Why are postdocs so hard: how you can manage the past, present and future.

[@mrillig]

Here is a video about the transition from PhD student to postdoc: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqCQgGqVaMaViMk

[@PZJBimha]

Good advice. Thank you.

[@mrillig]

Thanks!

[@fioredelsud]

Thank you for this video! It's definitely a challenge to manage the past, present and future.. What I am wondering at this point is how can people in a 2 year postdoc position (so common these days) manage to dedicate 4-6 months to write a big proposal like ERC. How do you justify it to your PI/ Uni?

[@mrillig]

It sure is hard with 2-year postdocs. In my lab we often are able to extend appointments for exactly this purpose. I've done it repeatedly in the past, and it was always a win-win for the lab. But you need to have the lab resources, and it is still not easy - that's for sure. I would start with a smaller grant.

[@fioredelsud]

@@mrillig Perhaps is something that should be discussed before talking before accepting the position. I also agree that it tends to be a win-win for the lab and the Unis are usually pretty excited to have people applying for these big grants. Thanks for the insights!

[@yasamint4968]

Thanks really. I am in a 2-year postdoc position, completely confused by load of works, pretty worry about the future. It was helpful actually. About tracking the record of tasks, do you recommend any apps or methods?

[@mrillig]

Thanks for writing, and for watching the video. I don't use any apps or specific methods for tracking tasks, actually, so I can't really recommend any. Whatever works for you is fine, you may need to try a couple of different things. Simplest may be just to track your progress in a goodledoc, just to have a record. But I know some people in my group use pretty sophisticated-looking apps.

[@yasamint4968]

@@mrillig Thanks so much.

[@RICHARDOSEI1986]

Very insightful. Is it advisable to do postdoc on a topic entirely different from PhD topic? Does managing the past, present, future, becomes realitively easier when postdoc topic is somehow close to the PhD topic?

[@mrillig]

Thanks. There ideally is some level of continuity between PhD topic and postdoc; it can be in terms of the topic itself, the study system, some methods or something else. Starting something entirely new is not the best way to go.

[@lucaleggio2639]

I got phd in September 2017 and then I got completely lost. I changes 7/8 jobs and I couldn't meet a realiable and serious supervisor, or even a collaborative work environment. Hopefully, now it is the good chance, but managing the choices of the last years is really hard because the work has been unproductive

[@mrillig]

Sorry to hear that, Luca. I hope things will take a turn to the better for you. And, I agree it does get harder if productivity has suffered as a consequence of non-ideal appointments.