Congratulations !

Well, in my personal opinion there is a difference between spotting the problem and the update. It was obviously just "human failure". You did not improve the methodology or anything so I don't really see how that is important to the PI. Who tells his/her PI every mistake he/she makes in the lab? Of course he/she then completely went into defense mode. If a PI confronts you with the fact that a colleague spotted your sloppy work as the problem then this does not look good at all and as a post doc you completely rely, for example, on the recommendation of the PI in terms of job search. As long as he/she does not fuck up constantly everything in the lab I would not tell it to the PI. Yor intention might be okay but things are received differently from person to person. Not saying that it was wrong to tell him but in my eyes unnecessary and if I would be the post doc I would be definitely pissed. But maybe that is just me.

I am not sure if I got this right, but I would never put the blame on a lab colleague when talking to the PI if there is no need for it. The project was stuck, you got it back on track. There was no need for telling the PI, as he/she anyway doesn't care as long as its running again. Things like that make you look overambitious, uncooperative and it definitely creates a bad atmosphere in the lab. I hope I understood "updated" right and did not make a wrong assumption.

You can't really do something about that. Jut keep up with the good work :)

LMU munich is of course a big university, as Munich is a big city ;) If you want a small university, for whatever reason, you should rather look in smaller cities. The entrance exam will be different depending on the subject you want to study. For more detailed information : Just search the world wide web for the specific degree. I am pretty sure there are some threads were people from exactly that university can tell you how it is like. I think this is the wrong forum to ask this kind of specific questions

I would not see it so negative. You already expected this or something even worse (downgrade). They were positive about the thesis and 90% is there, now go get the last 10%.

I am not really familiar with this "viva". Never heard it before. So far, everywhere I was they just called it a Phd defense but there you don't have the possibility to resubmit or further work on it. You pass or you fail. Where is the difference between both?

I would also suggest to prepare a research plan including the interest/motivation for that topic and then to apply (CV, academic redord and so on) at potential supervisors in that field that work in a similar direction.

It's probably just to check if you are capable of understanding and thinking about scientific publications. Maybe the way they do it during literature seminars. I would not worry about that. Confidence is the key in interviews. If you are not nervous then this is often just a friendly conversation were both sides learn to know each other a bit better ;)
Atmosphere in the lab, equipment (in case of natural sciences) and possibilities for further education (Courses, seminars etc.) are things I would be interested in and that I would aks them. Good Luck !

Sure. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. Strongly depends on the field. If you work and continue applying, you have nothing to lose, but I would not completely focus on that, while financing myself, for example, with small jobs here and there. The day may come or never come, so good to have something up your sleeve in case it does not work out :) Just a well-intentioned advice

There is just a myriad of applicants, so things like that can happen. Main problem is probably that a lot of positions are advertised not because they search for a student but because it's demanded by law. For instance in Sweden, they just write an ad that perfectly matches the CV of the student they already have. They never intended to higher a person from another university.

What are you doing during this long period of waiting? If it is not field related, it will be really hard to find a position now. Your chances probably strongly diminish if you are out of the field for a while. Any Plan B?

I would strongly suggest to apply at all potential places available, to have as many backup plans as you can get. Time consuming and for sure annoying but you already lost 7 months and even though thy seem to like the proposal, it is not a confirmation for a PhD :)

We are talking about PhD programs here, not about advertised projects from a specific professor or group leader. They usually advice you to NOT contact any group leader before you get accepted. I applied to several such programs in the last weeks. It is always the same. If you are a short listed candidate, they invite you to an interview (sometimes 3-5 days, includes also discussions with group leaders) and if you are then accepted, you can talk with the researchers that are part of the program (Usually many groups in completely different fields) about a potential topic and of course if this would fit.

I am currently in the application process myself and in several of these programs they say that you should preferably be under the age of 30. It may not be important if you make an unsolicited application to a groupleader or professor directly but apparently in some programs this seems to be a disadvantage. It does not have to be that way. I think it"s difficult to make that kind of online diagnosis without having more information including the subject, the programs and the CV :)

As a german I can say that this is definitely strange ! Most master students have 0 publications. As most of the programs have an automized online application process, I don't think that the application itself is the problem.
Did it take you extraordinarily long to get your degree? Are you relatively old? Do you apply in a different field as you worked before? Do you study philosophy, history or some other subject where it is really hard to get funding? Things like that could be a reason.

Keep also in mind that these programms are popular and that there are tons of students and international students your competing with. Maybe it takes some time.

Can't believe that there are still people stupid enough to write something like this in an official response. Not really suprising that there are people who think like that, but they should at least be clever enough to not speak it out loud. It's like insulting your boss online.

@ awsoci

Of course a university is not the place to prepare you for industry. I meant that these things can often not be separated and one leads to another. For instance, tons of chemists and biologists end up in sales after their PhD. A position in which a bachelor degree would be more than sufficient. The reason why they nowadays demand a PhD is not that you need it but that there are so many PhDs. Why hire someone with a masters degree if you can have a PhD? As someone mentioned above, if you don't do the job then 20 other post docs waiting in line to take your place. This lowered the salaries over time and made the expertise cheap.
I'm not blaming universities for their mild interest in the industry sector because that should not be their concern. I'm blaming them for lying about perspectives and facilitating an oversupply of PhDs by creating more and more scholarships that are getting cheaper and cheaper. As a PhD student in the Netherlands I would start with 2100€ and would get 2700€ in my last year, while it is 1200€ in Germany for exactly the same job. Obviously some countries manage to restrict this a little bit by paying appropriate salaries. Of course PhD positions would get rarer, but that would probably not be the worst outcome.

I like your positive attitude but one always reads the same stuff "I learned so many things in my PhD, I will make my way". Everybody thinks like this, but obviously it is not true. These berklee students are not afraid that they won't work in academia but afraid that they just work nowhere (I mean of course field related. You can probably always work in retail or a diner ;) ).

But I probably agree with you that it gets worse in many job sectors at the moment :/