John,I understand your frustration, as I am in the same boat. We are part of a legion of "forever postdocs". The situation has been covered greatly at the Science Careers Forum. Postdocs and post-post-postdocs like us write and receive interesting feedback, from people at either academia, government or industry (private companies). Some solutions have been proposed. To avoid repetition, please follow the link, and browse through the different entries. Go to http://scforum.aaas.org/ Sarah
Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Marine Conservation Biologist Ocean Research & Conservation Association 1420 Seaway Drive, 2nd Floor Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 USA www.TEAMORCA.org > Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 16:34:27 -0400 > From: [email protected] > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] From a frustrated Post-Doc > To: [email protected] > > Can anyone else relate to this? > > I graduated with my Ph.D. in 2004 with a focus on ecological modeling. > The process of being a post-doc has resulted in my working for FOUR > DIFFERENT COMPANIES in the past five years who contract with the > government. > > Finding something permanent is very difficult, as our government appears > to still operate under the Reagan-esqe philosophy that the world operates > best with as few permanent government positions as possible, and the > alternative appears to involve this ongoing stressful process of jumping > from one contractual soft money bubble to another. > > Is the promise of a long-term stable career (which greatly drew me through > the struggle of getting a Ph.D.) merely an illusion?
