I’m back after 10 years looking for sage advice. My son has a great resume: college; Returned Peace Corps Volunteer; Wilderness EMT; 6 month geology internship; outdoor leadership; also almost done with graduate school in earth science. The problem is his split personality, he’s very smart so pursued earth science as a way to use his intellect and be outdoors, on the other hand he likes action and loves the immediate challenge of emergency rescue. In doing the geology internship he came to realize that most earth science is now done on computers, crunching data collected by sensors. He can’t stand the sedentary nature of the work and gained 30 pounds sitting at computers entering data and writing reports, about 25 % of time was outside placing the sensors. The other option of outdoor medicine and rescue work is very attractive to him but pays much less. He’ll finish his masters degree in April and still has no clue which way to go. I’m really quite ready for him to go fly away. Any suggestions on how to help him without, you know, overly helping him?
Can he talk to his advisor? There are other careers besides sitting in front of a computer.
Helicopter rescue pilot.
Is the lower pay of the more attractive job sufficient for him to live comfortably (by his standards, not necessarily yours) and save for whatever longer term goals he has?
I’m not sure geology is as limited as just doing computer work. But as in many jobs, field work is always only going to be part of it, analyzing the data and/or writing reports always will be required, unless he only wants a field position. The environmental science field could be a fit as remediation work uses geology skills and requires field work, but also data analysis and reports.
You can do some searching online for options and perhaps give him some ideas. Agree that talking to his adviser or the career center at his school is a great first step, but they may not have the experience to guide him on the path he is interested in. Bottom line is that he is going to have to figure it out. Perhaps he is willing to live on less money to be outdoors, at least for now.
Thanks for your thoughtful replies. He has done a lot of career investigation and narrowed the geological field down to what he thought would be the most interesting (exciting) and public-minded sector of the discipline, namely geohazard mitigation. He spent six months at a National Park in an internship working on mitigating landslides and other natural hazards. This was a close-up view of what a geologist working in wild lands for the public good is like. Geology has changed a lot in the last 50 years and has fully embraced computing and mapping programs, in fact, the fastest growing earth science job sector is geo-technical engineering. On top of technologically reduced field work, those choosing the National Park Service are employed by politicians whose decisions are not always scientifically based. The internship was great, because it really put him right into what he thought was his dream job. He’s so far into the masters program, that it would be silly not to finish it, but then he has decisions to make.
I think he’d love to be a helicopter rescue pilot but getting there is very expensive unless you join a branch of the military, and he’s already too old for the coast guard. Because he’s already a certified basic EMT he can get low level EMT jobs and work his way into being a paramedic, then work for outdoor education companies, which I’m thinking is the way to go.
I guess I’m really asking is if any of you have had slow bloomers, and how have you handled it? Do I say OK, you’ve got a lot of skills, go get a job and figure it out?
Surely there are dozens of students who have finished his Master’s program who have done something other than National Parks… .which is why I suggested sitting down with his adviser.
I think we’ve all had slow bloomers! And yes- my message was “we know you can figure it out, go talk to your adviser”. In one instance, kid had to reconnect with career services years after graduating… and discovered- shocking! that the parents were right- and that they were DELIGHTED to hear from him, and DELIGHTED to help an alum!!! (and they did).
I don’t think that his options are limited to low level EMT jobs or outdoor education. There are still human beings who work on oil rigs, who work in field camps in Antarctica (more critical than ever with global warming) or other remote places, who troubleshoot on infrastructure projects involving water/energy/ out in the field, and even folks who work on humanitarian rescue teams when there are tsunamis and other disasters. Seems like Doctors Without Borders or Americorps would need someone with his skills? An operations role with the World Bank on one of their many natural resources projects? A planning role with a field component for an Ag-tech company working to increase yields around the world? A Green Energy company setting up solar or wind devices in rural areas???
blossom, LOL, you sound just like me! I’ve made so many of those very suggestions, but they all require tweaking his skill set one way or another. I’m so tired of thinking about it! His current masters advisor is very industry oriented, the last thing he wants is oil, gas or mining, but maybe his undergrad school would be helpful. Would actual career counseling help, like with a psychologist, maybe that could be my last investment and graduation gift?
