Symbolic Systems Program - Career Resources

[updated 12/2/2015]

Career planning can include many things beyond looking for a job: identifying the right organizations, networks and advice-givers appropriate to your interests, getting exposure through volunteer work and student groups, and pursuing further education. The following offsite career resources cover a span of information from job databases to career/educational planning, in fields related to Symbolic Systems and beyond. If there is another resource that you think should be available on this list, please email ssp-af at csli dot stanford dot edu with the URL and description.

Symbolic Systems Program Resources:

Alumni News & Features
Includes links to interviews with alumni about their careers after getting a Symbolic Systems degree. Note especially the Graduation Panel from 2011. Subscribe via RSS.

Field Trips!
Includes thematic visits to workplaces in the Bay Area of interest to Symbolic Systems students. Watch for announcements via email to the students list.

Symbolic Systems in Practice (Symsys 200)
Advanced Small Seminar focused on applying a Symbolic Systems education to research and/or a career. Students interview alumni about their career paths, and the results are posted in our Alumni News & Features section on this website.

Symbolic Systems Program Jobs Database
Job listings posted on this website aimed at Symbolic Systems students and alumni. You can subscribe to it via RSS.

Stanford Resources:

*BEAM: Stanford Career Education*
Stanford's official university-wide job center for students and alumni.

Planning for Graduate and Professional School
The Stanford Undergraduate Advising Center's guide to graduate and professional education.

Stanford American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
Local chapter of AISES "seeks to help its members excel in the sciences, premed, and engineering tracks offered at Stanford while maintaining the delicate balance of work and cultural responsibility."

Asis-Pacific Entrepreneurship Society (ASES)
"a student organization whose mission is to educate and network the future leaders in business, technology and the Asia-Pacific in order to foster a global entrepreneurship society."

BASES: Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students
Includes undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from all schools at Stanford, promoting entrepreneurship through networking and discussion. Site includes job listings.

Stanford CareerConnect
Find jobs - or post jobs - on the only job board that's exclusively for Stanford alumni. All job listings are posted by alums, for alums.

Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School
For those interested in "the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies." Maintains an email list for events related to cyberlaw.

Stanford Computer Forum
The industrial affiliates program of the Stanford Computer Science Department and Computer Systems Laboratory. SSP students are eligible to register for the recruitment program.

Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford
Click on "Fellowships", "Public Service Opportunities", and "Links" for public service career resources. The "service4all" majordomo list is also an excellent resource. See especially the Haas Center's Technology page.

liberationtech-jobs
Jobs email list associated with the Program on LIberation Technology.

hci-students
List for students interested in HCI at Stanford, includes job opportunities posted.

she++
"A Stanford-based community for innovative women in technology", co-founded by Symbolic Systems undergraduate Ayna Agarwal ('14).

Stanford In Government (SIG)
Organization for students interested in government and politics. Site includes internship, fellowship, and job resource listings. SIG fellowships include positions related to technology and e-government.

StartX
From the website: "StartX is a non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the development of Stanford's top entrepreneurs through experiential education."

Stanford Careers
Site for employment opportunities available within the university itself.

Stanford Media X/CSLI
Has an industrial affiliates program with an annual recruitment day in early March.

Stanford Society of Black Scientists and Engineers (SBSE)
A student-run chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), SBSE provides "academic support, networking opportunities, technical and professional development, and direct outreach to the community."

Society of Latino Engineers (SOLE)
From the website: "the only Latino student organization on campus dedicated to encouraging and aiding undergraduate Latino students in pursuing engineering and science degrees."

Stanford Society of Women Engineers
From the Stanford Directory: "Stanford's student section of the National Society of Women Engineers is an undergraduate and graduate society that seeks to stimulate women to achieve their full potential as engineers and leaders."

Undergraduate Philosophy Association (UPA)
Works closely with The Dualist, Stanford's undergraduate philosophy journal, to plan events for undergraduates interested in philosophy.

Minorities and Philosophy, Stanford Chapter
Stanford chapter of an organization whose goals are to "contribute to improved department cultures and facilitate increases in participation of underrepresented groups in academic philosophy."

Stanford Undergraduate Psychology Association (SUPA)
From the website: "A student-run organization which was established in hopes of bringing undergraduate students majoring in psychology and related areas of study into direct contact with faculty members and graduate students." Good entry point for doing research in psychology.

Women in Computer Science (WICS)
From the website: "WICS is an organization within the Stanford Computer Science Department whose purpose is to support and promote women in Computer Science by encouraging discussion and raising awareness of the issues they face." Events and an email list.

