posts | |||
| Sep 14, 2017 at 17:50 | |||||
| Sep 14, 2017 at 17:11 | history | answered | bmosov01 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |