I have been noticing certain trends about writing research papers in India. They are written either by students or by academics.
Do people working in day jobs (like me) in the software industry write research papers?
I ask this question because, we are more likely to get interview calls from companies like Google and Facebook if the paper is worthwhile.
Even if I decide to write one, how/where do I present it? Are there any places online where I can submit it and get reviewed?
I would say most people working in the software industry don't have enough time on their hands to write academic papers - it's quite time consuming and of doubtful value - most papers are pretty poor things, often stating the blindingly obvious. If you want to get your name in front of people like Google, then contributing high-quality answers to a site like Stack Overflow is probably a better bet - I've been approached twice by Google and once by Microsoft, and I've never written a paper (have refereed a few though).
Do people working in day jobs (like me) in the software industry write research papers?
Usually no. I'm sure some people working as an IT professional and are affiliated in research at the same time (involved enough to be first author or nth author on a paper).
I ask this question because, we are more likely to get interview calls from companies like Google and Facebook if the paper is worthwhile.
No, publications simply show you have done - and are able to perform - research. Facebook and Google would be more interested in how well you can think and the code you're able to produce.
Even if I decide to write one, how/where do I present it? Are there any places online where I can submit it and get reviewed?
You submit your paper (on a research topic not yet covered) to a journal. Be sure to tailor your writing for that specific journal and beware of any publication fees. It would then be send to be refereed by someone with knowledge in the domain of your paper. Then you go off and perform the necessary suggestions and watch it get published.
If you want to get called by Google of Facebook, don't waste your time in a research. Simply send them your attractive resume.
If you really like doing research and would like to invest the required time in it. Start today, create a blog, start writing, and take your pleasure now. You don't need a green flag from some authority to start contributing.
There are tons of (non academic/student) people doing research online and get lot of interest. I think they didn't do it to get interest, they simply did it because they are passionated by the subject they are researching.
If you are involved into developing software that uses a bleeding-edge technology still being actively researched, and if you contribute to this research as well, then, why not. People do this.
But most importantly, to publish academic papers, you should actually do the research itself. It's a prerequisite. I doubt that publishing papers alone would help anyone to get a better job if, at the same time, one doesn't spend much of his time doing actual research. A paper are only a description of scientific results achieved, not a valuable artifact as itself.
Hmmm, well I've written a research paper for honours as a student. Now I work full time. A research paper is exactly what it says. You spend a considerable amount of time doing research and most likely empirical testing and then you report about it in your paper. As a student it was 12 months.. as a PHD student it would be 1-3 years!
Many honours students will work on papers with little or no value but others will show considerable research at times. I would say though, while you are working full time, the only ones worth writing are papers where significant advancement in the field has been made or where a novel method to do something has been discovered.
There are many people who work/research and publish research papers, but it is usually part of their job description. Microsoft comes to mind here.
A good place to submit them is to a conference. Just as long as they are reviewed by enough of your fellow peers (people also researching the same subject area). Also, consider an IEEE membership.. they have lots of paper submission opportunities and it's a good place to stay in touch with the cutting edge research out there.
But why write a paper? patent your research or build a start up instead! :)
Cranks like to say that their research papers are always rejected because they are outsiders, and the insiders are afraid of new ideas. They would never admit their paper was rejected because it is nonsense! In fact, if you look in the journals, you will see some authors with non-academic addresses.
