reliable postdoc experience for a good future career
nadia nouir
Friday, 07 November 2008 14:49 UTC
Hi;
I’ve just finished my phd and thinking about post-doc position, i have to choose between two opportunities: immunology( same field as phd) or cell biology ( new topic). I want to choose which can be reliable for my future career after the postdoc research, especially in industry. Please someone help me please to do the right choice and learn from his/her experiences?
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Replies
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PIs need an experienced post doc if yoy have no expeirence in some technques they will be very angry…………………
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but cell biology is so interesting. You have also many oppertunities in industry with a post doc experience in Immunology.
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Thanks Ashraf for the explanations! it’s right that i don’t have so much experience in cell biology but the fellowship that we applied for aimed to give chance for researchers to work on another topic than that of their phd. do you know some of industries that recruit researchers in immunology or cell biology?
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Dear Nadia,
I was probably in a similar situation as you are right now. I did my PhD focusing on molecular evolution of gene families in chordate genomes. Although, I was invited for a Post-doc that would further address this topic, I decided to follow my PI’s advice and change the subject. I am still in the field of Molecular Evolution, but I have switched to a new topic. If I were you, I would choose a subject of cell biology.
I think that you have worked extensively with immuno-based assays and gained expertise in this field. The Post-doc should give you an opportunity to develop new soft-skills and master new lab-approaches. I think that you will gain more by showing your to future employer that you have “guts and courage” to tackle new topics and you like challenging tasks. These qualities are appreciated in the biotech industry and you should be able to demonstrate your experience with your career decisions. I can only tell you that I did not regret my decision. I was able to establish new contacts and maintain the old network of professionals. I have also learned skills that I would not have had a chance to develop if I had stayed in my field from my PhD.Good luck with your decision.
Cheers!
/Robert -
Hi Nadia,
After completion of PhD in cell Biology, I was at same situation like you, to continue in Cell Biology or change the field (I had passion x-ray crystallography). Lot of my friends and well wishers suggested it would be very nice for me not to change to crystallography. But I always felt more knowledge is good for me and my science as it would be give more options to answer a question. I shifted my field. I haven’t got any papers yet in two years but learned a lot.There were time I thought I did wrong by taking this drastic step (when I was frustrated) but I was sure I would be happy with my decision. I felt so because, most of time postdocs don’t get time from their colleagues or PI, like how grad students would get. PI expects postdoc to work themselves as they think postdoc is mature enough to handle any project. PI would be busy with grants and other administration stuff. Colleagues would be buried themselves in their own project and so hard for them to give some time to help though they really want to help. Some point of time you get a feeling that you are left like an orphan but its how it is in research in most labs.
If I were you I would choose cell Biology as it will not be so hard like in my case. I agree with Robert in all he mentioned. You would be different from fellow immunologists and cell biologists as you are ahead of them in every aspect. Definitely changing the field would test you as Ashraf says, but you could always live up to those challenges. I never regret my decision because I learned a lot and my way of addressing a problem has changed appreciably. Hope this helps you.
All the best
Yogi -
Thanks Robert and Yogesha
You realy give me some optimistic feeling towards changing research topic and this is what i was thinking about, because it’s always interesting to have further experience in other fields.
i agree with you Yogesha, but we also can feel like an orphan even if we keep the same field …
That’s right, it may need some time to cope with new topic but it also may open new horizons for future career…you see ? i’m trying to convince myself too:-)Thanks a lot
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