to postdoc or not to postdoc: from PhD to industry

After finishing my PhD, I did an academic postdoc for about 2 years, then recently moved to a small company in private industry. A friend recently asked whether I thought the academic postdoc was worthwhile and if I had any advice for getting into industry. Here's what I said.



When I finished my PhD, I also applied for some jobs in industry. I got a few phone interviews with recruiters, but never got further than that. At the same time, I was applying for postdoc positions. I ended up getting a postdoc position offer, and not any industry offers, so I did that. I don't know if a postdoc is the right thing for everyone, but I certainly don't regret doing mine. I made a lot of friends, learned a lot, and did research that I think will prove to have some impact on the field.

However, I think it's easy to get too comfortable in a postdoc position. There are a lot of people who stay in the same postdoc position for more than 5 years. I don't think that's smart, from a career advancement perspective. A postdoc should always have a goal in mind and be thinking of what the next steps are. A postdoc is not a permanent position, and it shouldn't be treated like one.

In my case, I wanted to get experience with metabolic engineering, and I also wanted to apply for large fellowships that could help me become a PI. After a year and a half, I didn't get the grant I applied for and I felt like I'd learned about as much as I could from the lab I was in, so I started thinking about applying for industry jobs, or another postdoc.

The way I got my current job was by talking at a conference to someone from the company. I wasn't trying to get a job there, I just talked to the guy because I had a friend at the same company. Anyways, the guy from the company watched my presentation and talked to me about my poster, and then invited me to apply for a job. Before I knew it, I had an offer...

So my advice as far as postdoc positions would be that if you are going to do one, you should have specific skills in mind that you are trying to learn, or goals that you are trying to reach. The point is to develop new skills as fast as possible. Once your learning starts slowing down, it's time to think about the next steps. For me, every time I didn't get past a phone interview (or make it even that far), I thought about what kinds of skills I would need to get further the next time, and looked for ways to develop those skills.

I don't think I would have been as strong of a candidate for my current job if I had applied right out of grad school. I also don't think that the process stops once you get an industry job. I'm still trying to always be thinking about what skills I need to get better at to do my job more effectively and to be ready for the next opportunity.