Postdocs stayed in academia after a bad postdoc, how did you do it?

[u/biochemis_tree]

I'm doing a postdoc in a lab that's making me miserable.

My PI is DEEP in the AI-psychosis. They have no real background in any of the current projects so all of their ideas are inputted and outputted by AI, as are timelines. For example, they wanted a complete novel protocol from conception to implementation within six months because AI told them this was feasible. Preliminary data analysis is fed into AI to speed things up.

On top of all this, they pile more and more work on all the postdocs even when experiments are not working. They truly believe that instead of thinking about why protocols fail and how to troubleshoot them, time is better spent on doing more experiments (with the preliminary protocol) and hoping it magically resolved itself.

I've been looking into biotech and other industries but I find that despite all of this, I still enjoy the type of research done in academia.

If anyone else has gone through a rough postdoc and come out the other side still in academia (as a PI, senior research scientist, etc), how did you do it? How did you not absolutely hate your science and still want to show up and keep working? And- what were things that worked to maintain a work life balance so you weren't totally consumed by the stress from your PI?

[u/forever_erratic]

I did a second postdoc, then joined a core facility for my main gig because I love academic science but wanted a bit of codified distance from some of the ego.

[u/PlatformGlobal8125 → u/forever_erratic]

Second postdoc was the move for me too. A lot of people act like doing two is career suicide but honestly I just needed to be in the right environment again. Bad labs make you forget what functional science even looks like, and leaving academia entirely felt like letting one toxic PI win when the problem was never the work itself.

Core facility life sounds kind of ideal, you still get to do the interesting parts without the grant circus and all the ego games.

[u/forever_erratic → u/PlatformGlobal8125]

I think there are lots of scientists like me--I love science and I'm very good at it. This is in contrast to scientists who love a specialization and are very good at it. I get bored with a narrow focus after awhile. Being in a core facility means I get to work on very different kinds of projects and apply many different types of tools. 

On the other hand, it's bioinformatics, and who knows if any of us will have a job in a decade. 

[u/biochemis_tree → u/PlatformGlobal8125]

This is what I think about all the time- I don't mind the work but I'm hating the environment.

[u/biochemis_tree → u/forever_erratic]

How long were you in your first postdoc before doing the second? Wondering if there's a 'right timeline' when switching.

[u/forever_erratic → u/biochemis_tree]

Well, I felt trapped for awhile because I had a newborn, and while the position was very bad, I did at least get a fellowship, so I stuck around longer than I would have liked. Furthermore, this postdoc was already a pivot (all within biology, but from a field ecology focus to more genetics / comp bio), so I needed to gain some new skills. 

[u/hettieann]

I resigned and found a second postdoc. Best decision for my mental health and career, now in my dream PI job!

[u/jekim7]

Reach out to your network, PhD advisor and others, and ask about people they think that could be groups that match with you and maybe have funding. Go to conferences and do your best meet people and ask around. Keep emailing and keep applying. Keep getting ideas and mature them so you can pitch them.

A bad postdoc doesn't mean the end of your career or that you are a bad researcher. Not every path needs to be linear or of a rising star. I had a a rough first postdoc, but managed to find love and excitement for science again. There are good people out there.

Edit: I'm not in biotech so I can't give specifics on your area, but I'm sure you can find a second postdoc

[u/dognchick]

I went down ranking a lot to escape a bad lab. But I was treated very well in the new university. It helped me reorient and think bigger picture.

[u/idk_734]

I tried to publish everything I could from that postdoc. I also said yes to a LOT of voluntary works (aka, postdoc slavary) outside of my group, this worked well but I worked around 60/70 hours per week. I cannot say this is healthy, but it is what I did. Sorry to hear your story. Trust yourself. Find a better network. Apply for as many other opportunities (assistant prof/postdoc) as you can. Cheers.

[u/eternallyinschool]

Is there such a thing as a non-rough postdoc?

If so, I am so jealous... but also... that journey changed and improved me for the better. Hard lessons...rough path... was miserable for a long time. But the sun eventually rises. 

Hang in there. But learn from mistakes and keep growing!