laven

Thanks a lot for your posts! so you always get a job as a consultant, good news, thanks for that. A bit different to what I heard, much more optimistic!

lauralollipop

VS - oh how funny is that? DH has been racking his brains thinking of all the people he went to uni with for his boss, yep they are crying out for staff and doesn't matter what age either, I just wish I had done that degree, could have had a nice little job working for my hubby right now

Laven, good on ya, there are lots of females in the geo business too, I was amazed at the amount of chicks in a geo, and they all seem to do alright too, I think its a great choice of career and my hubby does actually love his work, which is some thing I have never experienced

verystormy

Certainly dont be put off because you are a girl. There are loads of girls in the industry. Also, dont just think of the obvious careers. You would be surprised at the roles out there for geologists. I have a friend who works for tsunami warning, another in volcanology research, another who works with industrial minerals, one for NASA and even one who works for the Nuclear Weapons Authority in the UK. Lots work in contaminated land and brownfield development. Even in things like oil there are loads of differing roles from working on survey ships, work on oil rigs to sitting in an office interprating down hole logs. Here on a mine we have about 10 completly differing roles for geo's

laven

its amazing how just talkign to people in the industry is much more helpful than loads of career advise brochures, sites, etc. I should send you a bottle of champaign for such a detailed response , verystormy(I can:-))

One more question - do you people think Australian degree will be as good as American or British one to prospective international employers (in case things will go a bit downhill in WA) ?

lauralollipop

most of the people in DH company have aussie degrees, lots with uk and USA degrees too but think thats more because they cant get anyone from Aus to fill the posts so they recruit from overseas.

if you need any other info my hubby will be more than happy to answer any of your questions, he also read this thread and said that (as you mentioned) doing further study is always great career move and will always open more doors - eg engineering hydrology etc...

I am also sure that Very Stormy will be more than willing to help too, they are both in very different fields so you will get a lot of good info from them.

good luck with your studies

laven

Thanks Laura!! I so much appreciate. Again I was all confused and doubtful.. Im very glad I started this topic.

lesleys

The nationality of the degree doesn't matter if you are qualified. I used to work for Schlumberger and we we literally searched the world for suitable graduates. We had Chinese, Russian, Brazilian, Italian, Malaysian, Egyptian, Dutch, German, Irish, male and female in almost equal numbers. I was limited by being female at first - no women allowed on the boats in the 1970s, but that completely changed not long afterwards. Nowadays working as a seismologist on a boat is an office job.

I took early retirement at 50 because I could afford to, not because I had to. I took on lots of different roles within the industry - data processing, software design, technical support, graduate recruitment and training - in fact anything except non-technical management. You just can't know what will come up in the future, or what your likes and dislikes are likely to be.

DeepSix

So its looking like Ozzie has picked itself up again.. might have to polish my cv a bit more.
I'm over in NZ as an Environmental Consultant.. and it was quiet for a bit.. although enough work about not to get worried.. just take a breather.

Looks like its going to get bit more busy over here in the new year.. but i might see over the ditch.. change as good as a rest so they say.. and i have been thnking about if for a bit..

So enviro work.. water based.. hydrogeology/EIA etc.. any insiight?

good encouraging post..! keep it up

lauralollipop

Deepsix, you looking for a job in aus? If you are i'll let my hubby know... I'll get my hubby to post on here later on when he gets in, he has gone for a swim

DeepSix

always considering new opportunities!!

DeepSix

oh and lauralollipop ..

it looks as if we are from the same region of the world, back in blighty, except i'm a bit futher north.. with a football team that specialises in replacing their manager every weekend!

lauralollipop

Hi DeepSix, this is Mr lauralollipop,

Things are insane over here, heaps of jobs going in environmental consulting just check on Seek - not just in WA but all over Aus. We mostly do site investigation, soil and groundwater remediation, absestos, hydrogeology and acid sulphate soils work on sites in Perth, regional areas and mine sites out in the sticks.

For the benefit of Laven, I did a geology degree in the UK and went on to work for a couple of years as an engineering geologist for a consulting firm doing site investigations mainly focusing on the design of building foundations with a bit of contaminated land remediation thrown in for good measure!

When we moved to Aus 6 years ago, i left the engineering behind and moved fully into contaminated land/enviro consulting which still incorporates a lot of geological first principles - In my opinion, geologists make the best enviro consultants as they have the fundamental understanding of soil conditions and how contaminants move through soils/rock - but any earth science degree will leave you suitably qualified to work in enviro consulting.

Apart from boring the sh*t out of everyone with my life story, the point of my post is to re-affirm that a geology degree can open up many career doors, and there certainly isn't any chance of environmental work drying up any time soon, and it obviously isn't anywhere near as sensitive to commodity prices as exploration (which is something i've always fancied trying, but i've probably left it too late now as i would have to start at the bottom...)

lauralollipop

Newcastle?

DeepSix

yup.. we Geordies are everywhere..!

Mr lauralollipop...

NZ seems to be the same re environmental work.. in the nearly 9 yrs i have been over here.. there hasnt been a real down turn.. unless you are heavily involved in housing.

And i went to uni with an enviro scientist degree and then specialised in environmental geochemistry.. but since i have been here i have turned into a hydrogeologist.. so its funny how things come about!

verystormy

The nationality of the degree certainly doesnt matter. On site here we have a mix of nationalities - Oz, Kiwi, Brits and one guy from Belgium and one Canadian. What is more important is that the uni you chose has a good reputation.

The roles on a mine site for geologists include:
Open pit production - fast paced
Underground Production - fast paced and needs good 3D visualisation
Exploration - in pit, regional and underground - more hard science than other roles
Geotechincal underground - If you like structural geology
Geotech pit - If you like structural geology
GIS specialists - Making maps and sections
Resource geologists - Measuring the metal in the ground by maths and stats
Hydrogeologists - Finding and managing water
Enviros - Preventing damage to the environment and monitoring compliance
Database geologist - maintaing complex records
Many of these roles can then be divided up again into different specialisms such as i am Exploration but a Project Geologist. The interesting thing as well is that many people who study geology dont ever work in it. A lot of employers for other graduate training programs such as for buisness like geology grads because of the way in which we are taught to have to think outside the box and challenge ideas.

Of the people i went to Uni with, less than half went to work as geologists. Two joined the military as officers, one went into the police graduate program, two into teaching, a few into academia and several into general graduate training courses.