Open-source toolkit for the postdoc deciding whether to jump

The postdoc-to-industry decision is harder than it looks from the outside because it is not actually one decision. It is a cluster of smaller decisions that feed into each other: What kind of work do I want to do? What can I get paid for? What visa situation do I have? What does my PI think — and how much does that matter?

The exploration phase — where you gather enough information to make a real decision — is underinvested in. Most postdocs either research aggressively and burn out before acting, or wait until burnout forces the decision for them. The tools in this collection are aimed at making the exploration phase structured enough to produce an actual decision.

Resume infrastructure (start here)

Reactive Resume — Before you can talk to anyone in industry, you need a resume that is not a CV. This is a bigger translation job than most postdocs expect. Reactive Resume lets you maintain multiple versions cleanly: one for data science roles, one for research scientist roles, one for biotech R&D. The self-hosted version keeps your data off third-party servers.

Scheduling and networking

Cal.com — A booking link is a small signal that you take your time seriously. When you start informational interviews — and you should start them before you are sure you want to leave — having a link to share instead of emailing back and forth over three days matters. Cal.com’s free tier is sufficient. Set up 30-minute “informational conversation” and 45-minute “in-depth conversation” meeting types.

Local AI for private exploration

Open WebUI + Ollama — This is for the parts of the research you do not want to do in a cloud LLM. Drafting emails to connections at companies where your PI has relationships. Exploring what a specific team’s work actually involves when the job description is too vague. Generating salary range estimates for specific roles and locations. Running these queries locally means they are not in anyone’s training data and not associated with your account.

The decision framework

The practical framework that works for most postdocs:

1. Define your BATNA (best alternative to staying): What is the realistic best industry outcome you could achieve in the next six months? Be specific about role, company type, and compensation.

2. Define your staying cost: What would you have to believe about the academic job market in your field to make staying rational? Check faculty job postings in your area. Look at the placement record of your lab’s alumni. Update your beliefs accordingly.

3. Run the informational interview grid: Talk to 5 people who left academia from a position similar to yours, at least 3 who stayed. Ask the same questions to both groups. The variance in outcomes is more informative than any individual story.

4. Set a decision deadline: Open-ended exploration is not exploration, it is avoidance. Set a date three months out. By that date, you either have an offer in hand, have a concrete pipeline with at least two active processes, or you are staying for another year by deliberate choice.

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This collection will be updated as we test more tools relevant to the postdoc decision. If you’ve used a tool that helped you navigate this decision, write to us.