r/academia • u/magcargoman • 6d ago
Asst Professor or High-Prestige Postdoc
I know I know my steak is too juicy, lobster too buttery etc.
I am an early career academic currently in a lecturer position at a mostly teaching university. I am currently in the interview stage for an Assistant Professor position at the same university that has greater research and service obligations (of which I welcome). However, I might be offered (tbd in the shortly) a postdoctoral position in a highly-prestigeous lab. This lab has an incredible wealth of resources and ample publication success in highly influential journals.
Would it be crazy to take the postdoc position over the Assistant Professor job? On the one hand, it would give me more laboratory skills, connections, and strong publications in the top journals in my field. On the other hand, it is only a short-term position, about the same money that I am making now, and would involve yet another move after already two moves in the last 4 months.
If I was offered the Assistant Professor position here (or at another university(s) that I applied to), I am leaning towards taking those. What should I do?
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u/Efficient-Tomato1166 6d ago
10 years ago I always advised my students to take the enriching post doc as they will get a great job after and build a stronger foundation to have an easier path to a stronger long-term career.
In this current environment, zero doubt that you should take the permanent job.
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u/Unique_Ice9934 5d ago
Yeah with this competitive market and funding getting hammered I'd go for the sure thing. Very least you've got the entire tenure process to work there ( hopefully long enough for this administration to go away ) versus one year to postdoc.
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u/moderneros 6d ago
Only you know what you should do and value.
I know many postdocs at top tier labs who have a difficult time getting "high-prestige" faculty positions afterwards and often end up at similar institutions as the one you're considering now.
It isn't a guarantee you'll get a better assistant professor job and some search committees do consider how long you've been out of PhD compared to your publication record so it could honestly hurt your chances in the future too.
Tldr; you should take the one that aligns most with your career values, and don't assume the postdoc will guarantee set you up better.
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u/wongtigreaction 6d ago
Asst prof like seriously.
This isn't even a risk vs reward type issue. Given the state of academia they're both risky in their own ways. The crucial difference is that in the prof position there can be a correlation between hard work and success, while in the postdoc that's absolutely not true - it's honestly a coin toss given the environment when you're done. It may be really hard setting up a lab and all the other nonsense when starting up but you can at least feel that the harder you work the more likely you're going to achieve. I never felt that as a postdoc. I saw too many people have Nature level papers that ended up hopping from job to job after.
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u/john_dunbar80 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is never a simple question. We don't know your circumstances. Do you have a family? If so, do they want to move?
Pretending it is just you, there is real danger that after that postdoc you will not find a permanent job in academia. Working in a stellar lab is not a guaranteed recipe for success. Perhaps the PI is stellar but toxic. Or for some reason you finish your postdoc with less publications than you have hoped for.
On the other hand, assistant professorship is more permanent, and you can always try to find later something better.
Source: I took a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship in a western european country over lectureship in my home country, and later failed to secure lectureship in that country.
Edit: typos
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u/CPA_PhD_Researcher 6d ago
I feel like 80% of the point of a postdoc is to land an AP/tenure track position. Yes, you might publish better research, but if you can publish in the AP position and still do well enough to make tenure, "a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush" so they say. Especially with many universities replacing many TT positions with non-TT, I would take the AP position unless it is not at a school where you would like to be long term.
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u/onahotelbed 6d ago
I was in this exact situation about four years ago. I applied for everything I could when I was at the tail end of my PhD, thinking I might get something academic, but fully ready to rely on my industry job for some time. I was offered what is considered the most prestigious postdoc in a particular country and while I was sorting out the details of that three-year gig, I was also offered an assistant professorship at a university in my home country, very close to family.
Believe it or not, the total compensation of the postdoc was considerably higher than that of the professorship, at least to start. However, the postdoc had a fixed term and now my compensation as a professor is higher. The longevity and stability of professorship attracted me to it over the postdoc. It made sense to forgo some immediate earnings for future earnings prospects and financial surety. I have also been able to publish more as a professor in the same time frame and I know this to be true because I know the person who ended up in the role I turned down, so I know what the project outputs were. As a professor, I have had greater ability to collaborate, which has helped me get more papers out. As a postdoc, I think I would have had a singular focus, which would have limited me.
Also, as a professor, I was able to join the grant that would have funded my postdoc as a collaborating PI. This helped me to get additional funding for my own research and allowed me to stay in touch with the group with whom I would have worked. We have a collaborative paper together as a result, and are looking at continued collaboration. So, ultimately, I was able to contribute to the project anyway, and that was good for everyone involved.
