Calgary post-doc position
Nov. 5th, 2006 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottahillWhile looking at tenure-track jobs to apply to for next fall, I come across an interesting ad for a post-doc in Calgary in complex systems. A year ago I had sworn off post-docs, given my past experience with doing research for other people (i.e. I always seem to end up doing things I'm not interested in, feeling unmotivated as a result, and feeling guilty about the lack of progress which then creates researcher's block and a downward spiral). However, this position is interesting for several reasons:
1. I'm worried that my current research ideas and background aren't sufficient to get me a position at a good liberal arts college. I would also like to develop more professional ties, as my past collaborations have involved research I'm not really interested in picking up again (with the possible exception of my quantum information work at Williams). A good post-doc would help with both.
2. The post-doc is in complex systems, a field I'm generally interested in and want to move into.
3. It's in Calgary, which is good because a) Jen would like to live in Canada, and b) Calgary has been recommended to Jen as a good place to find a job in her own field.
The bad sides, however are
1. It's in Calgary, which is about 1000 miles away from anyone I know. That's the situation I'm in now, and granted Canada would be better than Texas for several reasons (climate, culture), but I was hoping to get out of this situation.
2. It has to be a good post-doc, one in which I am in charge of the direction of my research. Last fall, I took a post-doc position in complex systems, and I thought it was going to be awesome: finally, I'm working in a field I really like! Well, the job involved a very specific task, I had a hard time figuring out what my responsibilities and priorities were, and I didn't get things done as quickly as my boss would have liked. It was very disheartening, and when Jen and I decided to move to Texas so she could keep her post-doc, I had to hide my relief when I told my boss that I was leaving. (He may have been relieved as well.) That was when I decided that I would no longer try to fit myself into another person's project like that. I think there are post-docs out there which are designed to support physicists who are doing their own work at their own pace, but I don't know if this is one of them.
I'm going to apply for the position because it almost never hurts to apply, but if they are really interested in me, I will have to think hard about it.
1. I'm worried that my current research ideas and background aren't sufficient to get me a position at a good liberal arts college. I would also like to develop more professional ties, as my past collaborations have involved research I'm not really interested in picking up again (with the possible exception of my quantum information work at Williams). A good post-doc would help with both.
2. The post-doc is in complex systems, a field I'm generally interested in and want to move into.
3. It's in Calgary, which is good because a) Jen would like to live in Canada, and b) Calgary has been recommended to Jen as a good place to find a job in her own field.
The bad sides, however are
1. It's in Calgary, which is about 1000 miles away from anyone I know. That's the situation I'm in now, and granted Canada would be better than Texas for several reasons (climate, culture), but I was hoping to get out of this situation.
2. It has to be a good post-doc, one in which I am in charge of the direction of my research. Last fall, I took a post-doc position in complex systems, and I thought it was going to be awesome: finally, I'm working in a field I really like! Well, the job involved a very specific task, I had a hard time figuring out what my responsibilities and priorities were, and I didn't get things done as quickly as my boss would have liked. It was very disheartening, and when Jen and I decided to move to Texas so she could keep her post-doc, I had to hide my relief when I told my boss that I was leaving. (He may have been relieved as well.) That was when I decided that I would no longer try to fit myself into another person's project like that. I think there are post-docs out there which are designed to support physicists who are doing their own work at their own pace, but I don't know if this is one of them.
I'm going to apply for the position because it almost never hurts to apply, but if they are really interested in me, I will have to think hard about it.
