The end of an era

So I did it. I finally made a decision and accepted a job offer! In less than six months I will be an Assistant Professor. Mostly I'm excited at the prospect of having my own lab, but every so often my brain goes, "Holy s--t! I have a real job!"

I've been training for this job for... 12 years now? Not content with my string of unsatisfying jobs in retail and strangely excited by my cousin's

Decisions, Decisions

I am about to complain about something that will probably not garner me a lot of sympathy: I have multiple job offers and making a decision is really hard!

Yes, I know. I do realize that this is the academic equivalent of First World Problems. There are starving children in Africa postdocs with no job offers. Of all the problems one could have, this really isn't such a bad one. No matter which

The Hidden Dangers of Job Interviews

When you are invited for a campus interview it is completely normal to be excited. Other people will congratulate you and be excited for you. Of course, it is a fantastic thing. What no one ever talks about are the downsides to interviewing. Namely, that it kills your productivity.

With my first job interview the problem was that I had to spend an enormous amount of time preparing my talk and

Rejection Letters

'Tis now the time of year when the bevy of rejection letters arrives in ones mailbox. If you're a normal person anyway. I'm sure there is some superstar out there who is getting tons of job offers and has yet to feel the sting of rejection. I, however, am not that superstar and my inbox is amassing a collection of "I regret to inform you" emails.

And yet, I haven't been truly disappointed or