Hello all,

This might be a bit of a ramble so be patient,

I’m a final year PhD student studying chemistry and nanoscience. I have about 4 months left of funding but I expect it will take me 6+ months to finish up in the lab and submit. For the first time I actually need to think about what to do with my life after I leave uni which is a little overwhelming to say the least.

The first question is whether or not to do a postdoc or not? Currently, like many people here, I have a love hate relationship with research, mainly because my experiments are not working and while finishing up in these last few months I have had next to no social life. More than anything when I finish I want relax and not do something too strenuous, in fact maybe for a month or two I feel like I might need to work in a café, or maybe just sit in a quiet room staring vacantly out of the window until I feel a little better about life.

After this short break I am considering doing a postdoc, though I am not sure if this is a good idea. Firstly, I am almost certain that I do not want to go into academia and not even sure I want to stay in science, but I am young(ish), single, and am extremely enthusiastic about escaping the british rain and living in a sunny country for a while.

The idea of doing a postdoc for a year appeals to me as it will be a short term contract (1 year hopefully) and I can work in a lab somewhere interesting. I figure that as I know I don’t want to stay in academia this postdoc job could be quite relaxed as there will be no pressure to publish. Also, I feel like being in a collage/uni environment there might be more opportunity to socialise and not become a lonely isolated expat.

Do you think this is a good idea or am I fooling myself into thinking it will be an easy job for a year? Also, would it be feasible to take off some time before I do a postdoc job (max 6-7 months) or should you go straight into research?

The other option is to leave academia completely, but go into what, I have no idea. I would eventually like to do something intellectually stimulating in science but not soul destroying (so no academic research) , ideally 40 hours a week, and also something which I feel like is having a positive impact on the world. I know I’m being vague but if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I just have no idea what kind of sectors people go into with PhDs in science. (apart from finance which I have no interest in)

Thanks!

I just bumped into this blog/question on the Naturejobs blog website. I hope this helps a bit.

I have not started a phd yet, so I can not give you much other advice.

Check out Versatile PhD to research your options.

I'm not in hard science but social science. However, I've made the decision that I'm not going to stay in Academia, and am currently working on my career path in social research. Postdocs are not on my radar but rather, oppurtunities to get into social research, with teaching work to keep me going for finances.

Postdocs are like PhDs, you might get a good one, you might get a horrible one. Is it worth doing a postdoc when you know you don't want to stay in academia? A postdoc delays the inevitable and you will be expected to publish, a postdoc is the step up from the PhD.

Taking time off is recommended, but it could also take 6-7 months to land something.

If you can, start researching options, sit down and have a think about things you liked about your PhD, and things you didn't.

Doing so made me realise that I loved research, but not in an academic capacity. Rather, I prefer social research, being given a project by a client, doing it, and then sending them on their merry way with real-time results, or evaluation research (evaluating social programs and services, providing recommendation).

There are so many careers and options that you don't even know about yet, start the research process early, get that linkedin profile going, join an industry organisation to get networking.

I'm in a similar position, 5 months left of funding and totally conflicted about what to do next. I love my subject, and I love research but I am getting increasingly frustrated about how the academic world works. I quite like the idea of a postdoc too, getting to do a slightly different project for a short amount of time, but I'm also worried about job security (I'm almost hitting 30) and would prefer a permanent job! Plus I do not expect a postdoc to be 'easy' I expect it to be as hard or harder than the PhD as you have even more pressure to publish.

As others have said there are so many jobs that you could do, perhaps in your break after handing in you could volunteer at various places to get a feeling for different jobs or types of research that you might fancy? I'm not a chemist so don't know the specifics but there are other options such as teaching, patent attorney (you can get into that with just a science background), scientists for government agencies or research council funded institutes (such as the EA or BAS etc). Do some research and see what interests you!

Thanks for the replies guys, especially for recommending versatile PHD website which is very useful. I think for now I have decided I would like to be involved in solar energy in some capacity. My Masters project was on organic solar cells which is very relevant, however, my PhD has diverged slightly and now I am studying something interdisciplinary but not so relevant. My thoughts are maybe a postdoc in solar energy research will be useful for my future career if i choose solar energy, but will also allow me to move somewhere just for a year then move on (i have a fear of being tied down like I am now). The postdocs in my current group all say that unless you need to publish to get further in academia your first postdoc is generally easier then PhD, but this depends on the lab. I guess I will just have to try it and see. I forget that the worst comes to the worst I can always leave a postdoc/job without the guilt that would come from leaving a PhD.