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I have to decide about a postdoc position for which the contract would be only one year long. The position is in computer science and as a collaboration with an industrial sector. In fact, I want to join the industry after finishing my postdoc period, and I believe that collaboration can be add a bit of value to my CV.

My concern is that I'm not sure if one year is enough for doing high-quality research and publishing in top venues (which is important in CS).

Also, I have imagined that I have to spend the last 3-4 months of my contract on the job hunt to join a company. So, it remains me only 8-9 months to invest on research.

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    If you were aiming for the academic job market, the situation would be even worse. You start the postdoc in August, prepare and submit your application materials by November, write and practice your talk in December, and (if you're lucky) interview sporadically from January through May. – JeffE Sep 3 at 18:12
  • Is it really only one year, or one year renewable? At my lab, the official policy on post-docs is they are one year contracts, renewable up to a total of 6 years. I don't recall ever actually having to act to renew a contract - it automatically rolled over. Heading past 3 years was a discussion between the post doc and me about their plans to get a real job (and the answer usually involved the academic hiring calendar not being well aligned to their original start date at the labs). – Jon Custer Sep 3 at 18:21
  • Why do you think publishing in top venues is important to your career in industry? If you want to work in industry, why are you even considering a postdoc? – Anonymous Physicist Sep 3 at 18:55
  • @AnonymousPhysicist - National labs have postdocs (but is that industry?). At least in the old days, Bell Labs and IBM Research hired postdocs, and often converted them to staff (as do national labs even now). – Jon Custer Sep 3 at 19:02
  • @JonCuster No it is not industry or academia. – Anonymous Physicist Sep 3 at 19:03
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If you want to join the industry, the shorter you spend on your postdoc the better. If you are familiar with the project, then 8-9 months might be enough to have something out of your post doc experience. Also, one year postdoc is a great chance to focus on the skills that are necessary for you to get into your industry job category.

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