Well part of it is fields not meant to have post docs use them as a way to avoid hiring tenure track folks. Post-docs are meant for the physical sciences, where

Well part of it is fields not meant to have post docs use them as a way to avoid hiring tenure track folks. Post-docs are meant for the physical sciences, where you can need a few years to learn the physical mechanics of research in a field like biology, chemistry, physics, or other "hard" sciences. But as a side effect of decisions folks were coerced into making during the last recession, many fields like CS which require very little physical labor now also use post-docs. Often a post doc is just something given to a sub par PhD student who coasted on the work of others graduates from a "prestigous" program until they can author a few papers ACTUALLY on their own. On my end, I deeply regret not backpacking around SE Asia doing English lessons the past ten years -- I'd probably be happier, healthier, and have a bigger bank account than the path I took instead. (Aborted PhD -> terrible NGO -> terrible nonprofit -> piecemeal consulting paired with a Bellingcat certification) If I were going to attempt a PhD a second time, I'd probaby do it in the EU where they clearly define success criteria from the outset, and I'd probably do it after obtaining an EU passport. (I should not have to consider getting a second passport to find work with my skillset, but people sometimes are stupid enough to interview me, refuse to take my advice, then get butthurt when the Russians skullfuck their servers or their bank goes out of business because they decided to be cute and treat an interview as a free consulting session, but not actually listen to anything I said.)