[blackcat]

Hi everyone

I really need some advice on my situation:

I am currently working as a Postdoc in Canada. I recently got a job offer (Scientist III) in a drug company in Poland and I am seriously considering it. There are pros and cons as below:

The key pros is that I will have my skill set expanded: My PhD is about organic light-emitting diode materials design and synthesis. My Postdoc is about design and synthesis of silicone polymers. I will gain experiences in medicinal synthesis via working in the Polish company. As I was doing job search, I found organic synthesis related to drugs is still the major opportunities. Also, I will gain both academic and industry experiences. I think that finally my experiences will be very well-rounded (OLED, silicone polymers, drug synthesis, on both academic and industry settings) that I will be able to find job easily in the future. Do you think my logic here is right???

The key cons is the salary. It is low compared with Western societies like USA, Canada, Germany etc. However, I will be earning 1.6-1.7 times the average salary in that Polish city, Krakow, whose cost of living is ~50% lower than Canada. My theory is that it is the ratio of your salary compared with the average salary in your working city that truly determines your living standard. Do you think I am right???

Finally, I have no intention to stay in Poland for long. It should be three years, then I will move back to Western countries. Do you think this will hurt my career??

Thanks


 

[Borek]

Living will be the easy part, but low salary means you won't be able to save for future (or: you will save much less than you could working somewhere else). Doesn't matter if you don't plan on saving.

Kraków is a nice city, but heavily polluted, especially in winter.

[wildfyr]

Are you Canadian?

I think this does sound like a good idea. Living in a very new place for a bit is almost always a positive experience. If the job, or city, or money saving situation is not good, I don't think any western employer would count it against you if you bailed after, say, a year. And gaining a broad chemistry application experience pretty much speaks for itself.

It won't torpedo your life if your savings level is low for a couple years, especially if you're parlaying the experience into a higher salary back West.

[Enthalpy]

Your PhD knowledge, OLED, will lose its value very quickly. Electronics, semiconductors... are like fashion: what was chic is obsolete in few years. CD-roms for instance took 20 years to develop by many actors, they brought money to few companies for 10 years, now only a few names still produce them for pennies. Someone knowing only to develop CD-roms wouldn't find a position today.

Your other knowledge, silicone polymers, is a more enduring product. Medicines too.

I'd find it meaningful to learn an other specialization, maybe an other language. Nobody knows whether we'll still consume silicones in 20 years.

Cost of life: you'll save less. Also keep in mind that some expenses vary much with the location, for instance housing and food, while others have nearly the same price everywhere, for instance computers or airline travel. So don't compare the salary only with the accommodation cost.