Agree with @blossom
See American Geophysical Union.
See LInkedIn “earth science”
Science Consultant at U Alaska on NASA contract UAF Geophysical Institute
LinkedIn estimates base salary $76k.
Get diving certification and get on a ship, do oceans work, etc.
Engineers Without Borders may use his geology skills. Also there are many volunteer rescue teams.
28 years old is not really a slow bloomer in our age. He’s still young and has plenty of time to try different things.
Learning that your skill set needs to be tweaked is likely the biggest payoff of a Master’s program. I’m in my 60’s and find that every month, my skills need tweaking. I work with colleagues younger than my own kids- if I weren’t constantly reinventing myself, I’d have been downsized years ago. Or my compensation would have stopped increasing, which fortunately, has not happened. Nobody graduates from a Master’s program ready to step into a job with no further tweaks.
He doesn’t seem to need a psychologist (unless there are other issues you haven’t described) but does need time with his professional mentors/professors/advisors who have seen this scenario a few hundred times already and can guide him.
Agree you need to step away. Nobody who is 28 years old is taking advice from a parent anyway! And I don’t buy the notion that his current professors are too industry oriented. What does that even mean? You can’t get a Master’s degree in “being a project manager for Exxon”. There is an intellectual underpinning to the work he’s been doing, and a subject matter expert (i.e. a professor) is likely the best person to describe all the ways the theory, content, analysis, etc that he’s been learning can be deployed in a different sector.
Where I am, you don’t “work your way into being a paramedic”. You take a paramedic course of study and the required certification courses.
@WayOutWestMom can EMTs “work their way” into being paramedics without additional training anywhere?
Does this young man want to work with people…or things. I’m unclear.
See Geotech Engineers, Inc. - In Beltsville MD.
Or contractors for Navy- global opportunities.
Or Pacific Geotechnical Engineers, Inc. in Hawaii.
Can’t hurt to get feedback and be offered a job. Could always turn down.
Get a desk job and volunteer at fire department or hospital.
Or travel on a project.
My brother is a ski patroler (Professional Patrol, as he will tell you). Because he gets paid more with more certifications, he’s become an EMT. He’d make more money working as an EMT,but that’s not what he likes. He likes skiing. In the summer he works construction and makes a lot more working construction, but he likes skiing.
He makes extra money working events (bike tours or races, half marathons, etc) and he does that when he needs to.
Your son could be a firefighter, in the summers for the big fires. There is a lot of geology that goes into those too.
Slow bloomer or a really interesting outstanding young man?? I go with the latter. And really, 28 is quite young still in today’s world, especially with the experience he has garnered. Good luck to him!!
@Thumper1, I didn’t phrase that very well. There are EMT jobs where the company you work for will pay for the course work to first become an advanced EMT and then do the same thing for the coursework to become a Paramedic. You work as you study and advance with the same company.
@blossom, you’ve made great observations and given good advice. I think all of it reinforces to me my own dilemma. I need to step away. He’s smart, he’ll figure it out. Thanks.
@twoinanddone, thanks for the example of your brother, it may well be exactly the way my kid goes.
The only thing I will say is a 28 year old should be out on his own, whether he is working at 3 low paying jobs or at a dream job. There is no perfect job, but there is paying job. I had soul sucking high paying jobs when I needed to pay for my kids’ tuitions, and I was able to pivot (tweaked) my skills to do something I like now. Your son needs to figure out what’s going to make him happy, but it shouldn’t be on your dime. I would tell him “Go out there to be all you can be and be gone.”
Happy new year!
@oldfort, you know, I think that was exactly the advice I was looking for!
Happy New Year!