Did you know what you missed in grad school?

Read insiders' views, Paul Gray and David E. Drew's What they didn't teach you in graduate school : 199 helpful hints for success in your academic career (Sterling, Va. : Stylus Pub, 2008).

Foremost: "We consider professor to be the best job available on the planet...It is both a thrill and an honor to contribute to knowledge through your own scholarship...You are given the rare opportunity to guide the expansion and development of young (and older) minds and ideas over your entire lifetime." (p. 119-120)

Hint 2. 100 powerful people. Most academic fields are dominated by fewer than 100 powerful people. These people know one another and determine the course of the field. Early in your career you should get to know as many of them as possible. More to the point, they should know who you are. You want them to see you as a bright young person at the forefront of your field. (p. 7)

6. Specialize. Get known for something. It helps visibility. (p. 8)

39. Teaching is a great personal satisfaction and an important public good that you perform. However, publications are your only form of portable wealth. (p. 33)

45. The death rate among aunts and grandmothers of college-age student is phenomenal, far beyond anything actuarial. It is skewed toward exam time. A death in the family is the standard excuse for missing classes and examinations. Although some students are remarkably inventive at concocting stories, most are not. (p. 35)

47. Teaching can be a dangerous profession. It doesn't happen very often, but a student can come into your office or your building and shoot at you or do other physical harm. (p. 35)

73. Academics generally [hoito: I must say "genuinely"] avoid risk. We grant that exceptions exist, but most people going into university teaching are risk averse. (p. 55)

74. Contracts are given to faculty for nine months. The other three months are supposedly for you to do with as you please. (p. 55) [hoito: I almost have not summer break]

90. Be aware that as an academic you are a public person. Your students spends 40 hours or more a semester doing nothing but looking at you while you talk. This experience makes an indelible impression on them. You will find that several years later when they approach you and call you by name they will expect you to remember them. You, of course, usually will not. Their appearance and dress will be different. The important point is that your behavior in public place is noticed when you least expect it. (p. 63)

91. We firmly believe that people should be free to express their views on public issues, whether the views are mainstream or not. But understand the associated career risks. The conventional wisdom that academics are free to say what they please may well be the reason why you chose your career. However, our observations of what really goes on leads us to a different take for untenured faculty. (p. 63-64)

119. Myth 1 [about academics] "I envy all the free time you have. You mean you actually get paid a full salary for working only 12 hours a week?"...Actually, most professors work well over 40 hours per week, and that includes not only the time on campus but also the time at home in the evenings and on weekends. (p. 79)

120. Myth 2: "All professors are political Leftists. Our universities are controlled by radicals and liberals." Most surveys how that the majority of professors are either conservative or middle of the road. (p. 79)

154. Learn new things over time. Universities are notorious for not spending money on faculty development. Universities assume that, because you earned a PhD, you learned all you ever need to know. The are not consumers of their own educational product.

157. Learn time management...One of our colleagues, who published well over 30 books in his career, advised: "If you write only a page a day, that's a book a year!" (p. 111-112)

159. The rich get richer holds in academia as well as in society in general. Once you establish a reputation, people will pursue you to do things...To reach this position you must earn your reputation. If you do reach it, remember that fame is transitory. You must keep running, doing new things, to keep the demand going. (p. 115)

160. Treat students as though they are guests in your home. (p. 115)