No Man's Land

People get confused by postdoctoral research fellowships.... and nobody gets more confused about them than postdocs.
Postdocs are, by all accounts, the slavish workhorses of the academic research industry. As a postdoc, you:
a) get paid lower than staff;
b) don't get perks enjoyed by staff, like parking or  8-hour workdays or accessible child care or free food on Employee Appreciation Day (gimme at least a cupcake, dammit!)
c) don't get no respec' from nobody
d) don't get any recognition from lay public when you tell them what you are (huh? postdoc? you mean you're not a real doctor?)
e) are nowhere close to being faculty, so let's not even talk about how you don't get faculty perks
f) aren't permanent, so don't count in university- or institute- census counts
g) are expected to move on, but are given no training in how to do so
h) are expected to bring in grant money, but see (b)

The Higher-Ups will, no doubt, benevolently smile and say that all this provides incentive for postdocs hurry the heck up with their training and move on... okay then Higher-Ups: why do residents get paid more than we do? How come their training has clear goals and expectations and milestones?
Sure, they save a few lives here and now, but I will save millions of lives in 20 years. Gimme that money!

So postdocs, I realize I'm hardly one to dispense with advice, being very much in the same boat as the rest of you, but here's my two cents: You don't owe anybody anything. Stay in the job as long as you feel you are getting value out of it, leave as soon as you can. You may ask, "But Varsha! Leave where? And how? We are over-educated, overly book-smart, but we have no clue how to find a job in real life! And all our contacts are postdocs too!"

To which I shall reply, "Use thy postdoc for getting all this stuff! Create an alter ego and build skills that are useful for getting real jobs, not temporary scientist positions. You're getting paid peanuts, and you might as well use the time and money for advancing your goals, without alienating your boss". Don't get me wrong, some bosses are amazingly great (like mine, for example). But can he provide you a job for the next 10 or 15 years? Most likely not.

So, let me take my own advice and get cracking....