postdoc in germany - (Sep/14/2010 )

Hello everyone!

I have a few general questions that some of you may be able to answer:
- Would you recommed me to do a postdoc in Germany?
- Do postdocs make a good living in this country? (I am thinking of going to Jena)
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of moving to this country as a postdoc?
- Is it easy to find a fellowship/contract? Where should I look for finantiation?

Any answers, comments or suggestions are welcome! I am a bit lost...

Thanks in advance!

Hi OA17,

the answer to question one can only given by yourself! You have to decide whether or not a postdoc in Germany will be good for you or not! If the group you want to join is good and it will help your careere to join them, just go ahead but if you think there are many better groups in your field of research, you should think about going elsewhere.

Usually you can make a good living with a postdoc salery in Germany (which is around 58000 € per year according to DFG; but approx. half of it goes away for taxes, so it sounds better than its is but I am not completly familiar with the details of the German system), but it always depends on the kind of contract you will get (nowadays there are many part time appointments where you will have to get your own projects funded or have to work in other projects to get paid the full time amount). No idea about the prices for housing in Jena.

Advantages are good social system (health care etc.), disadvantages are the Germans (just joking, most of them are really nice!) but gererally Germnay is a nice country to live in. But I think there are people here who can judge on this better than I can.

You should contact the group you want to work in, they will know where to get funding if they have no open position at the moment.

OA17 on Tue Sep 14 08:35:25 2010 said:

the criterion should be the scientific question and the scintinfic possibilities, expertise and reputations of the lab. Although you can cope with English, you should learn some German language...