Hello - I am 40 with 2 kids, working FT/half-time student,should be completing dissertation next spring in med anthro. My quandry (not a gripe I'm quite blessed w/my situation) is I've realized post-doc is inevitable for research in order to get funding which will most likely be mentored. I have an amazing boss & am pretty sure a post-doc when I'm done, but I'm nervous about relying soley on this promise & started to look at opportunities which may even be better suited to my degree & actually found one that was interested. However that means possibly uprooting the family. Stay here for a post-doc & get mentored funding, what happens to that funding if I want to move after the post-doc? Two issue here -I don't want to rely completely on one person because things happen with funding all the time, but I don't know how aggressively to pursue other sources of post-docs at this point AND after working this hard on PhD I don't want to not pursue opportunities which may be better suited, but worry about uprooting my family; if I wait until after post-doc, how will mentored funds play out in a move. Thanks in advance!

Sorry so choppy - was trying to keep under the 200 word limit... I also wanted to say I was glad to find the forum, and really glad to find I'm not the only doc student who is age 20 - sometimes it feels otherwise!

Difficult quandry - at the moment I have potential post-doc lined up for after the phD, and lucky to have been involved in helping to write the proposal for getting the funding. There is obviously a lot of uncertainty involved, so I'm also applying for other post-docs at the same time when I see them advertised. Much more than that is difficult without taking more time out from the phD... which needs to be done. I'm not sure about mentored funding - but it doesn't do any harm to apply for other post-docs. I guess it's a bit of a balance between actively hunting & working on the PhD. But if you get involved in helping write proposals for funding, be warned that it takes around 18 months for the funding to come through, so start earlier rather than later.

On the topic of being older with kids - that does make it more challenging! I'm wondering how academic life is going to pan out. I'll be 35 when I get my PhD (if!!!), and want a family... trying to work out the best thing to do - get post-doc, have family in the middle so I get maternity benefits - but then what happens to the research if there's a deadline for the project (only 2 or 3 year contract)?! It doesn't help that my partner is also a post-doc, so on short term contracts. We keep joking about how we should find rich partners who can support us If your kids are young, going somewhere else for a short time to do a post-doc could be a great move (it's recommended to do a post-doc somewhere else if you want to stay in academia). I guess it's more difficult if they're at school - but not impossible. Could be an adventure. Good luck - it's inspiring to see women with families in academia - gives us all hope

Currently I am a research associate & co-PI on a number of proposals. From posts here I gather most people are from Europe, but in my field in the U.S. (for me at least) it is difficult to get funding as PI without the PhD. Once I have PhD a key purpose of post doc will be to get funding, & if I want federal funding (NIH), I have a better shot at mentored funding; that is how I understand things.I've worked clinically & in research for 15 years at the same institution, its outstanding and prestigious, I guess I just don't want to cut off other possibilities as it is not exactly anthro oriented, so staying may mean compromising or really struggling with the type of research focus I want to do, but leaving means uprooting & taking a big chance leaving a familiar place. We're leaning toward doing post-doc here and then seeing what happens.

On the topic of being older with kids - I think there is always a way to fit kids in - assuming you want them - I knew several women in my program who got pregnant and still continued without missing a semester, its hard but possible. In a 2 year post-doc, one would only miss about 6 weeks post partum and then get back. My youngest especially only knows my going to school, I've justified this all along as being a great gift for both kids, providing them examples of lifelong learning. Its been really, hard and tiring, but its a privilege to be able to get the degree.I get up to do homework at 5 am, and do homework with my kids at night, on my lunch hours at work, and sometimes go into my office to work on weekends so they don't have to tiptoe around the house, if it weren't for my really supportive husband it could not have happened...

Yes, it's a very similar situation in this country (UK), it's difficult to get postdoc funding until you have both a PhD and publications. I'm going on an inside route by working with contacts and getting written into the proposals with them as PI. Maybe this is like the mentoring you talk about. I'm finding it difficult to get postdocs that are advertised due to lack of PhD or publications (my field of science means publications tend to come at the end of or after PhD due to large amount of fieldwork & data processing required before analysis even starts). I think that staying put for first postdoc in a place with a great reputation shouldn’t do any harm at least until you have established yourself & then go somewhere else. But it might be worth trying also working your network & getting written into their proposals (it might work differently in the US). Impressed how you’re managing to juggle family & academia – I imagine you get great at time management (and working on no sleep!).

I had the chance to talk with a professor is my department at work who I knew when he was getting his PhD, and has gave me a lot of information. He was like me, a "mature" doctoral student with a house, family, etc., worked FT during school and could not easily just up and move. He chose no post-doc because he could not afford cut in pay, so he weighed his options, and did find a place willing to offer a full faculty with no post doc but it meant moving. Ultimately he was able to get a post as a visiting professor at work which allowed a better salary, a chance to get funding, and as soon as he did he became full faculty. Never knew that was an option, but he suggested to go for all opportunities and talk with everyone out there to have some options. Feel like I was just handed a key!