Changing field after PhD - (Sep/26/2013 )
Hallo all,
just out of curiosity, who of the people here that did a PhD started doing a post doc in another field?
(and also: whom of you started working in industria right after the PhD?).
The reason I ask is very simple: I am offered a PhD in a field in which it will be hard to get a post doc and I wonder if it would be possible to get a post doc in a not so related field. I can imagine that most professors would prefer post docs with experience in that particular field...
Hello!
I started working in industry right after the PhD, but of course they hired me and not somebody else because of what I did during my PhD.
How can you say that it will be hard to get a post doc in that field? For example, if the project of your PhD is to study the structure of a mycobacterial membrane protein, you have the possibility to have a post doc in at least 3 fields: structural biology, mycobacteriology and membrane proteins. Most PhD project offer more than one choice.
Is the project of this PhD so precise that if you accept you are going to learn only one technique relevant to only one specific field? Because if the answer at this question is yes (and assuming it isn't something you dream from when you were a child), so why spending 3 or more years studying something that doesn't help you career?
I just got an offer for a research fellow position with good salary at a high profile institute, but I think I'm gonna turn it down because the work is on plant viruses, and I know nothing about plants. I am a molecular virologist, and have worked on poultry viruses and cancer biology. Never in my life I thought I would need to work on plants, not that I dislike, it's just that I want to continue same field, and don't want to jump from my field to another field. My boss found the job for me herself, and I think she's gonna be mad, because she talked about me with them and tried to put me there. My wife also not happy with my decision, and I'm a bit lost these days.
Curtis on Thu Oct 24 04:33:21 2013 said:
I just got an offer for a research fellow position with good salary at a high profile institute, but I think I'm gonna turn it down because the work is on plant viruses, and I know nothing about plants. I am a molecular virologist, and have worked on poultry viruses and cancer biology. Never in my life I thought I would need to work on plants, not that I dislike, it's just that I want to continue same field, and don't want to jump from my field to another field. My boss found the job for me herself, and I think she's gonna be mad, because she talked about me with them and tried to put me there. My wife also not happy with my decision, and I'm a bit lost these days.
WHy did you turn it down?
Just because its with plants?
pito on Sat Oct 26 16:46:26 2013 said:
Curtis on Thu Oct 24 04:33:21 2013 said:
WHy did you turn it down?
Just because its with plants?
not yet, we're gonna discuss about the offer this coming Monday.
Curtis on Sat Oct 26 18:41:06 2013 said:
pito on Sat Oct 26 16:46:26 2013 said:
Curtis on Thu Oct 24 04:33:21 2013 said:
WHy did you turn it down?
Just because its with plants?
not yet, we're gonna discuss about the offer this coming Monday.
Ok.
To me it does not seem as changing field. You would still be working in the field of virology. ANd you would even expand your knowledge because you would be learning about plant virusses.
It went well, I got the job 
Curtis on Mon Oct 28 05:00:28 2013 said:
It went well, I got the job
Ah you did take the job!
Good luck.
Is it in another country?
same country, top institute. the job is about virus manipulation. maybe my ip will change later
Curtis on Mon Oct 28 19:55:00 2013 said:
same country, top institute. the job is about virus manipulation. maybe my ip will change later
ip = ?