双语|如何寻找、申请和选择博士后职位-实验室筛选篇

是否做博士后？如何寻找、申请及选择博士后职位，这位美国神经科学家给出了建议和答案。知识人网小编采用双语对照的形式分别叙述。本篇为实验室筛选篇。

III. The Trimming

三、调整

Now you need a way to go from perhaps dozens of prospective labs to a handful. I suggest aiming for having 5-8 labs on your shortlist. Let's say you email 6 labs; you might only get responses or interest from just half of them. Another reason to I think it's beneficial to meet with multiple labs even if you aren't super excited about all of them yet is that it provides you with a broader perspective on scientific approaches/lab cultures/etc. It also gives you more opportunities to practice presenting your work and meeting cool researchers that will be your colleagues regardless of whether you join their lab.

现在你需要一种方法，从几十个潜在实验室中缩小到少数几个，我建议你的候选名单上有5-8个实验室。假设你给6个实验室发邮件，可能只有一半会得到回应或感兴趣。但即使你还不是对所有的实验室都感兴趣，我认为与多个实验室会面是有益的：另一个原因是，它可以为你提供科学方法/实验室文化/等等方面更广阔的视角。还可为你提供了更多机会练习展示你的工作并结识很酷的研究人员，无论你是否加入他们的实验室，他们都将是你的同事。

To trim your list down, there are going to be a lot of considerations, and they will vary depending on your goals and lifestyle. However, if you're the kind of person who only cares about the science and will go wherever, that's valid and you can probably skip this part.

为了减少列表名单，需要考虑许多因素，这些因素会根据你的目标和生活方式而有所不同。但是，如果你是那种只关心科学并愿意去任何地方的人，那也没问题，你可能会跳过这部分。

So, what I'm going to do is list some criteria you might want to consider. When defining the criteria for yourself, take your time and be thoughtful about it. This is a significant commitment after all, and at this stage of your life and career you deserve to work in a place that fits your needs and interests as much as possible. I split the criteria into two layers of trimming one that you can do with just a bunch of googling and the other is one that takes some talking to people. I want to emphasize that these are listed in no particular order.

所以，我将列出的是一些你可能想考虑的标准。在为自己定义标准时，请花些时间并深思熟虑。毕竟，这是一个重大的奉献，在你生活和职业生涯的这个阶段，你应该在一个尽可能符合你需求和兴趣的地方工作。我将标准分为两个调整层次：一层是你可以通过一堆谷歌搜索来完成，另一层是需要与人交流的。我想强调的是，这些标准没有特定的顺序。

Layer 1: what can be evaluated without needing to reach out to anyone

第一层：无需联系任何人即可评估的内容

Cost of living: we all know that postdocs are underpaid for their skill level and life stage. If cost of living is an important factor for you, it would be wise to find out what it's like for postdocs in the city you're interested in.

生活成本：我们都知道，博士后的工资相对于他们的技能水平和人生阶段报酬过低。如果生活成本对你来说是一个重要因素，那么了解一下你感兴趣的城市的博士后生活成本是一个明智的选择。

Climate: hate the cold so much that it will make you miserable? Avoid Boston.

气候：讨厌寒冷的气候，以至于会让你感到不舒服？避开波士顿。

Family & friends: if living near friends or family is important to your mental health or overall happiness, consider prioritizing this.

家人和朋友：如果与家人或朋友居住在一起对你的心理健康或整体幸福感很重要，请考虑将此列为优先考虑事项。

Childcare costs: got tiny humans? I hear they cost a lot to care for, and in some cities that amount can get absurdly expensive.

托儿费用：你有小孩子吗？我听说他们要花很多钱来照顾，而且在一些城市甚至非常昂贵。

Lab alumni: if you know the kind of position you would like to be in after the postdoc (industry, R1 position, LAC faculty, etc.) you might want to note how many postdocs have successfully reached those positions (if any) from the lab. I would be careful with this though, because people choose all kinds of career paths and it's not always about the lab or mentor. This one is a little challenging to check sometimes because some labs don't have lab websites where they keep alumni updated. You can find out more by talking to people in the lab or the PI later.

实验室校友：如果你知道自己在博士后毕业希望担任的职位类型（行业、R1职位、LAC教职等），你可能需要注意有多少博士后从实验室成功地达到这些职位（如果有）。不过，我会小心翼翼，因为人们会选择各种职业道路，而这并不总是与实验室或导师有关。这一点有点难以确定，因为一些实验室在其网站上没有更新毕业生的信息，你可以通过与实验室人员或导师交谈了解更多信息。

Diversity (of institution or city): this was an important one for me for a number of reasons, it might be for you. For example, if you belong to a marginalized group and the area is one known for racism for example, how would living there impact your mental health and safety.

多元化（机构或城市的多元化）：这点对我来说很重要。原因很多，可能对你来说也是如此。例如，如果你属于边缘化群体，并且该地区以种族主义而闻名，那么生活在那里会如何影响你的心理健康和安全。

Visa considerations: if the postdoc lab is in a place that will require onerous immigration-related paperwork that you don't want to go through or can't do, might as well take those labs out of consideration. This was another one I used to trim my list.

签证考虑：如果博士后实验室位于一个需要复杂移民手续的地方，而你不想或无法经历这个过程，那么不妨将这些实验室排除在考虑范围之外。这也是我缩小列表的一个标准。

Lab funding: if the lab doesn't have the funding to support your work, that can cause a bunch of issues for you. But it's not always easy to determine the funding situation before actually interacting with the PI and lab. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to check places like RePORTER (this will only list public funding from the NIH). Additionally, the lab doesn't have to be funded in excess, just appropriately funded.

