Just doing his job

It's probably been obvious from my posts but, in case not, I'll just state it: I would have submitted this CISS paper for publication a loooooong time ago. I'm used to the pace that things get done in the corporate world. Who cares if it's not great? Show me what you got; we'll get some feedback.

That's not really the way it works in academia. Yes, there is a peer review process. But, you're expected to have your stuff pretty much in order before submitting to that.

I was thinking about that after I met with my adviser today. I could come up with a bunch of complaints about the process. That would ignore the fact that he's basically doing his job. That job, to put it bluntly, is to treat me like crap. Not in any kind of mean way, but part of grad school is getting your ego knocked down a few rungs so you leave a bit more conscious of your limitations. Yes, those egos do seem to restore themselves once placed in faculty positions, but think how much worse it would be if they were coddled all through grad school.

Anyway, I have to grudgingly admit that the paper is way better now than it was a month ago and that wouldn't have happened if he had just rubber-stamped it. It's still not done and it needs to be done real soon or the whole dissertation timeline is going to have to be reevaluated (read: there will be a mutiny on the home front and it will never happen). Still, it will only matter if it's done right. And, that takes time.