New year, new journey -- How do you decide your career choices? Let's go to Europe :D

I planned to write something since Thanksgiving but I was too lazy. Then a lot of things happened in December. I was dealing with job hunting and interviews. I got a few offers in the end, but making the decision was not easy. Then Christmas and new year came. I got a chance to enjoy the holidays by traveling with my friends, and to mull over about my career choice. The final decision was made on the new year eve (a deadline of one of the offers). I now know where I will be going. The moving will start soon. Let's hope it is going to be as exciting as I imagined. Another journey of my life has just begun.

I will write things in order as a memoir to remind myself about it.

I defended my dissertation on Friday 10/30/2015. During the time, I had applied to a few places both domestically and internationally. Most of them were postdoc positions. I was not sure if in the end I want to stay in academia or try going to industry, but I believed that doing a few years of postdoc will be good for me. Since I just came out as a freshly grad PhD, doing a postdoc is a great chance to hone my skills, to learn new interesting science, and to work as an actual scientist. These will teach me to become a better scientist, to take on, to plan, and to execute challenging projects. The 'projects' are important. Working on a project that you feel excited about and feel that it can make your career is a crucial factor. Other important factors are the location, mentor, opportunity to collaborate and to make connections. These things have to be taken into account. Moreover if you have a family, then you have more things to think about. For better or worse, I do not have to concern about that.

Even after I had my mind to focus on postdoc positions, they were not easy to find. I contacted about ten (maybe more) research groups that I was interested. Most of them did not have funding for a postdoc at the moment. Fortunately, I got to interview with a few groups, got good responses, and waited for the results. Then they came, I got some offers. As usual they have different pros and cons. It was not easy to make a decision. After spending time on the internet reading about these places, looking into research directions, and several other aspects. I needed some time to let my thoughts settle. I had to do it quick because one of the offers had its deadline closing in.

Then it's time for me to go on a trip with my friends. We made a road trip from Florida to Michigan (then to Chicago, IL where we flew back). The offers I was considering were from cold places. The trip was perfect for me to feel the weather after spending my whole life in warm climate (Thailand and Florida). It was not too bad. I learned enjoyable activities in cold weather. Some of them are snowboarding and watching snow fall. During this time, I made my decision to join a group at Chalmers in Sweden. Moving is going to be a hassle. It is not easy to leave from a place where you already established your life to a totally new environment. It took me quite a while to feel like I live comfortably in the US after I had moved here. Now I will have to repeat the same process. However, the project is very exciting to me. The project, the research team, and the place are all great. I decided that it is worth the hassle and it is going to be very fun. Moreover I believe that I have grown quite a bit in the past years, not just as a scientist but as a person. I have learned to manage and to take care of myself, physically, mentally, financially, and socially. Moving to a new place is a good opportunity to test that. If you have a chance, I think you should try it too. You will learn more about yourself than you have thought.

So this year is going to be another exciting year. I will start my new career as a scientist in a new country, a new continent even. Let's hope for the best and make it a great experience. Sweden, here I come! (just wait a bit, I still have to prepare my documents)

A exciting journey is about to begin -- image edited from Google Maps