As a graduate student, I overheard a faculty member advise a colleague to include funding in a grant proposal for a graduate student rather than a postdoctoral fellow. The reason? “Postdocs spend all their time writing papers from their dissertation work,” she said. I vowed that, when I became a postdoc, I would not let paper and grant writing disrupt my research in the laboratory.

Fast-forward five years. To my dismay, I do spend much of my time writing and revising manuscripts, many of them from my previous work. I see this as part of the postdoc's primary challenge: balancing a job and a career.

Credit: IMAGEZOO/CORBIS

Although I have published six papers from my dissertation work, I have several other manuscripts from the same project competing for space on my desk and weighing on my conscience. Each paper represents collaborations with other early-career scientists, and I am acutely aware that delays affect their careers, as well as my own. I give priority to work related to my current position, but when there are lulls, I dedicate several days to revising one of these old manuscripts in the queue.

Once, at a workshop for early-career researchers, a panellist warned us that it was unethical for postdocs to spend time working on projects other than the one that pays their salary. Yet, when I confessed this transgression to my supervisor, he told me not to worry. I will be writing papers from our current project for years to come, he said. And, hence, will be siphoning time from future projects. It is the perpetual circle of grant-writing life.

The job–career balance is a fundamental challenge for postdocs. Fulfilling the obligations of the project that currently pays your salary is, of course, essential, but at the same time postdocs need to push previous work through the publication process, which often entails multiple revisions. Writing grant applications, and applying and interviewing for faculty jobs are necessary activities; two years of postdoc funding runs out quickly. These additional responsibilities to our careers are as time-consuming as obligations to our full-time jobs.

Perhaps this juggling act is necessary preparation for a career in academia. When I first started as a graduate student, I had a romanticized notion of academics leisurely discussing the fundamentals of ecology with colleagues over a coffee or a beer, sketching graphs on the backs of napkins and filling a blackboard with equations. The reality has been quite different. The faculty members with whom I've worked are chronically busy. A friendly “how's it going?” to a colleague in the hall is always met with, “oh, really busy this week!”. I too have adopted this response. There is always a deadline looming for the next proposal. There are committee meetings, classes to prepare for and students to advise. Responding to e-mails can take the better part of a working day. This routine does not leave much time for pondering big ideas, or catching up on the backlog of old papers that need to be written.

Embracing this culture of academic life is an important part of the postdoc journey. There is often a tension between current job and peripheral obligations. At least part of the solution is clear communication with your supervisor. When applying for a postdoc, you should find out exactly how you are expected to spend your time and check regularly with your supervisor to make sure that your productivity is meeting these expectations.

After two years as a postdoc, I am still learning how to balance these competing obligations. Last week I received an e-mail from a PhD student who worked with me as an undergraduate during my PhD research. He wanted to know the status of a manuscript I am supposed to be revising. I was mortified when I realized that I had not opened the file in fourteen months. Sorry, Pedro. I'll get right on that.