Other Resources:

American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
Professional organization for research in artificial intelligence. Open memberships and job listings.

American Philosophical Association (APA)
The main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Student associate memberships.

American Psychological Society (APS)
Professional organization for academic psychologists. Student memberships and programs.

Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL)
From the website: "THE international scientific and professional society for people working on problems involving natural language and computation."

Assoication for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI)
International professional organization for human-computer interaction specialists, part of the larger ACM which has Special Interest Groups for many other specialties, including artificial intelligence. The annual CHI conference is the most important gathering for HCI. SIGCHI has a jobs email list for members. See also BayCHI (below).

Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL)
Organization for studies in logic. Student memberships available.

BayCHI
The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI) -- see above. Local meetings are good networking opportunities. Has a Job Bank service for members.

California - State Personnel Board
Site for information on state government opportunities in California.

Call to Serve
Call to Serve is a site run by the Partnership for Public Service that provides information about federal jobs and internships in student-friendly language. It also offers guidance to help you navigate the sites below. Check out www.bestplacestowork.org for a comprehensive ranking of federal agencies.

Cognitive Science Society
Promotes scientific interchange between researchers in different disciplines interested in the human mind. Site contains links to graduate programs in cognitive science.

craigslist
An online community and classifieds website that began in the Bay Area, now with sections for many cities.

Future Salon
Bay Area group that holds periodic meetings to discuss technologies on the horizon and their potential impacts. Networked with other futurist organizations.

"Graduate School" at About.com
Graduate school can be (and even lead to) a paying job. Links about graduate school and the academic job market.

Idealist
Site for Action Without Borders, a general resource for the nonprofit sector, including many job and internship listings. Sponsors an annual conference each spring for students interested in public service careers.

International City/County Management Association
From the website: "The ICMA JobCenter offers a database of current job openings for local government professionals. Positions listed are with local governments, related local government and nonprofit organizations, and universities."

Job Resource powered by AfterCollege
An outside job service, with a section for SSP students; especially geared toward national security and related industries, but includes lots of jobs from the commercial sector of computing also.

Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
Professional organization for linguists. Student memberships available.

LinkedIn
An online social networking site for making professional contacts, founded by SSP alum Reid Hoffman ('89). A very good source of job and internship listings.

MIT CogNet
A "brain and cognitive sciences community online" run by MIT Press. Lists of graduate programs and (generally post-Ph.D.) jobs.

Monster.com
A large online, commercial jobs database. Includes PublicService.Monster.com for public service jobs.

Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (N-TEN)
Organization for people in the nonprofit technology community. See also the Yahoo Group Nonprofit Tech Jobs.

Open Directory - Business:Employment:Job Search
Large collection of job resource links.

Open Directory - Computers:Open Source:Employment
Job resource links in the free software/open source sector.

Partnership for Public Service - Work for USA
Website and organization devoted to promoting employment with the U.S. Government.

PhDs.org: Science, Math, and Engineering Career Resources
Good resource site for those considering graduate school, with interactive rankings tool for graduate programs in different fields.

PlaNetwork
San Francisco-based organization that brings together techies, fuzzies, and tezzies interested in social and environmental justice. Annual conference and monthly networking meeting.

The Psychonomic Society
Facilitates the exchange of information among cognitive psychology researchers through journals and conferences. Membership requires a Ph.D., but students may attend the annual conference.

Resource Generation
Organization offering resources and social networking for young people with wealth, e.g., those who do not need to work to support themselves, who seek to put their money to use for progressive social change.

SDForum
An organization for people in the silicon valley software industry, with many public events and special interest groups. Provides "a venue for engineers, executives, researchers, technology leaders, and venture capitalists to exchange information on emerging technologies and best practices."

Slashdot Tech Jobs/Yahoo! HotJobs
Jobs/career site attached to the "news for nerds, stuff that matters" online forum site, using Yahoo! technology.

"Social Entrepreneurship" assembled by Carter McNamara
Guide to business/nonprofit/hybrid ventures, with many links.

Society for Judgment and Decision Making (SJDM)
The SJDM is "an interdisciplinary academic organization dedicated to the study of normative, descriptive, and prescriptive theories of decision." Cheap student memberships and an annual meeting which coincides with that of The Psychonomic Society.

Society for Neuroscience (SfN)
Professional organization for neuroscientists. Annual meetings and student memberships. Member benefits include online Career Services.

TechSoup Nonprofit Tech Careers Forum
"Share resources, strategies for job-hunting in the nonprofit sector and any other ideas you have about technology careers in nonprofits."

Uloop College Jobs for Students and Graduates
External jobs site.