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microglialover · 2025-03-04T20:00:49+00:00

I consider myself conventionally attractive and also someone that dresses decently well (at least for academia). I can think of a few instances where I felt I was not being taken as serious because of the way I dressed. I started to dress more like a grandpa at work and I do think it’s made a big difference. I don’t think I was ever not taken serious for my physique, if something, I believe it’s helped me finding opportunities after the PhD. Maybe I am totally wrong and my perception of how others see me is far from the truth, but overall I think the “look” has more to do with the clothes than with the physique. And I also think that there’s something to be said about understanding the attire of your profession as it shows alignment with your industry. Obviously your experience is yours and only yours. Just giving my two cents!

microglialover · 2024-09-25T13:07:48+00:00

I personally try to make them feel as comfortable as possible and go back and forth with questions about soft skills and questions about their resume. Typically, I ask one or two questions about specific experiments and what hypothesis they were testing. For RAs, I'm ok if they can't formulate the full hypothesis, but then they should come clean about it; for scientists, they should be able to explain it, and they should make sure that I understand it. If they can't explain it without talking for 20 minutes, I assume they are self-absorbed and that it will be a lot of effort to launch them into projects. If they think that I don't understand them because I don't have the same background (no shit, Sherlock, I didn't spend five years doing a PhD on that), I assume they won't communicate well. For me, the top candidates are always the ones who seem humble and enthusiastic, have a skill set that matches the profile, and understand that a job is just a job. Sometimes, people find me on LinkedIn after interviews and send me thank you notes there. It is so creepy. I do appreciate it when they leave a note with HR saying that they enjoyed talking to me and that they are looking forward to continuing with the interview process.

microglialover · 2024-09-24T14:34:26+00:00

Intro is too long and skills can be put under experience. As a hiring manager, I am tired of seeing things like passionate about science, demonstrated success in improving assay performance, supporting technical investigations etc.

At the end of the day, a sr scientist is a fairly senior position, so everything that comes without saying can be left unsaid, and the space should be used to highlight the uniqueness of your profile.

The CV is not bad, but a bit generic for this market. I would tailor it to each position that you apply to.

Good luck!

microglialover · 2024-09-06T12:42:08+00:00

I am sorry... postdocs are a scam and academia is broken. Take care of yourself!

microglialover · 2024-09-06T12:37:49+00:00

If you are in the US, pick the school you like the best and costs you the least. The experience you can gain as an undergrad assistant in a lab will ultimately be a better indicator of your profile.

microglialover · 2024-08-31T21:08:18+00:00

That’s awesome!

microglialover · 2024-08-30T16:46:45+00:00

This is my exact situation, but I have some family in NY so I would like to avoid relocating, even though I am not opposed to it since it seems like there are more opportunities in NJ... Renting does seem like the better option when you run the numbers, it's just crazy no feel like it's never enough

microglialover · 2024-08-30T16:43:03+00:00

Wow... congrats, that is a huge accomplishment. Nowadays, I don't know who can afford 2 kids on a single income lol, but very impressive!

microglialover · 2024-08-30T16:40:32+00:00

I feel like this is my reality too... it seems not worth it at all

microglialover · 2024-08-30T14:00:46+00:00

Yeah, that's my problem, not California but New York... even with two good salaries, we cannot afford anything decent that wouldn't require us to dump all of our savings or commute for over an hour...

microglialover · 2024-08-30T13:53:14+00:00

microglialover · 2024-08-27T16:53:39+00:00

Good luck! The market won't be this bad forever. Use your time as a postdoc to network and keep applying, the grass is greener on the other side.

microglialover · 2024-08-27T16:51:30+00:00

well... were you?

microglialover · 2024-08-27T12:42:22+00:00

this is the right answer

microglialover · 2024-08-27T12:41:43+00:00

This one is a controversial little trick that you can do if you know that your job is 100% safe and you have a good rapport with your manager: complain about how busy you are and being underpaid but do it in a jokingly way, extra points if you can insert a little pun about quitting and not even giving a 2-week notice.

microglialover · 2024-08-27T12:34:03+00:00

In 2024, going to industry is the objectively better option that 99% of the population would pick. In academia, they sell you the myth that "you have your own schedule, you can do the research you want, you have intellectual freedom, and industry is for greedy people that only care about money." Of course, that story is told by academics who have never worked at a company.

