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

Depends

[MrEricSir]

The main reason to attend these things is to meet people. This can either help you get a job or help find professors to partner with in the next stage of your education.

If you have no interest in either, then the only reason to go is out of your own curiosity.

Re:Depends

[Anonymous Coward]

What it should come down to is this...

If you feel that after reviewing the schedule for the conference that it has topics that you would be interested in, you should seriously consider attending.

At a minimum, you will be able to network with prospective employers, as well as those who are in your particular field to see whether you actually have any intrest in proceeding down your chosen career path.

Re:Depends

[mad_clown]

I'm not in CS, but I agree with MrEricSir. Not only is presenting at a conference a big confidence booster, but it can also open up a lot of doors for you if you impress the right folks with your presentation. I watched a colleague present a paper at a conference last year only to seem him be approached afterwards by no less than three different people giving him contact information for potential job opportunities in the non-profit international law sector.

Again, that's a pretty long way from CS, but it's probably more common than you think.

Find the money and go to Utah. Maybe try to find a pertinent mailing list and see if there are other people who're in a similar boat who'd like to split the cost of a room with you. Depending on how big the conference is, it might be fairly easy to find someone.

Re:Depends

[gnapster]

If you feel that after reviewing the schedule for the conference that it has topics that you would be interested in, you should seriously consider attending.

Not to nitpick, but if this student is deciding whether to submit a paper, he won't have a real schedule, yet. He'll only have the call for papers, which is what he is using to determine if his own paper is suitable for the conference. No information on actual talks. Looking at information (titles and maybe abstracts) from previous conferences could be more telling. Here is a list of published journal editions of the CCSC. (I gather that the articles in these journals are selected from papers presented at conferences of CCSC.) They might give a good idea of what goes on.

Personally, I think that conferences are a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend going. Absolutely do try to get something accepted, and if it is, your department might be willing to pay some of your expenses. (But only if you are presenting, generally.)

appy for travel funding

[Anonymous Coward]

apply for travel funding? i got a small travel grant from the royal sociaty in london to travel to a physics conference, they must have similar organisations in the US?

conferences are a great way to find out if what you are doing is worth anything, and for seeing what other people are doing thats similar to you, great place to meet people and learn new things.

Re:appy for travel funding

[cptdondo]

Yeah... If the college wants you to go, they should pony up for the fare. I had a paper accepted as an undergraduate in Vienna, and my university sprang for the plane ticket (from New Jersey).

It's a good thing for the college, too - you're spreading their name out there.

Some conferences more worthwhile than others

[kathbot]

If you get the chance to go to a big, fancy conference in an area that actually interests and inspires you, then you should definitely take it. I went to SIGGRAPH as an undergrad when I was vaguely interested in computer graphics (before starting grad school in the same field) and it was an awesome experience, both the technical presentations AND the social aspect. I hung out with old classmates, new classmates, and went to parties at swanky clubs exclusively for the conference attendees (none of those regular-people riff-raff)... It definitely solidified my interest in graphics and grad school.

Honestly, though, this CCSC conference looks kind of boring. Is it education related? I can hardly tell. I'd worry that it is too vague/too general and if you went, you'd risk not actually being interested in anything anyone said. Make sure you care at least a little bit about what the conference is actually about, and then yes! Go and meet people and have a good time! The point of a conference is to meet people interested in the same stuff as you.

Additional point: If you intend to apply to grad school, having work published anywhere helps these days.

Are you kidding? Go!

[ren-n-stimpy]

I usually don't have to add comments to items on /., as usually the right answer or comment is already there. But, in this case, it's not.

I am one of the decision-makers on hiring at my company, as VC-funded startup. (If you like, come interview; we're profitable and hiring). Having a publication is a very good thing for *your entire life*, and it's often something you only get a chance to do young. Yes, when you're young, the cost seems high. But, relative to your future income, it is a drop in the bucket. Lost weekend, $500 flight, $300 hotel... Borrow it from a 30- or 40- something who trusts you, and pay it back over a year.

Why is it such a good thing? It's irrelevant who you meet there. Maybe you'll get lucky, but, it's not likely. The value is in company you share by being a published author. Software company decision-makers often went to CS grad school, and like to hire people who they can relate to! They will have pubs, you will have a pub. Simple as that.

Re:Are you kidding? Go!

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to second ren-n-stimpy's comment as someone who did NOT take advantage of such an opportunity, and further second that this might be your only chance to publish. Do it!

Dude, go!

[Anonymous Coward]

I *absolutely* advise you to go!

Why? In short: experience, connections, fun. Please read on.

I was in exactly the same spot one year ago - just finished my undergraduate thesis, was able to publish it as a paper at ICSE conference and had to decide if I wanted to go. Also, I had the same money problems: ICSE 2010 was in Cape Town, South Africa, the whole trip summed up to well over 2000$.

For the money $$$: try to get some funding. Both ACM and IEEE (I guess your conference is part of one of those, right?) have funding programs exactly for these situations - young people who'd like to go to a conference and can not afford it. Myself I got a funding for 1500$ by ACM SIGSOFT (Special Interest Group for Software Engineering). The rest I could convince my professor to pay. Also I'm sure your University has some funding program, so make sure to check that out. (Apply for funding at a lot of different places, it is a lot easier to get funding if those people know they only have to pay you some small amount instead of the whole trip.)

