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A lot of these problems postdocs are running seem to be the result of an inefficient allocation of talent by our current educational system. All the smartest k

by kkwteh 7y ago

A lot of these problems postdocs are running seem to be the result of an inefficient allocation of talent by our current educational system. All the smartest kids get tracked into getting math and physics PhDs and by the time they get to the postdoc stage it just becomes this insane impossible rat race tournament. I saw the writing on the wall and got out of academia as soon as I defended my utterly mediocre PhD thesis in math. I jumped on the data science wave in 2013 and all of a sudden everyone thought I was a genius for being able to run model.fit() and interpret the results. These tracks that funnel you into cutthroat tournaments just seem like bad places to be. Already data science is starting to become more of a commodity skill set. Instead of trying to outcompete everyone I’m keeping my eyes open for my next big opportunity.

mattkrause 7y ago
In a similar vein.... Why doesn't industry recruit postdocs more aggressively? It's a large pool of smart, hardworking people, most of whom don't have stable or well-paying jobs. I work in a reasonably hot area (neuro/ML), have relevant skills (Python, C++), and a decent pedigree, but I think I've talked to ~3 recruiters ever—and two of them were introduced to me by a mutual friend.
- borroka 7y ago
  I tried many unsuccessful times to convince recruiters at different companies to recruit postdocs, especially those coming from the more quantitative sciences that were not computer science or adjacent to computer science. The main reasons are inertia (they never recruited postdocs before), aversion to risk (postdocs did not work in industry before), and a sprinkle of laziness here and there. They were much more open to interviewing postdocs that had spent a few weeks getting up to speed (or so recruiters and hiring managers thought) on industry practices in boot camps (such as Insight DS for my field). Some forward-looking companies could organize one-month boot camps specifically for hired postdocs, but the interviews should also change (e.g., you cannot ask a postdoc on how to put a certain model in production, since they never did that before). And there is nothing more solidly written in stone than the way of interviewing for tech positions, apparently.
- oefrha 7y ago
  Not sure about recruiters specifically reaching out to individual postdocs, but in my experience quant trading firms seem to send recruiting emails all the time.
- kkwteh 7y ago
  My guess is that it's mainly because postdocs are an unknown quantity without legible, interpretable experience, which greatly increases the risk of hiring them. One of the main achievements of the Insight Data Science program (which I have participated in), is that it makes you produce output (a web app) that is legible to employers. People are very risk-averse when making hiring decisions, and tend to hire people who know what they know.

by kkwteh 7y ago

mattkrause 7y ago

In a similar vein.... Why doesn't industry recruit postdocs more aggressively? It's a large pool of smart, hardworking people, most of whom don't have stable or well-paying jobs. I work in a reasonably hot area (neuro/ML), have relevant skills (Python, C++), and a decent pedigree, but I think I've talked to ~3 recruiters ever—and two of them were introduced to me by a mutual friend.

borroka 7y ago
I tried many unsuccessful times to convince recruiters at different companies to recruit postdocs, especially those coming from the more quantitative sciences that were not computer science or adjacent to computer science. The main reasons are inertia (they never recruited postdocs before), aversion to risk (postdocs did not work in industry before), and a sprinkle of laziness here and there. They were much more open to interviewing postdocs that had spent a few weeks getting up to speed (or so recruiters and hiring managers thought) on industry practices in boot camps (such as Insight DS for my field). Some forward-looking companies could organize one-month boot camps specifically for hired postdocs, but the interviews should also change (e.g., you cannot ask a postdoc on how to put a certain model in production, since they never did that before). And there is nothing more solidly written in stone than the way of interviewing for tech positions, apparently.
oefrha 7y ago
Not sure about recruiters specifically reaching out to individual postdocs, but in my experience quant trading firms seem to send recruiting emails all the time.
kkwteh 7y ago
My guess is that it's mainly because postdocs are an unknown quantity without legible, interpretable experience, which greatly increases the risk of hiring them. One of the main achievements of the Insight Data Science program (which I have participated in), is that it makes you produce output (a web app) that is legible to employers. People are very risk-averse when making hiring decisions, and tend to hire people who know what they know.