The Institute - September 2018 - 10

A small step in the right
direction would be to make
the review process doubleblind, which means the
reviewers are anonymous
to the authors and the
authors are anonymous to
the reviewers. In this way,
the papers have a greater
chance of being judged
on merit rather than on
the author's reputation (or
lack of it). Biased reviewing
does enable paper cranking. A (very small) number
of IEEE publications are
already implementing this
system, and I commend
them for their stance. But
wide adoption is far away.
-Alex Ciubotaru
Universities that require
specific numbers of articles
for graduation further fuel
the explosion in publishing. Rather than a single
complete article, readers
are subjected to a deluge of
partial papers that may, in
combination, have been an
exceptional one.
-Andre
I appreciate your comments about sole author

papers and assessing
whether the researcher
wrote the paper on his or
her own or with the help
of others. There is far too
much gaming of the system,
in which authors have had
no significant role in the
research yet are named on
papers, artificially boosting
their citation numbers. I
wonder if there is a better
metric that can take this
into account, such as
putting more weight on
sole or primary author
contributions.
-Barry Hayes
Quantitative measurements are simpler, but they
rarely encompass all the
complexities and subtleties
of the work. Citations are a
clear case in point. Simple to
measure and compare, they
are only a weak reflection
of the value of work, and
they are open to manipulation. We need something
more nuanced, which will
be harder to derive but be
more aligned with the goals
of leading academic and
research work.
-William Webb

What's the Dress Code
for Job Interviews These Days?

H E R E ' S A L O T of confusion about what job candidates should wear for
interviews at today's tech companies and startups. Are suits and skirts
too formal? Are jeans and sneakers too casual? Does anyone even care
how you dress as long as you can do the job?
Member Anurag Garg, cofounder of Dattus, an industrial Internet
of Things company, says to dress for the job you're interviewing for, while also
being considerate of the company's and industry's culture. "There is no 'one size
fits all' approach to interviewing at startups," Garg says, adding he personally
prefers an outside
salesperson be
dressed well but
wouldn't mind a
developer candidate
interviewing in a
T-shirt and shorts.
A post on the
recruiting website
Ivy Exec says candidates need to show
they'll fit in with the
company culture.

When I interview candidates
for a tech job, I consider
whether they are dressed in
a neat, clean, and professional manner, but also
would they be ready to crawl
around a server room floor?
In other words, somewhere
in between stiff corporate
wear and going to the pub.
-Julian Berdych

Before you interview, you
should know not just about
the company's products
and competitors but also its
internal culture.
I suggest dressing one
level above the business
attire expected at that company. But always be neat
and clean.
-Peter Salerno

I suggest taking time to
peruse the organization's
website to find workplace
photos that might give
you some clues about how
employees dress. I once had
a very important interview
at a company where I went
so far as to cut my hair
chin-length to look more
professional, only to find
that all the women who
worked there had long hair.
My attire was misplaced.
They were very casual, with
managers in polo shirts. I
still got the job offer, but
I cringe at my decision. It
took me years to grow my
hair back.
-Rebecca Mercuri

Depends on the department.
Show up dressed like the
company brochures and you
won't get a job in the R&D
section. You'll be viewed as
a climber and not a worker.
-JC Kirk
I'm an old software guy. I
stopped wearing suits to
interviews 20 years ago. My
interviewees wear T-shirts,
shorts, and sneakers. My
buddy, a data scientist, is
interviewing people in
Hawaiian shirts, and not
tucked in of course. They
also arrive by Lyft or electric scooter.
-itellu3times

Your prospective employer
will never expect to see you
any better dressed than
you are at the interview.
Don't worry about looking
like a penguin. You're still
sending the right message.
-verntigo
People working in the tech
sector pride themselves for
being smart and openminded, but to evaluate
"culture fit" means everyone
has to be the same to the
point they're all dressed the
same way. That's shockingly
narrow-minded. People
who evaluate candidates
on culture fit should be
ashamed of themselves. If
it's that important, employees should wear uniforms.
-sonjav
This applies equally well to
interviewers. Show some
respect for the applicant. It
doesn't help to start off a new
relationship with an "I don't
care what you think" attitude,
even if that's how you feel.
-benrolfe

These discussions are ongoing. To weigh in, visit http://theinstitute.ieee.org/sept18responses.
10

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he noted, is that industry researchers do not
publish as much as university students and
professors-which means the work of those
in industry is not considered as impactful.
Industries are focused on research outcomes
that can significantly improve a product or
create new ones. Innovators including Steve
Jobs and Elon Musk arguably have a greater
impact on people's lives than, say, a university
researcher with several thousand citations.
"The way I believe we should define impact
is based on criteria far beyond citations," Toh
wrote. "The criteria should include: Did the
researcher write the paper on his or her own,
or with the help of others? Did the research
uncover new knowledge? Did it help start a new
discipline? Did it invent a new industry and,
as a result, create new types of jobs? Does the
research help improve the national economy
in any way? Is it changing the lives of millions
of people? Those are examples of the type of
impact our engineering giants have made."

http://theinstitute.ieee.org/members/profiles/affordable-industrial-internet-of-things-systems-for-small-factories https://www.ivyexec.com/executive-insights/ http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org/sept18responses http://theinstitute.ieee.org

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