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Networking Thursdays - Volume 5

2/23/2017

Ryan Bodenstein is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Physics Department at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on the development and design of future linear colliders based at CERN in Geneva and KEK in Japan. Previous to this position, he was a Research Fellow at the Rare Isotope Science Project (RISP); part of the Institute for Basic Science based in Daejeon, South Korea. He did his PhD at the University of Virginia while based at Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia, USA.

In 2015, after working for nearly two years in Daejeon, South Korea, I sought work elsewhere. In
response to my application, a group in the University of Oxford Physics Department asked me to
interview. In order to prepare for my interview, I researched the group’s publications, as well as
their current and former members. I noticed that one of the former members attended a university
which several of my Korean team members also attended, so I asked my team members if they knew her. It turns out, they did, and she was now working for the same institution where I worked, but in a different sub-organization.

In order to have a better idea of the group with which I was interviewing, I decided to contact her
with the help of my colleagues. We spoke on the phone for a short time, and I described my situation.

She gave me some basic advice which helped for the interview. We also agreed to meet up if I
received an offer so that we could further elaborate on the details of the group and position.

With my experience (and recalling her advice during my interview), I was offered a position. Before I decided to accept the position, I met with their former group member one more time so that I could gain further knowledge as to the nature of the group. She told me both the good and the bad parts of the group, and with that, I made an informed decision when I decided to accept the position.

If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 4

2/16/2017

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Yitzha Sarwono is a kindergarten teacher working in the Kidea Montessori school in Jakarta and a teacher trainer for Mentari Teachers Academy. She has been in the education field since 2001.

I believe that there are no coincidences in life. You plan, you execute, you get something out of it. But if something outside of your plan happens? Then I see it as someone else’s plan happening. I do, however, believe that in life when the right plans are happening, you get to meet incredible people and have great chances. I feel like my life is full of great plans since it has led me to meet a lot of incredible people who got me from just a kindergarten teacher to a kindergarten teacher with many things in store! And to think that most of them happen in virtual world a.k.a social media!

For me it started in 2009 when I went to Cambridge Day in Jakarta. I did plan to gain some knowledge but I didn’t think that it would expand beyond my expectations. There I met Chuck Sandy. We didn’t talk much but he invited all the attendees of his presentation to connect with him through Facebook. I did! From there I got to know more people in the teaching industry. Chuck introduced me to Barbara Sakamoto via Twitter, where she encouraged me to take part in #ELTChat . My plan back then was simple, to make new friends who would share more about teaching and their lives around it. Through #ELTChat I met James Taylor. Here is where the story grows.

On one of the #ELTChats we talked about Dogme teaching. I was very intrigued by the fact that it was sort of what I was doing in my Montessori class, though they had their differences. I wrote about it on my FB status. To my surprise, James read it! He said that if I was willing to conduct a little research on it, he’d be willing to let me write a guest post on his blog! I was very keen on trying though not sure about writing it, but I did it because I felt like that was a good opportunity for me to seek more of what I could do. James Taylor did more than just give me the platform to start something. He gave me three blog posts to write about my findings on Applying Dogme teaching in a Montessori Classroom. I never thought that he’d trust me to do something for his blog, but the fact that he did must mean I executed my plan correctly! James was also the first person who believed that I could present this in a workshop, not only as written material. For me that was pretty challenging, but I thought, if i plan it correctly, I could pull it off. James also sent me a great video as part of my 2013 presentation on how social media can change your teaching life to the better.

Another amazing person was Vicky Loras. She helped me to get my writing about Dogme in Montessori published in the ETAS Journal Spring 2012 Edition. To this day I have never met Vicky in person, but how we connect through social media is amazing! Vicky interviewed me for one of the episodes of the #ELTChat podcast and I must say that experience was something I will never forget!

Barbara Sakamoto is also another huge door opener for me! She trusted me to present with her at 2012 JALT though I still had not met her in person! She also opened the door for me by inviting me to be an associate for iTDi (International teachers development institute) and for someone who was just teaching kindergarten, that meant a lot to me. From there, Barb has continued to be a great part of my life, both professionally and personally.

