As I’ve somehow become a “senior postdoc” (a moniker that I’ve attempted to elude for years with diminishing credibility), I’ve been reflecting on all the things I wish I knew when I started. Mistakes I’ve made, lessons I’ve learned, regrets I’ve heard from other senior postdocs. That reflection has led to this post, another installment in my series which could be entitled Practical Advice for Navigating the Ridiculous System that is Academic Research. (Earlier installments include How to Get a Postdoc and Applying for the K99, plus some not-so-practical musings on the absurdity of the system itself).

So here and in the next post I’ve written about 10 things I wish I knew when I was starting my postdoc. I believe these are considerations that all new postdocs should be aware of. As always, this is my personal perspective and may be somewhat specific to postdocs in neuroscience or other biological sciences. If you have a different opinion please feel free to share below in the comments.

(Note: if you’re still thinking about whether you should do a postdoc or how to apply, see this post!)

Because this post became way too long I’ve split it up into 2 posts. You can find #1-5 below and #6-10 in my next post which will be up soon. (Edit: it’s up now!)

 

0. Your job is to get another job

Ok, I had to add this one in at the last minute when I realized I hadn’t said it up front. Your main goal as a postdoc is to get a tenure-track job running your own lab. If that isn’t your career goal, maybe you shouldn’t be doing a postdoc at all, or at least not a long one. (See this post for more.)

Sure, you also should have other goals like completing a research project, publishing papers, and learning new skills. But honestly, none of those things are the main point of doing a postdoc. The point is to get a faculty job. Almost all the things on this list relate back to this idea.

 

1. Try to get your own funding

In most labs it’s probably a given that every postdoc will apply for fellowships to help fund their research. But in some labs where funding is already available it’s considered a waste of time. My lab is very well-funded so when I started I was actively discouraged from applying to anything but the most prestigious fellowships, which I didn’t get. So then I had nothing, and turns out nothing looks very bad on subsequent grant and job applications. Most postdoc fellowships have a time limit on eligibility, so once you’ve been around for 4 or 5 years there’s hardly anything you can apply for.

To emphasize this point: Getting grants is important not just for the actual money, but to convince reviewers of your future grant and job applications that you’re capable of getting funding. It’s one of those asinine positive feedback loops inherent to academic success: regardless of your actual merit, getting one grant helps you get the next, which helps you get the next, which helps you get the next, and so on. Conversely, not getting any grants at the start makes it harder to get one later, and after a sufficiently long barren period you’re essentially considered unfundable. So try really hard to get something—anything—when you start your postdoc.

Also, I should mention that writing grant applications really isn’t a waste of time, even if you don’t get the grant. It helps clarify your project’s goals and ensures that you’ve read all the relevant literature, which is super important for actually doing the work!

 

2. Cultivate collaborators and/or co-mentors

This is important for multiple reasons. First, it’s always helpful to get new perspectives on your research from people with different expertise.

Second, if you’re struggling to get useful mentorship from your primary advisor, you might find that other PIs can fill this void. In worst case scenarios where you have to switch labs or apply for jobs without your advisor’s support, having additional mentors or collaborators who will vouch for you can make all the difference.

Finally, just like point #1, having collaborators or co-mentors is an essential part of applying for grants and faculty jobs. You might not realize this until you’re 5 years into your postdoc and applying for fellowships that require 4 letters of recommendation. Your current advisor can write one, your graduate advisor writes a second…. then what?

In grad school we all had thesis committees and rotation mentors to draw from, but unless you’ve communicated regularly with those people they probably don’t know your current work that well. Creating relationships with different PIs during your postdoc is critical for stuff like this. Doubly so when applying to faculty jobs, where so much depends on who you know and who can vouch for you.

 

3. If things aren’t working out, switch labs sooner rather than later

No one can predict what your postdoc will be like. You might spend months carefully weighing your options and choosing what seems to be the perfect lab, only to find that the reality is quite different. Maybe the lab culture is toxic, your advisor is abusive, or there are other factors that severely limit your ability to do science and be happy. If you find yourself in this boat, seriously consider switching labs—and try to switch sooner rather than later.

