So, I haven’t posted in two weeks. Partly because I’ve been busy with work and with the Great PhD Search, but also because I’m not sure what to write about.
The point of this blog is for me to practise my writing and hopefully contribute to some science communication, but sometimes I wonder if I really am adding anything useful or original to the discussions. It could just be that I’ve been struggling a bit with the PhD search (I’ve been very actively searching since July) and that is getting me down, but starting a blog has also been a challenge for me.
If anyone has any tips for regular blogging and keeping the ideas running, feel free to send them my way!
Julie Blommaert 
Out of interest, how do you search for PhDs? I’m curious because it’s been a while, and I wondered how the mechanics changed since early 2000s
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There’s a mailing list that advertises some positions in my field, nature jobs often has PhD listings for funded projects, and findaphd.com is fairly useful too. People also sometimes just randomly pass on tidbits and information to me about possible openings and Twitter has exposed me to a few open positions as well. But, none of that has lead to a concrete offer that I have accepted yet, so I’m not sure if theres any more effective strategies out there.
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Have you ever thought about, hm, *pivoting?* There are two reasonable possibilities I see for you. One is to go in the direction of comp-sci, and become a bioinformatician. AJO has regular postings about jobs in the field of bioinformatics: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/cs
Another option is to go *meta,* and become a philosopher of science. I know that people look down on philosophers, but I know some people in the field and they do very cool research. As a matter of fact there’s a PhD position at LMU where my gf works: http://www.mcmp.philosophie.uni-muenchen.de/news/doc_fellows_2015/index.html; this particular position requires a degree in philosophy or cogsci, but there are others, and biology degrees are especially sought in candidates for programs in ethics. (You may wanna check out a mailing list called [PHILOS-L]. )
I know it’s not optimal, but it’s an option worth considering I guess.
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I have thought about (and have even applied to a few positions outside my field of training. The main problem is that there has always been at least one applicant with just a little bit more relevant experience than me. I would still really like to have some element of wet-lab work, but I am prepared (and actually would really like) to work on my bioinformatics and would accept a project with a trade-off between the two skill-sets. The main problem is that my computer skills don’t even come close to my lab skills.
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