postdoc

What it means

1. informalA postdoctoral academic research position.
2. informalSomeone in such a position.

   Many of the postdocs are almost 40 before they start their first permanent positions and begin saving for retirement.

   2001 August 21, Jennifer 8. Lee, “Postdoc Trail: Long and Filled With Pitfalls”, in The New York Times

   2 more examples

   "We have to sing for our supper, and that's something the young people are coming to terms with," said Dr. Robin Erbacher, 33, a postdoc at Fermilab.

   2001 July 24, James Glanz, “To Be Young and in Search of the Higgs Boson”, in The New York Times

   Two successful applications of the CRISPR-Cas9 system in an SCN- and cell-type-specific fashion [5] will all but certainly add to the common refrain of 'just CRISPR it' (grad students and postdocs, insert groan here).

   2017 May 28, Marc D. Ruben, John B. Hogenesch, “Circadian Rhythms: Move over neurons—astrocytes mediate SCN clock function”, in Current Biology, volume 27, number 9

In a sentence

"We have to sing for our supper, and that's something the young people are coming to terms with," said Dr. Robin Erbacher, 33, a postdoc at Fermilab.

2001 July 24, James Glanz, “To Be Young and in Search of the Higgs Boson”, in The New York Times

Where it comes from

Clipping of postdoctoral.