There is certainly a stigma against switching labs, but sometimes it’s the best option. Being in a toxic or unsupportive environment will hamper your scientific productivity as well as your job prospects, and you deserve better than that. Don’t give up your dream of attaining an academic job just because of the arbitrary situation you happened to find yourself in. If you truly enjoy doing science, there are other labs where you’ll be able to flourish.

But if you don’t switch labs early on, it’ll be a lot harder to leave after you’ve sunk years into your project (which you probably won’t be able to take with you). And if you wait too long you’ll no longer be eligible for most postdoc fellowships, which will make you less desirable to other labs.

In addition, years of enduring a bad lab situation takes an emotional toll. At this point people often end up quitting science rather than trying to find a new postdoc, even though they could have thrived in a different lab. I’ve seen it time and time again. So if you’re questioning whether you made the right choice for a postdoc lab, figure it out sooner rather than later and don’t be afraid to switch labs if you need to.

 

4. The clock is ticking

As I mentioned above, almost all fellowships have eligibility cutoffs based on how many years you’ve been a postdoc. Many fellowships require you to apply in your first year, while others give you a 3 or 4 year limit. Faculty job applications have more nebulous but equally critical expectations: being a postdoc for up to 5-6 years might be fine, but once you hit 7 or 8 years (or more) hiring committees will probably raise an eyebrow.

To be clear, I think all these expectations are complete bullsh*t (as I’ve written here) given the vagaries of experimental research and the counterproductive incentives that they create (e.g. sloppy science, prioritizing publication speed over quality, only tackling easy questions). But that’s a separate issue.

The point is that you’re constantly being judged for how long you’ve been a postdoc. This doesn’t mean you should work in lab 24/7 trying to maximize your productivity. On the contrary, it’s important to have a life (see below) and take time to learn new things. Just don’t get too distracted from your main goals, and keep track of your eligibility windows for fellowships and awards.

 

5. Have a life

Because of all the time pressures I’ve described above, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you should spend every waking moment in lab. Many PIs actively promote this philosophy—if you’re not at lab every weekend, you’re falling behind. Other postdocs bolster this toxic culture by incessantly humblebragging about their midnight exploits in lab or their streak of 85 days without a day off.

Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. Of course you want to work hard, but it’s important to have a life. In grad school I truly believed that the more hours I worked, the more successful I would be. I often worked 15 hours a day, and I rarely took a Saturday or Sunday completely off. In the end I was no more successful than my labmates and classmates who had worked much more regular schedules.

Scientific success has less to do with the exact number of hours you spend in lab and more to do with choosing the right project, applying the right tools, having a solid skill set for troubleshooting experiments and analyzing data, and creatively following up on each new result. If you work hard and focus while you’re in lab, there’s no need to spend countless nights and weekends there.

Looking back on grad school, I don’t have a single regret about taking a weekend off instead of working. But I have many regrets about the hangouts and celebrations I missed because I was in lab and the vacations I never took.

It’s worth remembering: life is short. In your 20s, you probably feel invincible. You don’t mind sacrificing a few years to the grind of grad school or a postdoc when you anticipate having 50+ years after that to figure out that whole “work-life balance” thing. But you never know when your time may be more limited than you imagined. In my 30s, I’ve had acquaintances and occasionally close friends my age pass away or fight life-threatening illnesses, and this was a big factor in why I started shifting to a more healthy work schedule.

Even though we’re all working hard toward our goals, we should also live our lives and avoid postponing happiness, thinking “someday” we’ll take weekends off. Lots of people end up doing postdocs well into their 30s or 40s, and that’s a huge chunk of your life to sacrifice toward an uncertain future if it’s not making you happy in the present. Presumably the job itself—doing science—is something you enjoy, so make sure you’re doing it in a way that makes you happy.

 

Go here for the next post that contains #6-10, and feel free to leave comments below!