Of course those experiences didn’t come overnight, but like I said, when you plan things correctly, and execute them nicely, you’ll see something in the end.

If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 3

2/9/2017

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Satyen Shenoy is a ex-scientist with a passion for communicating science. After many years of wandering around the globe, Satyen ended up in Germany five years ago and presently runs his little scriptorium from the old city of Cologne. As a freelancer, Satyen spends a considerable time networking and learning from people he meets. Here's his story on how networking helped him get to the and of Wurst and Sauerkraut.

As I sit here at my desk to share my story on networking, I take a moment to look outside
my window. I see a bright summer day, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I hear
the wind rustling through the trees, I feel content. I am in Germany, a land I wanted to live
in since my childhood in Bahrain.

I come from a culture where the old-boy network is an integral part of everybody’s life. Be it
mundane issues such as finding a reliable greengrocer or fishmonger in the
neighbourhood, to life-changing events such as getting into a good academic institution or
landing a much-vaunted job, it is who you are connected with that helps out. Hence, picking
or choosing one instance where networking has shaped and altered my life is a
daunting task. However, my moving to Germany five years ago, a childhood dream coming
to fruition, is probably the most significant event in my life and it was brought about by
networking.

I won’t call Vee my best of friends, not the kind who knows you inside and out, your
secrets and foibles. We were fellow lab rats for three years in a research lab in India, worked
together on a key project, and had an easygoing work relationship. While I left for the US to
pursue my PhD, Vee was still stuck in the rut, unable to get a similar position elsewhere.
Through this, I helped Vee as much as could, especially in drafting essays and statements of
purpose since Vee’s didn’t quite have the way with English I did. That was the only
communication we ever had. Thankfully, Vee was accepted at a university in Germany to do
his PhD. A few years down the line, my project had faltered badly and it was becoming
apparent that I’d have to give up on the PhD and the US. Things finally came to a head and I
eventually returned to India. After another year I was at cross-roads in my career, somewhat
late in life to begin afresh and too jaded to continue as a lab rat with no prospects of
growth. And then comes a call from Vee... He had heard through the grapevine about my
misfortune and commiserated with me. But nothing prepared me for his offer, ‘’Would you
like to join the lab I am working in?’’ Words can’t express how I felt at that moment.

Getting into any European university for scientific post-grad studies is much, much harder
than other places for numerous reasons – age, nationality, the need for an unblemished track record,
limited positions…a higher than average bar to say the least. I knew because I had tried in the past. In fact, I had advised Vee to focus more on the US and not Europe for the same reasons. I mentioned
as much to Vee as we chatted and his reply was along the lines of ‘’Don’t worry about that,
my boss trusts me, and I know how good you are at scientific research. I’ll talk to him and
send you an offer letter.’’ Five years have passed since I joined Vee’s lab, just as he finished
his PhD and moved to the US for a post-doc. A year down the line I switched my career
to full-time scientific writing and went through the Herculean task of setting up my freelance
consultancy in Germany.

Things are settling down now and I am happy with my career, my business, and most importantly, I
am happy that my childhood dream of living in Germany has come true, all because of one
person in my network.

If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].

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Help Your Proofreader Help You

2/4/2017

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I have been doing more and more proofreading since becoming a freelance educational consultant last year. Some jobs are more challenging than others due to short project timelines, a lack of direct communication with the lead author, and translation issues. Another issue that has been popping up lately is clients not providing me with all the tools I need to do a better job proofreading their documents. I have listed a few examples below.

1. Information about the goal

At the very least, it would help the proofreader to know the title of the journal you will be submitting to in order to allow them to Google a few sample articles to see how the journal formats their articles and handles various stylistic issues (Oxford commas, capitalization rules for tables and figures, etc.). Sending a few articles from your target publication or a link to that journal's style/submissions guidelines would help even more. Sure, that takes a little more effort on your part but it will increase your satisfaction level in the end.

