Advice — Alex Eble

Here is some of the advice I found useful as I made my way through the professional worlds of development, policy, and academia. If there's anything you think I should add, mail me with the links: eble - at - tc dot columbia dot edu.

PhD-related

This guidebook I put together with input from colleagues and students here at TC collects most of the advice below and a lot more. The last half of it is specific to the Teachers College PhD in Economics and Education, but the first 8 pages are generic to PhDs in economics, economics and education, public policy, and the other quantitative social sciences.

Here is a twitter thread I made to go along with it. In case twitter ever takes it down, here’s a PDF of it.

Once you're in the PhD:

On succeeding in the PhD:
- Go to seminars; as many as you have time for
- Read widely, but also deeply. Think of finding your PhD topic as an excuse to become well-read enough to be an international expert on one subject
- Come up with at least one research idea a week! The most important advice on this page
  - I found using this template helped. Fill this in once per week, run it by another grad student, then your advisor or a faculty member who will listen (pro tip: don't go to the same person twice in a row)
  - Take copious notes on why it's a bad idea (this is how you learn what the discipline likes)
  - If they like it, do what they say, then take it to someone else
  - If they don't like it, start over (don't take it personally - everyone has bad ideas, the PhD is the process of extracting them to let the good ones come through)
- Pick a research idea / field you are interested in. Even if it fails, you'll learn a ton about something that you care about
- Be professional
  - Answer email correspondence within 24 hours if at all possible
  - Think of every interaction with professors and other scholars as advertisement for yourself. Dress appropriately (no sweats / tshirts with holes), be organized, and be concise
  - Do not look to advisors for comfort / spiritual guidance. Use them for help with your work and understanding about the field of economics
On acquiring various PhD-related skills
- Great pep talks on coming up with research ideas from
  - Steve Pischke
  - David Weil
- Read and re-read Jesse Shapiro's slides on how to give an applied micro talk
- His document with Gentzkow on how to code is also a great reference
- Writing advice from John Cochrane
- Writing advice from Michael Kremer
- Masayuki Kudamatsu's fantastic compendium of stata advice and help
- Rachel Meager’s wonderful slides on how to present your research
On how to survive in the PhD:
- Matt Pearson on getting through the first year
- Useful (ish) books on making the most of the process:
  - Getting What You Came For
  - A Guide for the Young Economist
On how to nail the academic job market:
- Chris Blattman's new and improved advice compendium
- Read this book (lessons on presenting, putting your best face forward, and so forth) (this is the second most important piece of advice on this page)
- For the economics job market:
  - John Cawley's guide (if you only read one thing, read this...at least twice)
  - Harvard's advice to their students
Jennifer Doleac has collected a great set of threads on how to navigate professional life at the end of and after the PhD