Alright people, I will be graduating soon in Materials (specializing in photonic crystals) and am trying to decide if I should dive head first into industry, or do a post-doc.
Here are my circumstances:
I am married with 2 children, my wife stays home to take care of the kids, and we are very sick of living off a grad student stipend.
I would prefer to work a job that is <50 hours a week so that I have time for family.
The most ideal job I can imagine would be teaching chemistry exclusively, and would make ~100k/year.
Since my ideal job doesn't exist, I am looking at other options including teaching at a junior college and doing something else on the side.
I also would like to work in an area that makes the world a better place, so some areas of industry are appealing.
If I decide to try for a straight-up teaching job (i.e. no research), is a post-doc overkill? Would a post-doc hurt me?
Thanks for any advice you all might have.
Seeing as this is how I got started, I'll make a plug for doing a post-doc at one of the national laboratories. They're often overlooked for career possibilities, and (at least where I currently work), post-doc salaries are very competitive for entry-level PhD positions (again, where I work, this equates to $80k to $90k per year). Positions at the national labs can be a good mix of basic versus applied research, and often on topics in the greater national interest.