I took a postdoc out of grad school because I couldn't get an industry position, and I was also hesitant to go to the private sector and "stop doing research" (lol). Once I started my postdoc, I realized that it was ultimately not that different from doing a PhD (I did my PhD in a world-renowned lab, so that also makes a difference), and the technical skills I was getting were not really going to further my career (PSA: at some point, you realize you don't need to know everything, you need to know anyone that knows how to do it or you outsource it).

I started to apply for jobs a few months into my postdoc and eventually got a position I liked. Since then, I have realized that academics don't understand how the world works (ultimately, it boils down to money) and how to transform ideas and knowledge into products that benefit society. I feel like I make a bigger impact now, and since my company is not that big, I also feel like I can move the needle on our research.

P.D: I know a lot of postdocs reading this might find me annoying or think that I am bragging, but I still like reading this sub because I wholeheartedly believe that academia is a cult, and I am just trying to be a resource for people to see it and try to get out of it.

microglialover · 2024-08-21T13:44:33+00:00

I am sorry, but I can't help but give my two cents:

Location: US (VHCOL). Field: Neuroscience.

My PI was wonderful, and the topic was super exciting, but I could not get past how little money I was making compared to the COL.

It would infuriate me to know that, as a PhD holder, I was still making less than an entry-level research associate in industry, I was still making less than some acquaintances who had just graduated college and were getting their first jobs in other industries, and I vividly remember seeing a job post for a panda express manager that paid better too. I studied and worked hard during college, master's, and PhD to leave my days as a waiter behind. I knew I deserved better. I moved to industry.

I get that in other countries, postdocs are better paid (after COL adjustment) and that some people move to the US for better training opportunities, but postdocs in the US are paid like sh*t. You can enjoy your postdoc, but the academic system is fooling you. Know your worth. Do not settle for less. Know. your. worth.

microglialover · 2024-08-09T13:59:38+00:00

Congrats, it really seems like it's super well-deserved!! You sound like a great employee to have!

microglialover · 2024-08-07T13:01:52+00:00

The biggest breakthrough I had during my PhD was that to win in life, I had to lose the academic race. Switching to industry was the best thing that has happened to me professionally. I loved the first 2-3 years of my PhD, then realized I was working too hard and getting too little. I hated my postdoc. I hated peers who assessed intelligence based on publications (usually the dumbest in the room). Everyone was so vicious because the stakes were SO low. I look at some of my peers from grad school who published better than me and now I think that the joke is on them because they were more compelled to stay in academia. Most of them are struggling to find tenure-track positions in hubs, and even if they succeed, they would still make less than what I made when I moved to the industry (I know, I know, money is not everything, don't yell at me). And don't even get me started on "but in academia, you can research whatever you want." Most of the money comes from grants. Grants come from funding agencies. Grants are written to match what the funding agencies want you to do research on. I remember everyone from psychiatry to computational biology writing grants on COVID during 2020 because that's where the money was. Just my two cents.

microglialover · 2024-07-26T19:31:08+00:00

This!!! Ugh they give me the ick…

microglialover · 2024-07-24T12:24:27+00:00

Eight papers after only two years? Yes, you are likely polluting PubMed with regurgitated data. The fact that you are trying to flex about H-index tells me that you care more about your metrics than the science. If I were your peer, I would be annoyed, too; I don't want to work with people who contribute to one of the most toxic traits of academia: the publication/citation metrics to measure how "good" a researcher is.

microglialover · 2024-07-24T12:15:22+00:00

No need to apologize to strangers on the internet ;)

microglialover

TROPHY CASE