FUTURE: CAREER, LIFE & EVERYTHING
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2005 and reprinted in 2008, 2011, and 2018.
David M. Abbott, Jr., CPG-04570 D
www.aipg.org
ouglas Adams, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, asserts that the answer to the ultimate ques- tion about life, the universe, and everything is 42. He also notes that if you do not understand the ques- tion, you will not understand the answer. This article reverses that Geology 101 maxim, “the present is the key to the past,” by believing
that the past—the experiences of those who have been out of school for a couple of decades or more—has something to tell you about your futures.
You have begun your geoscience career by majoring in the subject. Perhaps you have already acquired experience in the field through summer and/or part-time jobs. Regardless of the specialty you are pursuing, you can expect that the cyclic nature of the business will result in your having several employers. If the experiences of those who went before you pro- vide any guidance, it indicates that in order to stay employed, you must be flexible enough to switch specialties, perhaps more than once. For example, moving from the petroleum business to hydrology or environmental geology can build on the real- ization that fluids moving through rocks behave in similar ways. The analysis of fractured crystalline rock aquifers has similarities to the movement of mineralizing solutions through similar rocks. Coal is not only a fuel itself; it contains another fuel, methane. The point being that basic geologic skills are needed regardless of your current or future specialty. Some of you may even have done some specialty switching in school because of job opportunities or research support.
Reflections on a Geologic Career, which is available for free at the AIPG website,
www.aipg.org under “AIPG Publications,” contains a variety of papers addressing the issue of finding and retaining professional positions. Download a copy and read it for a wealth of practical advice. The authors provide answers to questions they wished they had known when they were your age. Key points are expecting that change will occur,
Students: Gazing Darkly Into the Future — Career, Life, and Everything
being flexible, and networking through active participation in professional societies. An advantage AIPG offers as a profes- sional society is that its members are from all specialties and employers, so you become part of a broader network when it comes time to switch specialty.
But your professional career is only a part of your life—at least I hope so. Joining with a spouse is a common big step in life. Some of you have already taken this step or have specific plans for doing so. For others of you, this is still something in your future, but probably enough of your friends have coupled up so that marriage is less of a theoretical concept than it was in high school.
Jan.Feb.Mar 2021 • TPG 25
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