Subject: short summary of my post on June 29 << CCL:Short-term certificate on drug design or bioinformatics

From: mike smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 13:57:52 -0700 (PDT)

Dear listers,

As the requests of more than 3 people on the topic, 
I am attaching the summary. Hope this may be a little
helpful for them, and those who may want to know it
but did not ask for.

Many thanks to all of those who replied to my message.

Best wishes to all of you.

--Mike

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(1)

I had a similar background--grad degree in theoretical
chemistry,

but I didn't have any trouble finding a post-doc in bio-simulation
(3 years

ago)  I know of at least 2 other people who also found a post-doc
in a

bio-simulation group with a very theoretical grad school experience.
Have you tried

applying for a NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate position?
They fund

positions at a lot of the national labs (NIST/Naval/etc) and seem to
be a good route

for making the transition.  I think you need to keep trying for
a post-doc

position.

good luck,

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(2)

Workshop attendees,

Here is a webpage with links to Prof. Vaisman's PPT

lectures, the main workshop page, the in-class exer-

cises, and solutions to the exercises:

http://www.ib3.gmu.edu/taylor/PROTWORKSHOPSUM01/workshop.html

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(3)

I'm no expert on this, but here's one man's opinion.

First, lean on your Ph.D. advisor for help.  He/She has a

responsibility to help you build a rewarding career.  If you are
not

a recent graduate, then you might ask for some help from supervisors

at your subsequent jobs.

It also sounds like you have pretty specific ideas about the kind of

job you want.  This suggests: (1) Talk to experienced people in
that

industry.  Ask them directly what kind of training, which postdoc

advisers (if any), etc., are the best for obtaining the job you

want.  (2) If you can't get that job, be flexible and start with

something else.  You may find that you like if very much, but
if your

goals are unaffected you at least have a richer career/resume to help

you.

Also keep in mind that obtaining (and holding) a job takes more than

technical skills.  There are many "soft skills" required, and
which

are difficult to learn.  They can be evaluated in an interview,
in

letters of reference, etc.

Industrial jobs usually require great flexibility, since projects

(and job descriptions) may change every quarter.  If you've been
in

one area a long time, flexibility may be an important concern to

potential employers.

It's unrealistic to expect to master any of those research areas in
a

couple of months.  A Ph.D. alone takes 5-6 years.  The fastest
I've

heard of was less than four years, but that was an unusually good

student (now a HHMI at a top-tier research university).  However,
you

can train yourself to some extent by attending meetings (for

technical content but especially to build your interpersonal network)

and by studying (textbooks, journals, software).

My last comment--be sure that your resume and cover letter are

linguistically polished, as appropriate when seeking a professional

position.  I realize it's "just" an e-mail message, but you have

several grammatical errors (below).

Good luck to you!  I hope my comments are helpful; use the useful
and

discard the rest.

Sincerely,

........

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(4)

Where did you get your degree?  What, if anything, did your university

have for a placement office?  Do they offer resume critiquing?
& if so, did

you participate?  To what professional organizations do you belong?
[ACS?]

ACS has a LOT of job stuff for members - placement at meetings, though
you

have to scrape up the funds to get there.  If you're unemployed,
tell them &

they waive the registration - members, of course.  Do you follow
C&E News'

employment sections, Science, Nature, & respond to ads there?

What is your relationship with your degree preceptor?  What does
he

usually do to help his students find jobs?  [Writing letters of
recommendation

only is not really enough, but too many of them think along those lines].

If that's usually all he does, ask him to what groups he thinks you
should

be applying for post-docs.  Post-docs are often passed to friends
&

acquaintances, then an ad is written so specifically only the person

already in mind will fit the criteria.

Next:  please don't take this personally, but if the grammar of
your

posting [below] is the way you normally write, you need to pay a lot
more

attention to it.  There are numerous errors.  Paradoxically,
scientists have by

default become the custodians of written English- the literary types

are all into anything goes, but most scientists still think poor grammar
&

spelling are hallmarks of sloppy thinking.

Your grammar is such that, in fact, were it not for your All-American

user ID, I'd think English is not your first language.  So much
so, that I

suspect many who might otherwise have replied think you may be someone

not using their real name as their user id.  A lot of people tend
to think

replying to someone who won't tell you who they really are is a waste

of time.

SO, if your posting is your normal grammar, you need to take some

courses. Since you obviously also need a job, you need to get someone
to correct

any letters you intend to mail before you send them out.  If you
have a

learning disability that prevents you from using standard grammar,
forget what I

said about more courses, but DO have someone check your outgoing letters.

By all means use a computer grammar checker, but still have a person
it

afterward. I am not impressed by computer grammar checkers.  The
one with MS Word

gets upset at many proper constructions & overlooks egregious errors
such as

incorrectly typing form instead of from.

Hope this is somewhat helpful.  I'm going away until after the
4th, so

if I don't reply, that's why.

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(5)

I think whether you do some research work in your known area during
a short-term?

if it is not suitable for publication, may you directly see

employer with your manuscript to prove you eligible to work in this
area?

with a best wish,

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