Life after post-doc - is there light after dark (May/15/2009 )

I am in second year of first post-doc, and currently looking for second one.
For some reasons, I just don’t have exciting result to have good publications, and the highest impact factor journal that I have paper is 3.

After another one and half year, if there is no significant improvement, it would be nothera dead end.

What do people do after that?
I probably too old to change career (I worked couple years before went to Ph.D.), so what is my option?

Beside become a faculty or a senior researcher, what people do after post-doc.

Industry is also an attractive option. Working hard and publishing more will help. Of course if you think what you are working on is a lost cause, change to another project or lab.

If industry - suggest you need to move sooner rather than later. You're prob in your 30's now and another post doc on this one is prob putting you in a secondary age group for consideration.

Industry cares FAR less about publications then does academia. What industry wants is knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, skills. You're probably in a good position to get an entry-level (entry-level for PhD that is) industry job having 2 years of post-doc beneath you - some companies will probably as for 3, but then again others won't ask for any. The only barrier would be having no industry experience, unless your prior work experience is in industry, in which case you're golden.

Industry, in general, also pays far better. If you're not sold on the idea of complete intellectual freedom, then I'd suggest making the sacrifice. You would almost definitely work less in industry than you would as a junior faculty, and likely no more than you do as a post-doc (or, depending on who your advisor is, perhaps less).

Whatever you choose to do, best of luck to you!

-Carlton