It's going really well! I've been really lucky to have a great supervisor for both my Masters and my PhD and it's been awesome to be able to step away from practical development and get completely drawn into solving some theoretical problems. My PhD is largely focussed on exploring mathematical problems related to optimising coverage for mobile sensors and some other related Operational Research problems, which is an extension of the work I studied for my Masters. It's been fun to get exposed to theoretical problems which have substantial real-world implications; for example, during my Masters I was asked to solve a problem of a theoretical for a major multi-national defence company which was about how you can maximises the coverage of sensors attached to public transport vehicles by being intelligent in selecting which bus routes have vehicles with the sensors installed on. You can find some of the research in this paper.
The toughest learning curve so far has been the fact that I only have a Masters degree, I never finished school or did a Bachelors degree - so towards the end of my Masters I did have to spend a bit of time ensuring I had a strong general understanding of maths (in addition to the focus area I was studying). I also regularly have existential crises as when trying to solve particularly hard optimisation problems which haven't really been solved before (albeit with significant amounts of background research).
Funnily enough, I originally didn't want to get drawn into doing a degree, but at previous jobs, when I found myself in a formal engineering environment - I got drawn into a research project in collaboration with a university, which ultimately turned into a Masters project.
There is a high workload for writing in a PhD, both in terms of writing papers and getting an early start on working on my thesis, but I'm sure this will benefit me as I come closer to completion.
Obviously it will all come down to the thesis and a single viva at the end (and I have no real way of knowing objectively how those will go), but so far I'm enjoying it. Academic research isn't for everyone, but if you're looking to make your contribution to knowledge (as opposed to more superficial reasons), I would highly recommend it.
Have a good employer. This is key. I am really lucky that at Cloudflare self-development is highly valued, and that my manager actively encourages me to pursue self-improvement. A manager who is scared of you "getting good and leaving" is a very bad sign when embarking on personal projects, conference talks or part-time degrees.
Do research in something which genuinely interests you. Find a problem which no one has solved and fascinates you so much that you want to solve it. Being motivated purely for career reasons won't give you the drive you need to get through it.
Have drive and self-motivation to complete the things you start. It's way more rewarding and efficient to have a start-it/finish-it mentality to work (whether professional or personal). Be careful about starting work when you have unfinished business on your plate.
How much of number one were you looking for before you started at Cloudflare? Where did this quality stand relative to other things they, or others, could offer?
I had a number of different offers from some quite notable companies (and I actually turned down some very good opportunities at some successful start-ups at the time), but I really had my eyes set of Cloudflare.
Different things matter to different people, and you need to figure out what you want. First and foremost of the things I value at Cloudflare is the freedom and trust that is put in you. You aren't pigeon holed and you are given the freedom to deliver stuff of value, no matter your rank.
Beyond that; you have the opportunity to make a big impact. The organisational structure is relatively flat, but growing. They were big enough to let me study whilst working. There are a ton of interesting problems that you can help solve here, that you won't see in a standard SaaS company or an agency.
The company is still growing and there's plenty of opportunity to help form that structure. When I started I was the only person in the Community team, in fact, I was the only person in the marketing organisation outside San Francisco. When I moved to Support Operations, my manager let me head up a team which was brand new in the organisation. You will be able to leave your mark quickly.
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Thanks for doing this Junade, how's the PhD coming along?
Hi Ben;
It's going really well! I've been really lucky to have a great supervisor for both my Masters and my PhD and it's been awesome to be able to step away from practical development and get completely drawn into solving some theoretical problems. My PhD is largely focussed on exploring mathematical problems related to optimising coverage for mobile sensors and some other related Operational Research problems, which is an extension of the work I studied for my Masters. It's been fun to get exposed to theoretical problems which have substantial real-world implications; for example, during my Masters I was asked to solve a problem of a theoretical for a major multi-national defence company which was about how you can maximises the coverage of sensors attached to public transport vehicles by being intelligent in selecting which bus routes have vehicles with the sensors installed on. You can find some of the research in this paper.
The toughest learning curve so far has been the fact that I only have a Masters degree, I never finished school or did a Bachelors degree - so towards the end of my Masters I did have to spend a bit of time ensuring I had a strong general understanding of maths (in addition to the focus area I was studying). I also regularly have existential crises as when trying to solve particularly hard optimisation problems which haven't really been solved before (albeit with significant amounts of background research).
Funnily enough, I originally didn't want to get drawn into doing a degree, but at previous jobs, when I found myself in a formal engineering environment - I got drawn into a research project in collaboration with a university, which ultimately turned into a Masters project.
There is a high workload for writing in a PhD, both in terms of writing papers and getting an early start on working on my thesis, but I'm sure this will benefit me as I come closer to completion.
Obviously it will all come down to the thesis and a single viva at the end (and I have no real way of knowing objectively how those will go), but so far I'm enjoying it. Academic research isn't for everyone, but if you're looking to make your contribution to knowledge (as opposed to more superficial reasons), I would highly recommend it.
Good luck!
Any best-practices on balancing the workload with the rest of what you do?
How much of number one were you looking for before you started at Cloudflare? Where did this quality stand relative to other things they, or others, could offer?
I had a number of different offers from some quite notable companies (and I actually turned down some very good opportunities at some successful start-ups at the time), but I really had my eyes set of Cloudflare.
Different things matter to different people, and you need to figure out what you want. First and foremost of the things I value at Cloudflare is the freedom and trust that is put in you. You aren't pigeon holed and you are given the freedom to deliver stuff of value, no matter your rank.
Beyond that; you have the opportunity to make a big impact. The organisational structure is relatively flat, but growing. They were big enough to let me study whilst working. There are a ton of interesting problems that you can help solve here, that you won't see in a standard SaaS company or an agency.
The company is still growing and there's plenty of opportunity to help form that structure. When I started I was the only person in the Community team, in fact, I was the only person in the marketing organisation outside San Francisco. When I moved to Support Operations, my manager let me head up a team which was brand new in the organisation. You will be able to leave your mark quickly.