How To Become A Postdoc Fellow: What It Is and Career Path

What is a postdoc fellow and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Badri Roysam D.Sc.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a postdoc fellow. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.07 an hour? That's $58,376 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 20,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a postdoc fellow?

Badri Roysam D.Sc.

Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department University of Houston, University of Houston

The fundamentals of the discipline, and critical thinking skills will continue to be important.

ScorePostdoc FellowUS Average

Salary

4.6

Avg. Salary $58,376

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.14%

Asian 45.54%

Black or African American 4.42%

Hispanic or Latino 7.26%

Unknown 3.66%

White 38.97%

Gender

female 28.88%

male 71.12%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a postdoc fellow

Explore postdoc fellow education requirements

Most common postdoc fellow degrees

Doctorate

58.3 %

Bachelor's

26.0 %

Master's

14.1 %

Start to develop specific postdoc fellow skills

Skills	Percentages
Molecular Biology	14.84%
Data Analysis	10.15%
CRISPR	8.85%
Python	8.61%
Chemistry	7.89%

Complete relevant postdoc fellow training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New postdoc fellows learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a postdoc fellow based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real postdoc fellow resumes.

Research postdoc fellow duties and responsibilities

Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
Perform expression profiling on primary promyelocyte samples and identify candidate genes that may be involve in SCN pathogenesis and malignant transformation.
Investigate chromatid orientation through immunofluorescence.

Prepare your postdoc fellow resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your postdoc fellow resume.

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