Postdoc pay is ridiculous, I had a job I was really interested in but the second they said it was a postdoc all I could hear was "this will not pay the rent". I

Postdoc pay is ridiculous, I had a job I was really interested in but the second they said it was a postdoc all I could hear was "this will not pay the rent". I don't get it. Urban universities are just so preferred that they can pay the same amount or less than a university in a lower rent town. It only makes sense if you're getting a giant reputational or career boost, or have personal reasons. I dunno. I'm about where you are I guess. Stuff is either too junior or the stuff I want to do is just enough outside my field that it's hard to figure out who to talk to. It's depressing, even moreso now where you have to really work at it to "run into people". The best I've ever figured out is to take the thing I'm really good at, and find places that happen to need that but also do the thing I want to learn. It doesn't work great. I guess I suggest conferences but I wouldn't go to one during COVID... I'm bad at this I guess though.