Taking the next step
Craig Rowell
Tuesday, 18 September 2007 11:27 UTC
So it is time to look beyond the post-doc to the next step. Have any of you had friends that have made a successful jump from post-doc to the next career (either academia or elsewhere)? Perhaps if we share some common stories we may all learn a little.
I’ll go first. I have two friends who have left the “Ivory Tower” for different pursuits the first went to the U.S. Patent Office and has enjoyed the work. Now after only 6 months he has been promoted. Another friend recently joined a contract organization where he is learning about IND and FDA fillings. So far he is enjoying the 9-5 lifestyle with the prospects of working from home in the near future.
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So…My mom always says to look for 70-80% happiness in your job. On one hand I agree with that and on the other it is sort of depressing, since that would only be a “C” in an academic setting. Anyway, there is truth there. I think that what Pilar says is important about remembering why we went into this field to begin with. However, we must also consider the conditions under which we thought to choose this proffesion. Most likely we were in High School or College and did not have concerns about families, cars and mortgages. This is not to make excuses, because obviously these are all choices that we make. But at the end of the day we have lives to lead and while earning a living may take up a substantial part of that time it is not everything. I think that job “trying” is not bad for those who are tired of what they are doing, it is usually the best way to learn. However, there is definately a real sense that if you choose X now you won’t be able to choose Y in the future. Is this true? I don’t know. I have met many people who have gotten to where they are through very “strange” processes and say they wouldn’t have changed anything.
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Hey Craig,
Sorry for now answering sooner, but I have been a little busy with my job transition. I totally agree with you: as life changes perhaps, our desires or even physical capacities also change. My answer to your question and along with what I said before would be: If I chose X job now I am very confident that I can try to get jobs Y, Z, F, etc later as long as I do good in my X job. That means I need to make sure that my every day life in X job is not going to be in the mouse room at all :-) I just can’t do that very well anymore. Do you see my point?
What I mean is that whatever we decide to do has to be chosen according with what we know we can repeat every day and still do it good (at least for a period of time) I could not pick to become chef either. I hate to cook :-) -
Hi Pilar,
Can you share with us what your new career is? Or at least talk in braod terms about your transition process?
Craig
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I am staying in the same field: Cancer Immunotherapy but I am going to industry. I personally did not want to leave the field or leave research. I came to this country to do research, and truly like it and believe in my field. I spent several years as a postdoc learning lab and theory. When I thought I was ready to hit the job market, I read those websites that I posted in this blog before, asked my mentors and other people for advice in terms of steps to follow for either way, academic or industry. I researched institutes, transitional grants options and industries to find the ones right for me. I read websites about writing CVs, interviews, etc… I worked a lot with my CV and although it is not perfect and always find things that I do not like, I still applied to very specific places that are committed with what I like and want. When I got interviews, yes….I practiced my speech, read about the place, etc. However, in my opinion what got me job offers is my excitement about the position, the type of research and my commitment with the development of the field. That was not practiced…
Also, I do not consider industry less or more than academia. I do not consider that academia was not for me either or that industry is “2nd class” jobs. I think is a different work prospective, both have advantages and disadvantages, but both offer a great career satisfaction if you are involved in what you want. I should be able to do my job right and who knows; in the future maybe I go to business, other areas of the company or return to academia -
Congrats Pilar! This is great news and I wish you “good luck” in your new endeavor. You have obviously worked very hard to track-down and get this job. I wondered if you could share some of the details about how you found this specific job (i.e. job board or contact at the company) and what were the next steps (phone interview, interview with seminar etc.) I know that there are boards that post this in general but I was hoping that in this thread we could actually share specifics. If you don’t want to share the name of the company that’s fine. As you know there is a lot of unknowns in the job hunting experience so the more we help one another through this process the better. Again, congrats!!
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The science postdoc system in US is a trap nowadays. If you are really smart, with some luck, you can beat it. But how many of us can do that? (20%, I doubt it) I heard from my ex-boss that US no longer offers a reasonable career pathway to young scientist.
I have a number of friends got a tenure track position outside of US, e.g Singapore. They told me that the Gov fully support basic researches. Biotech industries are also growing in Asia.
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Here is a link to a blogger who recently made the jump from post-doc to professor (http://juniorprof.wordpress.com/). He discusses this new life from many angles and is very eloquent. Enjoy!
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