cosmicnemo Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) I'm about 6 months away from submitting my (astrophysics) thesis, and having a difficult time deciding which path to go down (i.e. post-doc vs. industry). I have a few questions that I don't feel entirely comfortable asking my advisors, hoping somebody has some insight. My advisors have been encouraging me to apply for post-doc's and think that I would have a good shot of finding a position. My main hesitation is mainly around an uncertainty of the expectations for a post-doc. To put it plainly, my ideal scenario would be to drop all of the "extra" activities, and just focus on research and publishing. For example, I avoid giving talks of any kind, I avoid networking and visiting other institutions, I avoid attending conferences and workshops. I'm happy when I can just show up every day and do science, write code and analyse results. I guess my question basically is, how much is expected of a post-doc in addition to producing scientific results and publishing papers? As long as I am producing results, do I have complete freedom to set my own schedule in terms of travel, giving talks, etc? Will it create friction/cause problems if I'm not interested in any of the "extra" activities? To be clear, I'm friendly and well-liked around the office, and don't mind attending perhaps one conference per year (without presenting). I just don't like feeling obligated/forced to be involved. I suspect that maybe the answer depends on my potential future employer/research group, and that expectations vary. If that's the case, is it very common/rare to be given complete freedom as a post-doc (aside from the science aspect)? I hope that's decipherable, I'm having trouble formulating my question/uncertainty. Any advice or input would be very much appreciated. Edited August 18, 2020 by cosmicnemo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now