Is Attending a CS Conference Worth the Time?

An Anonymous Coward writes"Hello Slashdot readers, I am a CS student nearing graduation and i had a couple of questions. One of my professors is recommending submitting a paper to the CCSC (consortium of computing sciences in colleges) in Utah this year for a chance to have my work published in a journal. I realize the value in having thesis work published but i don't really have the money to travel to Utah and stay for two nights. So i guess i am wondering, has anyone ever attended a conference of this nature and if so was it worth the time and money?"

Comments

Emotional-driven bullshitting

[luis_a_espinal]

find out what's really going on, hear the latest gossip, associate a face and manner with someone you've corresponded with, and perhaps have a party too, well, that's all really worthwhile.

It's a primate thing I suspect, but while chimps go in for mutual grooming, researchers have conferences.

Sorry, I was in it for the science and not for the soap opera.

And how in the name of Jebuz you expected to get science from a conference? I mean, seriously, think about. You are in a conference. They talk papers. You listen. Do you think in that short, one-way process you would actually *get* the science? Seriously man...

You go there to see who's who, to expand your current (or future) professional network (which you should independently of whether you are in school or not.) To explore possible peers in research and prospective employers. All in all, to do what any person with half a brain does: to actively cultivate your career.

Conferences, like education, are what you make out of them. That you think professional network in a soap opera, that speaks more about your attitude than your intellectual acumen. You can pull that kind of stuff and come on top if you are of Dijkstra caliber. Are you? If not, you better double-check some of science notions you have.

That type attitude towards career networking does not make you smarter or more scientifically-inclined, not one bit. And if that's how you approach opportunities to cultivate your education and career, there is a good chance your professional future is going to be full of blunders, made in haste for holding emotional views that aren't even that intellectual to begin with.