What are your top developmental opportunities?

What is the future of speech signal processing research in terms of career opportunities?

• I am starting my PhD this FALL in one of the top 15 schools in US. The research group I am joining is very big in terms of size and diversity. I will be working in speech recognition for my PhD under a very experienced Professor in that field. I am not interested in teaching after PhD. I want to join a top research organization like Microsoft or Google after my PhD. How difficult it is to get a job in one of the top most research organizations after PhD in '(speech)SIgnal Processing'? Please do keep in my mind that I am just starting my PhD. So I am interested in knowing the career opportunities in the field five years from now. Please, also, assume I will have good number of publications and a good recommendation from my advisor.

• Answer:

  The paper is only one dimension... If you want to hit it big with a top position, you will need more than that... Your papers need to transpire passion, dedication, diligence in your research. The pick of your topic is also important. You need to pick a topic of interest to one of these organizations and become a reference within that field. That being said, I doubt you can aim for such a specific objective, but, if you do so, in the process you may find yourself diverted into another direction that may result an equivalently good or even better situation. After all, you're doing good by being motivated with noble goals. By the way, I am a high-school drop-out with 25 years of experience in technology, I have many patents and work daily with people from many backgrounds including other high-school dropouts up to Ph. Ds. We are all equal in the business world. We need to create more revenue for the business hiring us than the expense they need to fulfill through your hiring. Concentrate on that and you will become independent in your answers. How may I create wealth through my knowledge. This will require vision, work and even a little bit of luck and it will require a lot of humility in the process as you will have to work with plenty of people with a diversity of background to get the common vision to reality. Good luck!