PostDoc

Richy

So I'm finishing my doctorate in Computer Engineering in a few months. I've had in mind to settle in a nice professor job right after. But today, my supervisor mentioned a PostDoc Fellowship. A PostDoc is basically like a grad student, but paid more, and without the thesis writing and the reports to a supervisor. Or said differently, it's like a prof, without teaching, less pay, and no long term carreer.

I'm not sure what to do. On the one hand, the experience would look good on a resume (or it could look like "I couldn't get a job and did a PostDoc to kill time"). On the other hand, it's not a carreer.

I'm wondering if anyone around here had any experience with PostDoc. Those in my domain in particular, but anyone in general. What's it like? Is it common? Is it worth it? And in particular, should I do it in the same university as my doc (it's a different university from my undergrad and masters though) or should I go somewhere else?

VishNub

In my experience with Academia (Marine sciences/Microbiology) ... well I know quite a few post-docs. Most of them do it to get extra experience out of grad school, some of them I know have made sort of a career out of it (They're 50ish and still post-docs). I don't have any first hand experience, but it seems to me that it's ... well it's a step up from grad-student in research type things, like you're in charge of your own projects to a large extent, but you still sort of have to work under the professor you're under. Whether that's de-facto or de-jure, I'm not entirely sure.

Lodbrok

Ok, I'm still a Phd-student, so I do not have any personal experience. When you say you have thought about becoming a professor, have you looked into if that is even possible straight after you get your doctorate? I know that in my field (microbiology/molecular evolution), competition for tenured positions is fierce, and doing post-docs are something that practically everyone looking to continue a career in academia does. The usual thing seem to be doing a few post-docs, working as an associate researcher for a while (but this has gotten rarer) and maybe after that you can start your own research group. So yes, if you want to do research, doing post-docs is almost mandatory. And you should probably not do it at the university that awarded you your Phd, post-docs are supposed to go out and get experience and that is better done in other places....