For speeches and general correspondence, the name of the event or the job title of the recipient and your relationship with them will help the proofreader choose the most appropriate tone and vocabulary level.

2. The author's weaknesses and expectations

If you know that you often drop the 's" from countable plurals, please let your proofreader know so they can keep an eye out for that. Sure, they will catch most plural errors but there might be some terms that they are unfamiliar with in a scientific or technical paper and they won't be sure if it is a countable or non-countable noun, which can lead to subject-verb agreement errors.

Similarly, if the proofreader is expected to do more advanced work such as look over your reference list and check the references against the in-text citations you should let them know. There is a great deal a proofreader can do beyond fixing grammatical errors and making stylistic changes. They can also take on editing tasks such as suggesting alternative vocabulary, rephrasing sentences, adding comments about content and organization, and even helping with typesetting. If you let your proofreader know what your expectations are before they get started, you will be much happier with the revised draft that you get back.

3. The final deadline

Some proofreaders charge an hourly rate and other by word count and urgency (same day, two-day, four-day jobs, etc.) for working on a document. Your proofreader needs to know how urgently you need the drafts back in order to fit them into their schedule. (Note: you probably aren't their only client.)

Be sure to consider the number of drafts it might take to get your document ready to submit to a journal or use it in its final form. Complicated papers often need multiple drafts to be crafted into the version that will make the strongest impression and increase its chances to be accepted for publication. Rushing won't do any favors to your document so start working with your proofreader as early in the writing process as you can.

***

As a final suggestion, whenever possible, work with a proofreader that you know personally. This will help you feel more comfortable discussing changes and negotiating around areas of confusion. The best proofreading projects are a kind of dialogue where the author and proofreader work as a team to mold the author's words and ideas into their clearest and most accurate form. Working with someone that you know will make that dialogue more comfortable and result is a better document and a more enjoyable writing experience.

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 2

2/2/2017

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This week's networking story is from Gerelmaa Batchuluun. Gerelmaa earned a dual BS degree in math and management from KAIST and an MS in Eco-innovation management at the University of Versailles. She was the first Mongolian to intern at the Business Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

A great example of how networking led to the creation of new opportunities started at a happy hour event at my husband’s previous job. He was the CTO of a NYC-based startup and his team was part of Barclay’s incubator with Techstars. They had about 12 fintech companies and every week they would a have happy hour meet and greet and I was regularly invited by his CEO. She is very smart and quite good at rubbing shoulders with investors. I guess it was kind of a “lady helping lady” thing but she always encouraged me as another woman in tech and an entrepreneur. At the party, I met many investors, bankers, techies, programmers, and VCs from Silicon Valley.

One person in particular I wanted to talk to was a co-founder of this women-centered investment platform that utilizes machine learning and behavioral finance. I had a similar idea and was looking to dig deeper into that industry. He was a nice fellow and we chatted over a couple of dry martinis. While we were talking, there was another guy in his early 40's standing there listening to our conversation, which I thought was a little strange but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. After I ended the talk and was looking for my husband, the man who was listening to my earlier conversation came over and asked me about my background. It turned out he was one of the investors and mentors at the accelerator who was included on Forbes' World's Billionaire List. He was looking to recruit a new team of mathematicians, financial experts, data scientists, and other startup people for his new company. I had several meetings and phone calls with him afterwards and was offered a position to lead one of the teams in Taiwan.

It was great opportunity and I absolutely loved his tech and strategy and would have been happy to move to Taiwan for six months but around the same time he made the offer I found out that we were expecting a little one. He was happy and sorry for me at the same time but we stayed in touch and he has introduced me to many interesting people. So, when I'm ready to get back into startup world, I have an amazing contact to start with.

If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].

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Networking Thursdays - Volume 5

Networking Thursdays - Volume 4

Networking Thursdays - Volume 3

Help Your Proofreader Help You

Networking Thursdays - Volume 2

Tim's Thoughts

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