u/Dapper-Taste5702

More of a vent. But wow, I’ve come by a few current PhD or undergrad students who rely on ai for everything. It’s absolutely wild to me. As someone who did all of their training without ai, it’s mind boggling to work in a lab with someone that relies on ai for absolutely everything.

Do many of you use ai, if so, what for? Do you think this tactic of relying on ai will come back to bite this next generation of college and graduate students in the butt?

anyone experience swelling in one calf/knee down unilaterally before and it NOT be dvt or clot?

I was upping my mpw working towards 100ish mpw and bam; one of my legs puffed up like no other. Thought it was a calf strain at first because that’s where it was most noticeable, and my calf did hurt a bit, but it didn’t seem to hurt as much as the swelling indicated.

Saw a bunch of stuff about dvt, got scared, so went to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found no dvt. But not in seeing Zach Bitter’s instagram and his DVT scare and it got me wondering.

Anyways, im not looking for medical advice perse, I’m more so curious what others experience with unilateral swelling is like, especially when increasing volume or intensity

I’m considering leaving my postdoc for a role at a CRO. I don’t necessarily see myself staying at a CRO long term, but I haven’t had much success breaking into big pharma.

My thinking is that if I know I want to leave academia, industry experience at a CRO may be more valuable on my CV than additional postdoc years. I’ve also heard, and experienced so far, that postdoc experience doesn’t carry much weight when applying for industry roles.

For those who have made or are thinking of making the transition: does postdoc experience really count for little in industry hiring? And would spending a few years in a PhD-track role at a CRO likely improve my long-term career prospects compared with staying in academia?

I’m a straight PhD postdoc in a small physician-scientist led lab. I’ve had a few opportunities to leave for industry, and while I wasn’t initially tempted, I’ve started reconsidering because it feels like this position isn’t really going anywhere.

Part of me feels it’s my fault because I struggle to stay motivated enough to consistently put in 12–15 hour days. At the same time, my mentor currently has no funded projects and has largely encouraged me to pursue my own ideas. That’s been both a blessing and a curse.

Eight months in, he hasn’t made much effort to integrate me into any of his projects, and honestly it’s not even clear what his main projects are at the moment—he seems to bounce between ideas frequently. As a result, I feel like I’ve spent most of the past eight months spinning my wheels rather than building momentum.

So I’m curious what other postdocs think. Am I being too hard on myself? Would it make sense to look for another postdoc before deciding academia isn’t for me? Or is this feeling—“it’s all on me and nobody is coming to help”—just a normal part of the postdoc experience?

More broadly, how much mentoring should a postdoc reasonably expect? Has anyone else worked with a young physician-scientist running a new lab and struggled with a lack of direction or mentorship?