Should I take a postdoc or a teaching position?

[Bill McBlueState]

Hey group,

If I get a certain phone call on Monday, I may have about 24 hours to make a big decision.

I've already been offered a non-tenure-track faculty position, and I may soon be offered a postdoc. The people who offered me the first job really want to hear back from me soon.

Which one would you choose? The pay is about the same for each, and the two institutions are of comparable prestige. The instructor position seems more stable, but the postdoc would be more exciting.

[realisticphish]

1. i suppose

it would depend largely on whether teaching or research is your primary goal :shrug:

[TZ]

2. I have a friend who did a postdoc position

And while she did enjoy it, ultimately it led her nowhere career wise..

[lizerdbits]

3. Depends on what you want to do

If you like research do postdoc. If not go with the instructor. You mention stability- I don't know your age/status but if you're going to be starting a family stability might have more weight than excitement. OTOH, if you take something less exciting and are unhappy then it can affect people you live with. Personally I'd go with postdoc but that's because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like teaching.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. Thanks for your replies!

Even though I didn't respond, I did read them.

I ended up taking the postdoc. I really like teaching, but the postdoc is almost perfectly aligned with my interests, and I decided to stick with research for now.

[lizerdbits]

5. I hope it works out!

:) May I ask what line of research you're in?

[Bill McBlueState]

6. star formation

So far, most of my work has been in stellar spectroscopy, but this new project will have me doing imaging work. The data will be from the Herschel Space Telescope, set to launch in February.

[dropkickpa]

7. Cool!!

Sounds very interesting, and you'll get to see a lot of this stuff first! I admit I'm a bit jealous.