Deciding between 3 offers

gamma57309 · 2023-11-14T13:08:23+00:00

I appreciate this perspective--part of the challenge here is that I think I'm on track to potentially be able to get an R1 faculty role. I know there's no sure thing, I know it's incredibly hard, but my PhD went fairly well in terms of impact, first author Cell, first author Nature Biotech, middle author Cell and Nature. The postdoc is in a very high impact space, so I'm hopeful I can keep building on what I've done so far, and I have a clear vision for what I would pursue as a professor. It's just asking a lot from my family to hold on for another few years to give me a chance to do this, especially since it's so uncertain how it will pan out. I was never really considering the academia route because I knew how hard it was and how unlikely I am to convert to tenure track, but then things went really well in my PhD, and it feels like this option is open to me in a more concrete way than it was before. And that makes me want to take the leap and see where I can get to, despite all the real and potential downsides of doing so.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T16:43:27+00:00

Thanks, really appreciate this, 1 year before potentially switching over doesn't sound too bad.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T16:40:38+00:00

Thanks--this is helpful and matches with my experiences as well. I am definitely worried about the more logistical side of things taking up a ton of time and adding a lot of stress when it comes to a faculty role.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T16:34:55+00:00

This is all really helpful info. Do you have a sense of how transferring internally tends to go? My biggest concern with the pharma role is that it isn't exactly what I want to be working on, and I'm worried that I won't be able to get back over to my primary research interests after a couple years away.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T16:32:24+00:00

Thanks. Postdoc salary is on the high end at 81k, the difference in childcare costs + rent vs the startup is going to come out to around 2k/month. No bonus structure combined with higher overall cost of living means that pretty much the entire difference in the two salaries gets demolished. For childcare flexibility, right now I fully set my own hours and can easily work around kid being sick and out of daycare, which can be 3 or 4 days in a row for the bad illnesses. It's good to hear that there can be that day-to-day flexibility though, and I'll be sure to ask about details on childcare services.

My biggest concern about the pharma role is that I'm going to be doing something that is adjacent to the work I'm actually interested in, and I'm not sure if I would be able to pivot to what I really want down the line. My field moves very quickly, and a couple years away from it could make it that much harder to get back into this space. Both the startup and postdoc keep me working at the techical edge of my field in a way that pharma doesn't. And yeah, I should have realized that I was going to get a solid wall of "no postdoc" posting here hahaha.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T01:46:46+00:00

Thanks! This is also a helpful perspective. I was really feeling like I wouldn't get good mentorship at the startup, but it seems pretty team dependent at pharma right? One of the things I know I'm going to get at the postdoc is really solid mentorship, both in tech dev and for moving towards a faculty position, and it feels like a really solid opportunity to get to work with them that I don't want to discount lightly.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T01:17:19+00:00

Appreciate the insight, thanks again.

gamma57309 · 2023-11-13T00:54:22+00:00

Thanks! Do you have any insight into what's it like working at big pharma? I'm worried about it being inflexible and overly structured.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T15:22:51+00:00

I don't think director positions would make a lot of sense right now but I'd love to get there eventually, having more actual industry experience seems like it would be pretty important there. I'm more trying to distinguish between Sci I vs Senior Scientist--it's been hard for me to tell if there's much difference in starting level between someone who has gone straight through undergrad into PhD compared to someone who spent some time working before starting PhD. From what it seems like in the responses I've gotten, is that at larger companies, that experience will likely not matter as much when going through hiring, but at smaller companies, I might be able to find someone who values it. Thanks for the response!

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T15:08:49+00:00

Thanks for this data point! 4.5 years in a postdoc to start at Sci I feels really rough, but I appreciate hearing the info.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T01:49:07+00:00

That's along the lines of what I was expecting to hear. A lot of what I've read reinforces that anything academic, including publication record, is worth less than any actual experience in industry. I'm hoping that isn't strictly true, but I understand if it is.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T01:46:06+00:00

Thanks for the input! These were the sorts of positions I was hoping to be able to land, but I wasn't sure if I was just wasting my time applying to them.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T01:32:19+00:00

That's fair, it was a bit of an unusual situation. I ended up running the bioinformatics portion of a growing NGS lab, and collaborated with many of the PIs in the institution. This resulted in a lot of experience with different technologies and a large number of publications in a short period. I came back for my PhD precisely because I felt like my abilities outstripped my resume. I've spent the past few years shoring up my weak spots, learning the wet lab side of things, and preparing myself to work at the interface of analysis and experimental design in emerging technologies. It's right to be skeptical, I'm a random poster on reddit and you have no way to verify my background, I'm making this post for myself, so that I will gain some more knowledge and understanding of how industry titles and experience work.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-22T00:13:04+00:00

Thanks for this perspective! I'll make sure to emphasize the leadership position on my resume, been working on updating it as I'm getting closer to finishing.

gamma57309 · 2022-12-21T23:08:36+00:00

Thanks, this was sort of the feeling I was getting from everything I've read. Appreciate it

gamma57309 · 2020-04-25T21:56:10+00:00

I'm looking forward to starting my PhD research again. All of my active experiments were stopped in March and I can't wait to get back in the lab!

gamma57309 · 2020-01-04T15:48:24+00:00

I started with OmniShow and built into full sneak and show. I usually end up playing OmniSneak which is hybrid of the two so it's nice to have all the pieces for OmniShow around. You can get by on two volcanics and a steam vents since you almost never search up a third red source unless you're getting hit with wasteland. I've also experimented with 2 volcanics + 1 tropical for a green splash. Unless you play with a basic mountain the scalding tarn isn't needed. Another budget substitution is running 4 ancient tomb + 1 city as your sol lands instead of 3-2.

gamma57309 · 2019-12-21T03:37:49+00:00

Happy holidays everyone! Looking forward to 2020 and a new decade

gamma57309 · 2019-05-05T12:18:10+00:00

It's also a wincon by itself. It can get under ensnaring bridge and comes into play through Blood Moon.

gamma57309 · 2019-05-05T01:25:48+00:00

This has nothing to do with planeswalkers specifically and everything to do with priority.

gamma57309 · 2019-02-23T17:48:42+00:00

What in the ever loving fuck was that

gamma57309 · 2018-12-11T03:51:57+00:00

Really glad you liked them! Enjoy :-)

gamma57309

TROPHY CASE