When I decided to leave my industry job to earn a master's degree, I knew I would return. Consequently, I sniffed out opportunities, went to interviews and even got a few job offers before I handed over my lab keys. When I left industry for the second time to do a PhD, I again assumed I would be back. But this time I did not feel the same drive to have a safe industry offer.

While talking to a senior scientist at a conference (see Nature 427, 570; 2004), he pointed out that great research careers can spring from working on the leading edge of a new field. If given the option, he opined, a young researcher should run for risky, less-mature fields of research, and work to be part of a new wave.

Of course, that is easier to say when one holds a secure senior research position, but I think he has a point. Hunting down a postdoc position in a challenging and emerging field may be the least risky career move I make.

The job market will always fluctuate, and no one knows which research fields will boom in the future. There will be few times when I can follow my instinct and see what happens. Still, I won't make that jump without sending change-of-address notes to my industry contacts.