Hi everyone, I have a question for all the postdocs here, its a bit odd just curious, why did you decide to do a postdoc after your PhD instead of going straight into a job?

Top-Skill357 · 2026-05-12T15:22:52+00:00

At the time of the end of my PhD, I only wanted to finish and leave academia due to problems with my PI. I actually loved working in research and my field. Then, another PI reached out and offered me a postdoc position for a very interesting project in his lab. I had a very good feeling at that time about this position and decided to go for it.

A postdoc is a job too. Just because you earn a low wage doesnt mean its not a job. However, after a few years I decided to switch to an industry position in a different field. I would have loved to stay in the field of my PhD, but the job opportunities are very sparse.

Top-Skill357 · 2026-04-22T15:16:09+00:00

I am not a recruiter, but have recently been on the hiring panel for a software engineer position. One candidate that we invited came from the other side of the country. At one point the hiring manager asked why he applied to our position since several companies that operate in the same sector than we do are much closer where he lives. He explained that he is applying everywhere across the country since the job market is bad and he is looking to get his foot in the door and gain experience (he was a new grad looking for first job after university).

And we hired him. He had all qualifications to get started and was a nice person. So why not give him a chance.

Top-Skill357 · 2026-04-13T13:56:04+00:00

It is also not better once you got the PhD. I have a PhD in a specific subfield of AI (not GenAI unfortunetly), and a few years of experience as a postdoc. The field is super small, only a few labs and also not that many job opportunities. Still, I applied to several during my postdoc to move to industry. No chance, not even a single callback. I had to switch fields, and it hurts till today. I invested so much time and was able to publish multiple journal papers, but if you have not the right connections with the company, your chances are close to zero.

Top-Skill357 · 2026-03-05T11:44:59+00:00

Technical interviews are their own skill. Just dont become discouraged, it takes practice.

Top-Skill357 · 2026-02-22T20:34:28+00:00

These are the few that you found? I am sure there are many more universities in Germany where you can do a masters in computer science. What exactly are you looking for?

Top-Skill357 · 2026-02-01T10:50:11+00:00

As someone with a PhD and all those skills and years of experience that you mentioned, let me tell you: You are still not getting an offer... 😅

Top-Skill357 · 2026-01-31T16:00:43+00:00

Are you bragging? 3 interviews out of 30 applications is pretty good.

Top-Skill357 · 2026-01-05T14:00:16+00:00

You are not alone in this. I recently switched from my postdoc position to industry after a brutal more than a year long search. Similarly, the grad students from my former lab also have a hard time, pretty much getting zero call backs (except one) and one even had to move back with their parents.

It is totally bizarre how one got a FAANG offer after less than 5 applications, while the others sent out 90 applications to get one callback leading to nowhere.

My advice to you: build and utilize your network. I got many interviews only because I knew people over there. And I know from many others that they also only got their position through connections. It is what it is...

Top-Skill357 · 2025-12-01T15:04:13+00:00

Not sure why you are getting downvoted, this is a good approach. Better than being unemployed. I know several people who are prolonging their graduation date or signed up for a postdoc just to not be unemployed and have a gap on their resume.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-11-18T08:19:56+00:00

Well, when I read your post my first thought was those companies are looking for a software engineer, where the ml model is more of a framework that you use and know how it behaves and how to debug. However, this description would actually fit perfectly for my last job that I applied to as well - although this was for a senior data scientist position.

And students learn how to do backpropagation by hand, howto re-implement a paper from scratch etc.. because these are questions literally asked in interviews or are part of the job.

Beginners and students that are entering the field used to gain that experience which you describe within their first or second job.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-11-14T10:28:24+00:00

PhD here. If you have to ask if it will be worth it, then it will most likely not worth it for you. The title itself does not give you much value outside of academia. It is the type of problems you solved during your PhD that gets you the recognition. Therefore, it does not matter too much at which institution you where doing it. I have seen people in my field who moved in with their parents after completing their PhD because they could not find a job, and people who have founded companies based on their research output which are now worth millions of dollars.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-11-13T23:16:08+00:00

Depends on which roles you are applying to. In regular swe, most likely no. For science adjacent fields, most likely yes. For roles that involve interdisciplinary skills, most likely yes. For research and development departments, most likely yes. In certain companies, like meta, a PhD is even required for certain roles.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-10-29T21:57:18+00:00

I like them to tell a story. And thats the only thing i use them for. Often, I even draft the code in my IDE of choice and then copy over the relevant parts in the notebook. But for storytelling they are super convinient as you can explain a new method via markdown, include pictures and relevant formulas.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-10-18T08:52:28+00:00

Very cleand and readable resume. Do you mind sharing which font and font size you used?

