It’s taken 34 years and 3 days of life
24 years of education
damn near 5 years of postdoctoral slavery research….but there it is in…in immutable Black & White. The word “Faculty” next to my name.
OK…so I’m actually the “staff” part of that, seeing as I’m a Research Associate, but good grief, it feels a whole lot closer than having “Student-Trainee” there…
Next stop, “Sweet Faculty”.
Which reminds me, have you see “in the Loop”…?
In the loop? A blog?
No – it’s a film – hilarious, with lots of inventive swearing!
wohoo!! I sense a cheers (drink) coming up. Like you know, a celebratory one for the “real time” you could see yourself as Faulty!
some of us are still on the pd level…. then again, some of us are not 34 yrs old yet ;) [nor 5 yrs of post doc but who’s counting?!?!]
@Scurry: I’ll check that when my secretary is out of the office :)
@Asa: Hush child. The grown ups are talking. >:) You may buy me a glass of wine after work for this!
I’m “casual staff” with no postdoc training at all and three years of life less. Pffffft =P
You’re next on the list Amsen…
Careful, Brooks. You’re one of them now.
Those of us without such lofty titles are now waiting for you to croak in order to get there too. Be careful with people who offer to bring you tea.
LMAO! That was faster than I thought! First
death threatwarning on the day the IRIS system updates!…bloody postdocs…
:)
In all seriousness though, I do care, deeply, still. Of course I do. That’s why I ran for election to the board of the National Postdoc Association. I was really upset at the beginning of this year when I found out the Postdoc Association here at UT was planning something and hadn’t asked me to join in. I emailed the chair and asked about it and she said “but I thought you didn’t care about postdocs anymore. You’re not one us now.”, or words to that effect.
That really hurt. I’m the founding Chair of our PDA, a member of the Board of the NPA, I go to the conferences, I offer career advice, help job hunt, cajole and harangue as necessary. I’m one of the editors of the NPA magazine for crying out loud! And yet, the minute I went for a staff post I was a splitter and a scab! WTF!?
Congratulations :-)
:) Deep breath now. Remember that feeling from the paper acceptance. I was only jesting.
But the first time I saw the pic at the top of the page, I thought you were celebrating getting Health Insurance because of your job. Would that cover arsenic poisoning through tea?
Congratulations :)
Brooks: ah well, I guess it is worth it. Being Faculty and all :)
Regarding the other things people tell you about “still being interested” I guess it is more about them and that they are not assuming you would be interested in something"you have left". Kind of shortsighted but not too unusual I’m afraid. Carry on with the fight! :) After all, it is a smaller difference now with the PDA there right?
@Sabine: :) thanks
@Mike: only messing mate. I do got decent health insurance finally (or rather I will after working one calendar month). But as for common poisons, I took the Dread Pirate Roberts path on that mate :)
@Martin: Thanks :D
@Asa: The NPA counts you as a postdoc for 2 years after securing a non-postdoc position. Also, the Board of Directors has a senior professor & several PhD level “staff”, from various institutes, including the Office of Intramural Funding at the NIH. We are Legion :)
I’m 47 and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
@HG: I was thinking about that on the drive to work this morning. People asking me, “what’s next”, or “what are you working towards”; people at work, mentors etc.
I have no idea! I think I’d like to be Executive Vice-Chancellor/Provost someday. or President/Chancellor of a decent University. But there isn’t exactly a clearly defined career path for that. It’s like going for Prime Minister: get law degree, get into politics, brown-nose. but then along comes Maggie Thatcher and turns that upside down! (<- not comparing myself to the Iron Baroness!)
Also, I think the culture of academic science, at least in the US, needs a serious overhaul. The NIH has a massive budget, but can’t sustain the behemoth that academic research has spawned. I think we’re looking at mass unemployment/exodus of PhDs in the next few years. Or a revolt by the home grown talent at the support of 60-70% foreign nationals who undercut the market by working for less than minimum wage.
If the foreign PhDs leave, the US scientific enterprise could be in big trouble. There isn’t enough money to pay US PhDs to do the same job in similar vast numbers.
So given all of this, is a major reason I chose to leave the bench when I did. The “traditional” path may get me where I’m going (or kill me), but so might the “non-traditional” path. So, let’s have some fun and find out!
Congratulations!
@Caryn: ta very much :)
I think we’re looking at mass unemployment/exodus of PhDs in the next few years. Or a revolt by the home grown talent at the support of 60-70% foreign nationals who undercut the market by working for less than minimum wage
now, that is a wonderful picture for post docs you paint…. I’m not saying you are wrong per se I just wasn’t prepared to think about it again now.
(turns and walks towards the swine flu instead…)
So Ian, are you saying native English speakers suffer a disadvantage in their own countries from higher competition, because the (current) international language of science is English?
Wait a minute.
Strike that.Reverse it. I’ll write my own blog on that topic.Like, here Scoobs. Oh, and Åsa, “perse” means “bum” in Finnish. Titter
@Mike: no. But I like your train of thought. Let me ruminate, ponder & imbibe. I shall return forthwith 9tomorrow0 with more.
And yes, 9tomorrow0 is my new cool internet version of things like
OMG
11
Mike: really? And here I thought i wrote a nice term in Latin ;) it’s all Finnish in the end I guess……
It’s not as much fun as the Marks & Spencer brand of luxury clothes and perfume.
Per una.
They obviously didn’t check out the Finnish translation of peruna on google translate first.
Ian:
applause
If you wish, you may imagine Wintle’s world-famous, patented, enthusiastic-but-not-terribly-musical, one-man-band impersonation in celebration of your
defection from the rank and fileentry into the scientific aristocracy. Unfortunately your graphic is a bit small on this laptop so I’ll have to go and search for you at the UT website to see the magic words.I myself am some years younger than Henry, some years older than you, and not a faculty, staff, lecturer or anything like it. But I gave up that idea long ago, roughly when my first (and only) postdoc was winding up.