Lambda the Ultimate

Ouch. But consider where money comes from for conference registration and where the nominal award is going (into someone's pocket), and the cash award actually seems reasonable.

No one goes to a conference if they have to pay for it out of their own pocket, its way too expensive :p

Oh, I was intending to take a jab at the conference admissions cost, not the award amount. I realize that no one who goes to these things actually pays for them out of pocket.

Ya, conference registration is definitely high. At least students get a discount; I'm not sure what else can be done (maybe a new model?).

I don't know. Probably nothing to be done unless you want to skimp on something to lower costs, but I'm not informed enough to discuss it intelligently. I'm just grumbling. :)

There is some waste in the system...people need to get paid or justify getting paid. But this is true everywhere in industry and academia and not unique to our conference system. I think we should be able to get the price to around 600ドル (the cost of strange loop), but that wouldn't include student subsidies. After that it is still a pretty high price.

The best strategy is to do only one conference a year, so choose your home conference carefully :) After that, special workshops and working groups are much more enjoyable given the focus and caliber of the people involved, and their fees are usually quite reasonable (mostly just cost of some space and a few meals). Of course, anywhere I go usually requires an expensive 10+ hour plane ride...why people can't do anything in Asia is beyond me.

I realize that no one who goes to these things actually pays for them out of pocket.

I did last year. :)

"no one" ==> "not many". 1ドルK is a pretty steep price to pay out of pocket.

It was ICFP, so not quite 1K. Actually, hotel prices in Boston were the bigger blow by far.

OOPSLA is up to 1ドルk now if you include the workshop days.

Portland is at least cheap on hotels.

My advisor graduated two PhDs, one got it (hint not me). Frankly, it probably looks good on a CV but I don't see it helping your career specifically. I'm not even sure if it makes more people read your dissertation. Its like "best paper," doesn't mean it will be seminal.

The 2001-2008 winners are all professors at research universities. The 2009 winners are at MSR. The 2010-2014 winners are all in industry.

Sumit Gulwani, winner in 2005, is at MSR.

It doesn't say much; it just mirrors a trend that happened in the 00s, with more PL PhDs going into industry.