Several close friends of mine are just about to finish or have just finished their PhDs. Before you go that route, you should track down postdocs in your field

Several close friends of mine are just about to finish or have just finished their PhDs. Before you go that route, you should track down postdocs in your field and then have an honest conversation with them about their job prospects and quality of life. In some fields, there are so many more postdocs in the workforce than available professorships and industry research jobs that new PhDs are barely making a living. Needless to say, they are also having trouble getting any research done.