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How Bad Luck and Bad Networking Cost Douglas Prasher a Nobel Prize (2011)

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105 points wallflower | 1 comments | 21 Nov 14 07:15 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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Xcelerate ◴[21 Nov 14 14:17 UTC] No.8641326[source]▶
Has anyone got any tips on networking? I'm not really sure how to do it. I'll meet researchers at conferences and introduce myself, but they will have surely forgotten about me once the conference is over.

There's two things I'm trying to do to help with this. The first is to get as many collaborations with different people as possible. Most of my work so far has a lot of different names on each paper, and I feel this is useful in that co-authors might remember me when they're starting a new research project. The second thing I'm trying is to create an online presence. I was initially opposed to this for a long time because it feels like "tooting my own horn" but at the same time, it's starting to feel like a necessity. So I created a LinkedIn, a ResearchGate page, and a little personal webpage.

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1. snowwrestler ◴[21 Nov 14 15:03 UTC] No.8641534[source]▶
Just like anything else, you have to guess where the greatest value will be, and focus your work there. Yeah, probably most people you meet at conferences will forget you--that's ok. Pick the few that seemed most promising, or with whom you got along with, and follow up with them. Don't let them forget you.

> co-authors might remember me when they're starting a new research project

If you're co-author with someone, that is a pretty good start! The work of networking is to take the "might" out of the equation. If you stay in touch with them regularly, they will definitely remember you.