We all know and love that great Q&A website, stackoverflow.com (or SO)
Well, we all should know and love it. But not many people I’ve met are aware of great variety of communities built using SO platform. Here are some of the favorites.
academia.stackexchange.com
Ask or search existing questions for anything about higher education:
- how to deal with publications
- finding and communicating with advisor
- working on group projects
- how academic departments work
- what is expected from students, postdoc, RAs, TAs etc
WORKPLACE.STACKEXCHANGE.COM
More general site for discussion of anything related to professional workplace. After all, we are working in academia and science too. This is perfect for students, trying to transition into research, since it covers:
- relationships in the team
- how to ask for raise, promotion
- what is expected from professionals
- “Is this behavior professional and how should I deal with it?”
- workplace issues, conflicts, harassment
- management “up” and “down”
interpersonal.stackexchange.com
Less known, but still useful site focussed on interpersonal relationships. There is a trope that some academics are not so good at communicating with friends and family, and this site might help.
codereview.stackexchange.com
For when we are done hacking our code and would like to make sure that it is at least reasonably written. Software is often a part of scientist’s job, so it should be done reasonably well