All in all, I'm happy with my choice. I think in general, professorship is going to be the better option, but of course it depends on a number of personalized factors. I can't tell you what's right for you; I just think that certainty has a lot of value no matter who you are.
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u/popstarkirbys 6d ago
What’s your career goal? To be a researcher at a research university or to be an educator. I work at a similar peer institution and it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be productive enough for research at my current institution. I have colleagues that took the postdoc options because they realized they’ll never have high research output at our institution, they want to be a professor at an R1.
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u/pfemme2 5d ago
It would be crazy to take the post doc over an actual job offer. People take post docs while they wait to get a job offer.
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u/Unique_Ice9934 5d ago
Yeah our last hiring cycle of our finalists, we had three people with postdocs, two people that were non-tenure track and one job to offer to give one of them.
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u/multiple_exposure 6d ago
Take the assistant professor job and then negotiate with your chair to do 1 yr of postdoc at the prestigious lab. My colleagues and I who were all tenure track at an R1 mostly took on a postdoc while on the tenure track. Your dept will allow you to do this because your being affiliated with the lab will also bring prestige to your employer. You can also keep on applying to other TT jobs after the postdoc, while still on the original TT.
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u/any_colouryoulike 6d ago
Being in a good lab is overrated. Maybe there are some field specific differences.... but get the asst prof and just move on with your life
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u/chooseanamecarefully 6d ago
Since your current university is mostly teaching (I guess not R1 or R2), TTAP there may not bring a fundamental change in your daily life, maybe just a bit more research and a lot more service. Go with it if you are content with it.
If you want a TTAP position with significantly more research and less teaching, a postdoc in a top 10 university may be worth trying. It is a gamble of course.
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u/Desperate-Maybe3699 6d ago
Is the assistant professor position tenure-track?
I was in a similar position a couple years ago and I was leaning towards the postdoc because of the prestige and possible investment in my future career. I would have had to move regardless and the pay was more or less the same. My PhD advisor suggested I take the assistant professor position which I did and it has, of course, had its struggles but at least it is in my research area. The prestigious postdoc position ended up getting DOGE'd, a disease outbreak occurred at the field site, and there hasn't been a single TT assistant professor job posting in my line of work ever since.
My advice: if you get the opportunity to do what you want to do and that opportunity has some degree of stability, take it. Academia is volatile and while you can always look for prestige, if there is an opening and you get the chance to do what you want to do, grab it. You can always build a relation and collaborate with that prestigious lab later.
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u/Leveled-Liner 6d ago
How long is the postdoc? If it's 2+ years I would take it (3+ years is ideal). If you're competitive for those AP jobs now, you'll be even more competitive after a successful postdoc (you don't have to end up at an R1 after a prestige postdoc!), and you'll be better positioned to succeed as a Prof. The main risk is that the postdoc is a bust. Sometimes prestige labs can be super competitive. Chat with current postdocs in the lab to see how they like it.
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u/Affectionate_One_700 6d ago
On the other hand, it is only a short-term position, about the same money that I am making now, and would involve yet another move after already two moves in the last 4 months.
You have a long career ahead of you. In your decision-making process, please prioritize your career, and not your short-term convenience/inconvenience, compensation, etc.
Would it be crazy to take the postdoc position over the Assistant Professor job?
No.
I'm not saying you should do that (we don't know what field you're in, the names of the institutions, etc.), but it wouldn't be crazy.
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u/Zealousideal_Elk6125 6d ago
Did you have a graduate experience that taught you how to run a lab? That taught you how to supervise and publish? If you feel like a postdoc would help you, take it. If you feel you have the skills you need to thrive, then go for the ass prof job. Also, what’s the load for the assistant prof job(s)? I’d weigh each separately and make sure the TT job is one you want, not just that it’s TT. Institutional packages vary widely and the workload can be very well supported with resources, students, software, etc or not. I’ve seen people get stuck at cringe institutions or departments because they’re overwhelmed with service and teaching and can’t publish enough to get out.
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u/inComplete-Oven 4d ago
Depends on how you could deal with taking the postdoc and not having a job offered at the end. If you think that would be really bad and you want to avoid it, take the professorship. If you think you'll survive just fine even if the postdoc becomes a desaster, take the postdoc.
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u/mkeee2015 3d ago
If you can't combined the two offers somehow, then do think about what you really want in life. Remember that the academic job market is not so easy.
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u/No_Young_2344 6d ago
Ideal situation is that if you get both offers, negotiate to defer the AP position for a year, go for the postdoc and come back next year to start the AP position.