The conference itself was great. You get a real look into the world of CS research. This will help you a lot in your decision if this is actually your future path. Also, the younger you are when you attend a conference, the more it impresses people. (Last year I was one of only a hand full of undergrad students at ICSE, people were quite impressed that I got there.)
At a conference you can collect a lot of 'weak links' - those those are the ones that will help you get jobs, research positions, funding, ... After the conference I was for example contacted by a recruiter from Google who asked me for an interview. It didn't work out in the end, but still, I was very happy that this happened and it shows how things can work out if you are confident and have a bit of luck.
Even if no such connections work out in the end, I am of the opinion that publishing at and attending a conference is a very valuable addition to your CV. It might have nothing to do with your future job, but still - you did serious work, you presented it in front of a lot of people - it shows that you are committed!

Last but not least, attending a conference can be a lot of fun. Grab the interesting people you meet over the day and go get dinner with em, hang out, booze up. It will be really refreshing, and of course further improve your chances of gaining good contacts that might at some point in your career be very helpful.

At the very, very most submit your paper. You can still decide not to go, but at least you will know if your paper would have been accepted, and you get some professional feedback from important research heads.

Hope this helps out - best of luck, .f

Re:Dude, go!

[pz]

This is the most sage comment thus far. I would add the following to it.

Every single successful academician that I know -- and I mean every single one -- went to lots of conferences when they were young. Most still go to conferences, but typically become more selective as they become more successful. Since I'm fortunate enough to have made it to upper-end institutions, that biases my sample, but the correlation is still 100%.

When I was young, my professor didn't have much of a travel budget. Hell, until I became the head of a lab, none of my supervisors had much of a travel budget. I typically was able to get funding, often just partial, for one domestic US conference per year. I like to travel, so I spent my own money, even going into debt, to attend one or two other conferences per year as well, usually one in Europe and one somewhere in the US. I got to meet many, many people. Giving presentations at these conferences was important in developing my communication skills. As a result, I now get four or five invitations to speak at international conferences per year.

And that's arguably the second most important reason for going to a conference, after networking. As a scientist, assuming you are thinking of the academic track, you have to sell yourself and your research. Only a very small handful of scientists ever do anything so remarkable that they become famous just for that one thing. Most of the rest become well-known because of hard work at becoming well-known. That includes doing good work, but it also, importantly, involves building a reputation for good work. Reputations are built upon interactions that display skill and knowledge. You, as a scientist, are building a brand -- of yourself. Being able to communicate well, and having the skill to do so, is a vital part of that. Attending conferences, with the necessary preparations, works on those skills.

Going to a conference to present work is not just taking a mini-vacation. Unless you want to waste your time and money. It involves writing a carefully-thought-out presentation, creating good slides or a poster, and practicing over and over again until you can do it in your sleep. You will find, at conferences, that most people do not do this, and the difference between a good presentation and a poor one is not just striking, but feeds back into all of the issues above, including reputation. You should reserve about a week to create your presentation, be it a slide or poster, and then several days to practice it. Give it to colleagues and friends, and tell them to be brutal. Take their feedback to heart. Re-write. Give another practice talk. Repeat.

Are conferences worthwhile? Absolutely. Will you see the results right away? Probably not.

Re:Dude, go!

[fish waffle]

ICSE is a very different conference from CCSC; I'm kind of shocked that someone who was able to get a paper into ICSE doesn't know this. ICSE is a top-tier, 'A'-level conference. CCSE is somewhere in the C's. Few people outside of the US midwest have heard of it, it has a very high acceptance ratio, and lacks any specific research focus.

All that negative stuff said, you need to start somewhere, and always have to work with the resources and opportunities actually available to you. The conference experience itself can still be useful---as many here have posted the main point is to meet other researchers and gain experience in writing and presenting a paper. If you want a future career in academia, (almost) any publication is better than no publication.

I don't know what common practice is in your university; places where research is actually done have funding to pay expenses for students attending conferences. Given the audience for CCSC that's probably not true there, so then yes, it's on your own nickel. nb: Don't get your hopes up too much; I seriously doubt google would be actively recruiting at CCSE.

At the very, very most submit your paper. You can still decide not to go...

Do not do that. That's how you gain a reputation as an idiot. If you submit a paper you should absolutely be committed to going.

CS conferences vs journals

[antientropic]

BTW, a conference publication isn't considered a "journal" publication, and doesn't confer the same status.

In most of CS, conference publications are actually more prestigious than journals. Top conferences such as PLDI, OOPSLA/Splash, Usenix ATC, ICSE and so on are highly selective, difficult to get into, and look very good on your CV (if you're pursuing an academic career). By contrast, journal articles tend to be published almost as an afterthought, years after anybody still cared about the research in question.

Re:Not worth the money

[TheTurtlesMoves]

I have got all my jobs after my PhD from people i meet at conferences. I didn't kiss arse, i was "me" both with respect to the social activities and the professional talks/work. I know my field so when i meet people I generally know what they have done, otherwise i just ask and we talk "shop". It is not hard to work out who will be a good boss and who will not, if what they work on is interesting or not. Also they quickly work out if you are going to be a good post doc or not.

Now when you apply for a position you are not just a name on a pile. It really makes a big difference.

Re:Depends...

[pz]

BTW, a conference publication isn't considered a "journal" publication, and doesn't confer the same status. Conferences are where the work gets done: people present developing ideas and get feedback on them.

Not in CS. In Computer Science, it is far harder, traditionally, to get a submission accepted for presentation at a conference, along with later publication in the proceedings, than it is to get a submission in a journal.

Re:No.

[spiffmastercow]

No.

AC is completely right, but the answer is too short. Here is the long answer:

No, but as a professional computer scientist you need to go to conferences because it's part of your job.

What's a 'professional' computer scientist? PARC and Bell Labs are long gone, and I know of no places that actually employ people to do CS work these days. And as a student, I'd hardly call him a professional. It's not like he's getting paid..