Outdoors STEM careers

Depending on the direction you take it, Forestry can be a pretty technical career

>>963039
If you've already got all the math, physics and computer stuff down, you could easily switch to another major with more /out/ possibilities. What's an extra 28-40 semester hours when you've got the rest of your life ahead of you?

>>963039
Owning a land surveying company could definitely put you in the /out/ and the dough.

>>963042
I've been considering it, please elaborate

>>963042
Forestry? I'll become a drone pilot for automatic firewatch

>>963045
yes this is true but what career fammo

>>963047
But isn't surveying still a skilled trade? I've met some people in a surveying program at a college near mine, and they all seemed kinda... slow...

>>963051
I'm graduating with a forestry degree, specifically forest management for multiple uses (writing management plans to promote timber or wildlife/hunting or recreation etc). It's also pretty tied to watershed management and water quality in my area (ag state).

There are degrees specifically in forest engineering as well which I think deal with logging roads, drainage, and other things, but I don't really know for sure.

>>963039
Structural Geology is what you want to do.

Doesn't really matter much, op. All depends on how you funnel your cash flow.

A good engineering job can have you set in terms of income. And then from there you are free to pursue your interests.

On top of that mech E has a lot of application and will really help you understand a lot of natural phenomenon and how to effectively work around it. For instance I know someone with a degree in mech E and environmental engineering and he does field research on an island in Hawaii now.

Planning for your future involves acquiring the skills you want. And from there it's simply a matter of doing whatever it is you want to do with those skills.

You can't daydream through life.

>>963091
Field Research in Hawaii? shit dude, that's awesome!

Honestly, I'm not really concerned about running out of money so much as I am out of time, as it is I can only really do weekend trips and even then they're few and far between at that...

Environmental engineering would be awesome to get into.

>>963091
You can't daydream through life.

Writer here. I can.

Climbing gear companies hire mech e's. Strength/weight has to be pretty well optimized. There's also stuff like wildlife biologist.

>>963115
Gear designer... that would be pretty cool, assuming they'd let me field test stuff on company time.

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>>963118
Modern gear is a marvel of engineering. Here's a Direkt 2 being wind tunnel tested.

>>963039
There's a few statistics jobs that deal with going /out/ if you don't mind working for the government.

us army corps of engineers

>>963039
Agricultural Engineering might work depending on the major area of study you're in.

>>963052
This comment right here assures me you aren't suited for /out/ work. If you hate dealing with people then natural resources is the last thing for you.

I'm a construction engineer for a heavy civil contractor. I'm outside anywhere from 1 to 6 hours a day depending on what's going on. I manage and track field operations. the hours are always long but the pay is very good. I make 81k if you include my vehicle allowance, at age 26.

>>963165
That's fair, but more what I was saying was that surveying wasn't what I had in mind when I said "technical career"

>>963129
kek

>>963169
civil is awesome, does your firm work with any Mech E's?

>>963122
How does one /into/ gear design

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>>963175
Common misconception. You don't really need a civil background to get a position in civil construction. I've worked with mechE guys and even math majors. The vertical/building side of the industry will actually look for people with mechE backgrounds to manage the more technical parts, plumbing, hvac, electrics, etc. Vertical isn't nearly as /out/ though

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>>963039
Botany bitch. Science the shit outta shit.

>>963298
Can you go to school for Botany though? and how would you turn it into a career?

I'm super interested in botany and I'm an avid gardener but I haven't seen any jobs for it, excluding "research assistant"

>>963464
I know a couple of Ph.D students at my university who are studying botany. You can work do a lot of work with forests, parks, landscaping, etc. Fancy gold course wants to put in a bunch of fancy "exotic plants" who do they contact when they want to know what kind of exotic plants can survive in their climate? How will they impact the local ecosystem? Can/will they be invasive?

If you have an invasive species of plant, how can it be eliminated? How does it spread? What conditions enable it to spread? How rapidly is it affecting the local ecosystem?

You want to restore an endangered plant. How should it be planted? What measures should be taken to help it thrive? What's the best climate for it? What protective measures should be taken?


These are all questions that private and government organizations need addressed, and as a botanist you could be their go-to consultant.

Currently in school for wood science, all the fun of a fishery and wildlifer but making 70k a year starting out

Working on MS in geology (geophysics) here.

There is plenty of opportunity to get /out/ for field work.

With that said, calling geology 'STEM' seems pretty generous to me. Ok, sure, there are a few technical concepts, but most people with a BS in geology don't do much with numbers. It's more about colors and textures and a billion names of rocks and minerals.

If you do (geo)physics like me, you can do some more technical stuff, but with less rock-hugging comes less time outside.

Plenty of jobs in the extraction industries and the government related to seismology, geodesy, geomagnetism and other similar areas. Oceanic and atmospheric sciences can get you into comparable stuff with water/air instead of the solid earth.

I have a doctoral degree in Chemistry, I travel full time in my class B RV while tutoring online, I don't have a lot of expenses but I could easily get at least 2 grand a month. Not bad if you ask me!

>>965803
Hey geobro I'm about to finish a phd in inorg chem / electrochem. Do you know of any jobs in geology I'd be qualified for?
A while back I heard that there were jobs for chemists related to caves, but don't really know anything beyond that...

Wait... Are caves really /out/?

My Dad's an engineer. Got a job with the Department of Health and Environmental Control, spent most of his time kayaking around rivers and swamps to track down water pollution sources. Lots of STEM careers are mainly outside.

I'm doing environmental engineering right now, switched out if mech for the exact reasons you stated.

Starting a co-op job this summer traveling throughout ontario doing sampling in the great Lakes

a lot of mech guys go into mining, which can be pretty /out/. NICE thing about mech is your pretty much qualified to work in any eng field, except maybe chemical.