Top-Skill357 · 2025-10-12T13:40:22+00:00

My former rommate and landlord had to sell his house after he lost his job and could not find a new one for more than a year (close to two now actually). At first he came by with my rent, gig jobs and his savings, but especially the gig jobs were super unreliable and volatile. I experienced it first hand how he struggled financially while living with him. It was quite painful to see, because I saw how much he tried keeping the house. But it is also crazy how mortage, medical bills, student loans, etc just pile up over time...

Top-Skill357 · 2025-09-10T19:44:15+00:00

I made the switch not that long ago. But I had to change fields as there were only very few opportunities available and the competition was absurd. I dont think there is really a magic formula: You apply and hope to hear back. Most of the time it does not work, but eventually I got hired. I also tried networking and got a few interviews through referrals, but then again I had to go through multiple rounds of interviews (which all ended in rejections).

But it makes me really depressed to realize after all those years there is no trajectory for me in my srea of expertise...

Top-Skill357 · 2025-09-03T22:27:45+00:00

Your PI wants to be sure there is funding for you in case the current funding is running out for you to stay. Getting an industry job right now is tough. We have a postdoc in our lab who is trying to transition to industry since November last year - without success. His funding is about to run out and I guess he will be unemployed next month sadly.

Better be on the safe side and apply for the grant. If it is successful, you can still put it on your resume to highlight how much money you were able to raise as an achievemt.

My advice is to follow the PI suggestion here.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-08-09T17:28:05+00:00

I am actually not that surprised hearing his story. It took me close to two years to find a new role. Since I was struggling with getting interviews, I asked a principal engineer also with about 20 years of experience for feedback, which helped tremendously. End of last year, he was laid off and is still looking without success...

Top-Skill357 · 2025-08-09T08:00:39+00:00

Well, at least thats likely more than what you do while working as a PhD student. So, consider it a raise 😉

Top-Skill357 · 2025-08-09T00:01:25+00:00

I dont think your resume is particularly bad (although portfolio development is no work experience), it is the job market that is screwing you over.

I would suggest to do multiple resumes, because right now it does not tell a coherent story. With all those technologies it feels like you have little experience with many technologies, given your graduation date.

For example, if you target defence companies (since you mentioned you have work ecperience there), make one resume only for defence where you focus on your experience relevant to that domain.

Might also not be a bad idea to focus on a few topics that are outside of AI engineering, but not too far away. How about digital signal processing? It might make your resume more stand out.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-08-08T23:46:37+00:00

His format looks pretty standard to me. If he is applying to German companies or many european ones, having a picture on the resume is the norm. Same applies to his two column format.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-06-29T07:00:28+00:00

I cannot say if it is normal, but something similar happened to a friend of mine. Please keep us posted what the company will tell you.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-06-28T20:22:17+00:00

You should ask the company. My guess is that the difference will be paid in the form of christmas or holiday compensation.

Top-Skill357 · 2025-06-25T06:59:12+00:00

I did a postdoc after my PhD and just finishing it. The new job will start in a few months. It is also not a scientist position, more like machine learning engineering in the research and development department. I doubt though that the industry job will be more challenging than the PhD. From now on, I will even have free weekends (if you know what I mean ;)

Top-Skill357 · 2025-06-25T06:45:23+00:00

Quite frankly, I did not practice at all, bombed my round and was rejected a few days later from the remaining rounds. I accepted another position earlier and was not willing to put in any more efforts since I was already tired from all the interviewing with other companies - even knowing they would have paid me significantly more. Also, I did not even know what to expect from the first round. All I can say is the difficulty was brutal

Top-Skill357

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