实验室资金：如果实验室没有资金支持你的工作，这可能会带来很多问题。但是，在与导师和实验室进行交流之前，确定实验室的资金情况不是那么容易。尽管如此，查看RePORTER（这只列出了NIH的公共资金）等地方也没有害处。此外，实验室不必拥有过多的资金，只需拥有适当的资金即可。

Scientific environment of the department: your science doesn't happen in a vacuum, right? You're going to be interacting with a lot of people in your department (seminars, journal clubs, whatever) and it would be nice to know whether there are researchers that fit your interests in the department. This could also be useful down the line for potential collaborators, brainstorm buddies who enrich your work, or even secondary mentors.

部门科学环境：你的科研不是在真空中发生的，对吧？你将与部门中的许多人进行交流（研讨会、期刊俱乐部等），了解部门中是否有符合你兴趣的研究人员会很有帮助。这也可能对未来的潜在合作伙伴、思想交流伙伴，甚至次要导师也可能有所帮助。

Layer 2: what can be evaluated by talking to people in your network, checking twitter, or chatting with trainees in the prospective lab

第二层：可以通过与你网络中的人交谈、查看推特或与潜在实验室的学员交谈来评估什么

For these criteria, it can be useful to talk to professors you know who might know some of the PIs on your list or at least know of them. It also helps to talk to people currently within the lab you're interested (or alumni). I found that it's best to do so if you already have an existing relationship with the person, but you can also cold email a current or former postdoc and just ask for a 30-minute call to chat about their experience. With any of these approaches, just be aware that once again, one person's experience won't necessarily be yours, but gathering as much information as you can is the best possible way to make a decision IMO. Also note that reaching out to alumni is really valuable in cases where the environment is particularly toxic because it's hard to get that information from current lab members who might hesitate to share out of fear of retribution. It's sad to say but it's true; so, try to talk to alumni as well.

对于这些标准，与你认识的教授交谈可能会很有帮助，他们可能认识或至少知道你的列表中的一些导师。与你目前感兴趣的实验室中的人（或校友）交谈也很有帮助，尤其是与你已经建立了关系的人。你也可以给当前或前任博士后研究生发送开发电子邮件，并询问他们是否愿意花30分钟与你聊聊他们的经历。无论采用哪种方法，请注意，一个人的经验不一定是你的，但收集尽可能多的信息是做出决策的最好方式。另请注意，在环境特别恶劣的情况下，与校友交流尤其重要，因为很难从目前的实验室成员那里获得信息，因为他们可能会因担心报复而犹豫分享。这说起来很遗憾，但事实如此；所以，也尝试着与校友谈谈。

Lab culture: this was the top criterion for me. More important than the science, honestly. I reasoned that I'll be spending most of my time in the lab working with my labmates, and if the environment is toxic, I'm not going to have fun, and if I'm not having fun, why am I there? You're already underpaid and undervalued as a postdoc (more on that later), why subject yourself to abuse and toxicity on top of that, right? You can get clues about lab culture in different ways before ever even reaching out to the PI. Because I prioritized this criterion so much, I didn't email any PI who I didn't think could potentially be a good cultural fit.

实验室文化：这对我来说是首要标准。老实说，比科研更重要。我认为，我将大部分的时间花在实验室里与这里的同事一起工作，如果环境恶劣，我就会不开心，如果我不开心，我为什么在那里？作为一名博士后，你的薪水已经被低估了（稍后会详细介绍），为什么还要让自己遭受虐待和欺负呢，对吧？你甚至可以在联系导师之前，先通过多种方式了解有关实验室文化的线索。因为我非常重视这个标准，所以我没有给任何一个我认为可能文化不契合的导师发邮件。

Training and mentorship philosophy: some PIs explicitly detail this on their websites (examples here, here, here, and here), but it's still not common practice. One of the things you can glean from conversations with alumni or current trainees in the lab is the values of the lab you're considering. What are the PI's expectations of postdocs? How much creative and intellectual freedom does the postdoc have in designing projects or choosing research direction? How available is the PI (and does that fit your needs)? Does the PI encourage professional development opportunities and training outside of research (or at least not get in your way if you were to seek them out? Do postdocs have resources to attend conferences and network? When leaving the lab, how does the PI support postdocs? Things like that. I also recommend explicitly asking these sorts of questions to the PI during the interview process when you get there. You might feel like it's inappropriate, but it's really not. I asked all of these straightforwardly and received straightforward responses that helped me make better informed decisions.

培训和指导理念：一些导师在他们的网站上明确详细说明了这一点（示例这里、这里、这里和这里），但这仍然不是常见的做法。你可以从与实验室中校友或当前学员的对话中收集的事情正是你考虑实验室的价值。导师对博士后的期望是什么？博士后在设计项目或选择研究方向方面有多少创作和智力自由？导师的可用性资源如何（是否符合你的需求）？导师是否鼓励研究之外的专业发展机会和培训吗？（或者至少如果你要寻找它们时，不会妨碍你）。博士后有参加会议和建立网络的资源吗？离开实验室后，导师如何支持博士后？诸如此类的事情。我还建议在面试过程中，明确地向导师询问这类问题。否则当你到达那里时，实际上并非如此，你可能会觉得不合适。我就是直截了当地询问了所有这些问题，并收到了直截了当的回答，这有助于我做出更明智的决定。