Who else is going to the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Baltimore 2019?

My PhD advisor sent me (read as: paid for the trip) to the joint meetings during my final two years of grad school and basically gave me the advice I just wrote (minus the bonus tip since I'm not of the shy sort).

Pretty sure that a big part of getting my first postdoc had to do with knowing people I'd met there. The reason being that when I applied for the postdoc, I knew people at the place and mentioned them in the cover letter. So the hiring committee asked them about me, and so it went.

Truth be told: the reason some good qualified math folks don't get postdocs is that no one actually reads their applications. With the online applications, we get ~1000 applicants for a position. I'd like to say everyone gets equal consideration but that's a lie: if I know someone who is applying, I will let the committee know to keep an eye out and they will get consideration (no, knowing me won't help their chances, but it will ensure someone reads their application); if you know no one then often your application just sort of doesn't get noticed.

Later in the career, it turns out that knowing people opens lots of doors: you get told about conferences and funding opportunities, you get asked to do things (referee papers, organize special sessions, etc).

The JMM is one of the best resources for up and coming math people if you take advantage of the opportunity, I cannot overstate the benefits of doing what I suggested.

/r/math Thread Parent