Is post doc the dead end?

A number of people have been visiting this blog in the recent times, trying to get postdoc advice, or perhaps to find consolation, suffering from their own postdoc troubles. Therefore, I thought it might be good to give them some perspective. My last post wasn't intended to do so, and was merely a more personal reminiscing of how I hit a dead end in my career with a postdoc in a middle-rung U.

However, post-docs are not necessarily a dead end. Rather, they can be the beginning of a fascinating scientific career. These days, it is almost impossible to get a faculty position without a postdoc. A number of brilliant academics go from a postdoc to a faculty position quite seamlessly. Therefore, it isn't fair to generalize postdocs as dead end positions.

The nature of a postdoc depends on a number of factors. First of all, it depends on what field you are in. If you are in Engineering, like me, there is less competition for a postdoc, and chances are, it will be less of a nightmare. Both you and your advisor know, that it is easy enough for you to get out and find a position in the industry if things don't work out. It is not as easy, as I said in the last line, especially in this economy, but engineering postdocs still have some wiggling room in terms of the nature of their work, especially if you have done a PhD from an US univ. If you're a foreigner with a PhD from a foreign univ (read india/china), then you are probably in a precarious position to begin with.

If your postdoc is in the biological sciences, then that is whole another story (again, esp. if you are a foreigner, with your visa tied to your work etc.). Lots of labs treat postdocs as cheap labors, and these postdocs too find themselves in a bind, with nowhere else to go, and working their ass off, at a meager salary. Going back to their home country isn't much of an option, since those countries still don't have too many R&D opportunities for PhDs to work on, and the competition for a few academic jobs is fierce.
Green card is an elusive dream, postdocs being a temporary position, and this is a vicious black hole, from which there is no escape. Universities and labs treat postdocs as cheap labor, and in this economy, things work out fine for them.

These are pure cold hard facts, highly opinionated, from what I have seen around me. I just wanted to share it for people who are thinking of getting into postdocs. Remember, most postdocs are not worth it, if your advisor is not bigshot. The other possibility is that it is in your narrow field in which you can churn out great papers. Try to write grants asap. This is a mistake I made. I never took the initiative and started writing grants. It is never too early to think of research statements, lay down the projects you want to start your own lab with, hunt for collaborations, to name a few. If these things are working for you, then you are probably doing fine. If not, and if you think of postdocs as a 9-5 job where you go and do your experiments, and come back home, you are probably not doing the right thing. Getting stuck in the endless cycle of postdocs is the worst thing you can do to yourself, after all the hard work of getting a PhD. It is not only going to keep you poor and bachelor, but in the long run, you will repent losing the wonderful years of your youth, confined in a dark lab, running meaningless experiments.

By all means, go ahead and do a postdoc, if the signs are looking right. But if they do not, do not hesitate to start looking elsewhere. It is easy to get coddled into the complacency of a postdoc, until it becomes too late  to get out. Those in no position to leave, think hard about your options.

That was a quick small dirty post from me, about postdoccing. If you have questions, let me know, and I will try to answer them.

Also, that reminds me, I need to update this blog pretty soon.