Outdoor jobs?

November 9, 2015 12:23 PM

Can you think of any jobs that sound like this? Spending time outdoors, collecting samples, analyzing them in the lab, figuring out how to improve our way of life on this planet. Maybe teaching kids from time to time.

Hi all,

I'm a confused recent college graduate (majors in French and German) trying to figure out what the next step will be.

During college, I tutored middle and high school kids in math/science and enjoyed the personal relationships I formed with them. I also co-taught ESL to adult immigrants in a classroom setting. After graduation, I wanted to try out teaching some more and spend time practicing French, so I taught ESL in France to middle and high schoolers for 7 months. I enjoyed being in France. The work was okay. Again, I enjoyed the relationships I was able to form with the students. Again, as with my previous ESL work, the lack of a common instructional language got to be frustrating.

In the end, I felt like I didn't end up with a good idea of what teaching is actually like. Most of my work was in the small-group setting. I didn't have to lesson plan for 6+ classes each day. I didn't have a slate of required content to teach. I wasn't responsible for the learning outcomes of 25+ students in each of those classes. I didn't have to grade anything.

After I got back from France, I WWOOFed for a month and really enjoyed my time on the farm. I've always been a big nature lover. I nearly double majored in French and biology, but switched my second major to German (a big regret). I think I was scared off by overzealous premed students and my own fear at the idea of spending endless days and nights in a lab.

Recently, I've been reading the book "I Could Do Anything (If Only I Knew What It was)" and was asked to describe The Job From Heaven. The above was what came out. Any idea about what to do next? I'd be willing to go back for more education if I knew there were a field I knew I wanted to be in.

Thanks for your help. Peace!

posted by Mdomdom to Work & Money (14 answers total)

My friend is a naturalist at the local arboretum and this is what she does. She doesn't do lab analysis but she's very much out in nature all day. She teaches a few kids camos a week, more so in the summer.
posted by Brittanie at 12:41 PM on November 9, 2015

This sounds like a lot of the geology jobs I hear about. Maybe look into hydrology/watershed management type jobs? There'd be work in the field taking measurements and water quality samples, which you would take back to the lab for analysis (possibly you would do the analysis, or possibly someone else might do it for you and you'd interpret the results). I don't think it would be uncommon for a job like this to also involve public outreach- giving talks to adults, traveling around to schools to show kids the importance of clean water, producing things like instructional videos and social media communications.
posted by Secretariat at 1:18 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

An acquaint intenance works at a states park teaching classes on nature stuff (such as birdwatching) and collectinng data on the local environment. The badx news: she has a PhD in biology where she interned in a similar environment, a lot of these jobs are. one year or less contract positions and so she's had to go where the jobs are (mostly in the upper Midwest, often in very rural locales, and ich has its pros anmd cons), and the pay isn't substantial. She loves it, but there are definite compromises.
posted by Aranquis at 1:21 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]

There are a lot of year round 'camps' or outdoor schools where kids come with their school for a few days or a week at a time to do outdoor ecology/environmental science lessons. Typically you live on site with the other staff and the pay is terrible and the days are long, but it's a lot of fun if you like teaching and being outdoors, in my experience you end up forming close friendships with great people, and you're usually living in a really beautiful place. A lot of these places have farm/garden education components, too.

Let me know if you're interested in more details, I've worked at a couple places like this and would be happy to give you more details or point you toward job postings.
posted by geegollygosh at 1:49 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I should add that there are lots of other environmental education type jobs (at parks, DEM, nature centers, etc) that are structured like a more normal job where you don't live there, but they are harder to get, at least with anything approaching full time hours. The situation I described above is much less competitive.
posted by geegollygosh at 1:54 PM on November 9, 2015

Yeah, you're probably going to have better success going at this from the teaching perspective rather than the science perspective. It's not at all uncommon for people with graduate degrees in biology to wind up in low-paying contract work as field/lab monkeys - a lot of them love to be outside and are willing to take the tradeoffs. And you say you don't want to spend long days and nights in the lab... There seems to be a fair amount of demand for outdoor education for kids, though. Gardening in the schools programs might be something to look into, too. There might be a language immersion school that would love to have you!
posted by momus_window at 2:51 PM on November 9, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'm a former German major and ESL teacher who gave it all up for grain farming and market gardening. My favorite thing about farming is walking around in the fields during the growing season, observing the crops and soil and taking samples. Now, farming itself isn't going to meet your needs (as I'm sure you know from WWOOFing), but in agriculture, there are several jobs that involve walking outside, sampling, and lab work. Agronomists, agrologists, and crop advisors would be some of those. With the rise in popularity of precision ag, and with more farmers doing in-crop tissue and soil testing, there's a lot more demand for people who can walk around in fields, take samples, and help the farmer interpret lab results.
Depending on your area, certification in one of these fields might be less than a year-long program. There are all kinds of crop and production advisors, including people who work as contractors for organic farms. You could even look into the ever-growing industry of organics certification.
Or, in a completely different vein, you could develop an ESL program for immigrants and their children that combines language learning and outdoor activities. Maybe there's a local nonprofit that might be interested?
posted by bluebelle at 5:14 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

It is hard to get the outdoor sciencey jobs--for one, you would probably have to go back to school and get a degree in the science-of-your-choice (I've heard Humboldt State is good for entryway into this, fwiw). Next, the fun jobs are always harder to land because they're more popular. Even if you DO get that kind of job, good chance that it will not pay well, and you might be stuck to moving to a far-from-the-city location, which is either good or bad depending on your tastes.

It's not impossible, though. During my undergrad, I once had a job similar to what you're describing (and my post-doc and post-grad colleagues had the same kind of work life). I worked for a medical entomologist at a university. I would go out into the forest and collect ticks with my coworkers, then we would take the ticks back to the lab to dissect them, run PCR and DNA analysis to test for presence of Lyme Disease. Unfortunately the prof who ran the lab retired, so that ended. But it was one of my favorite jobs for sure.

There are other jobs I can think of that fit this description--ecology field assistants, park rangers, some marine biology is like this (but you're diving instead of walking around in a forest/field), but it depends on what you're work is about. I had a neurology professor who once went deep-sea diving for squid and sea snails to do research on their central nervous systems, but you could just as easily end up in a neuro lab where you're just stuck in the lab.
posted by picklenickle at 6:32 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So many great ideas. Thank you all for your generosity! I'm continually pleased with MetaFilter the more I use it.
posted by Mdomdom at 7:41 PM on November 9, 2015

There are a lot of jobs that overlap with your description (though as noted many do not pay well, both because people are willing to do the work for peanuts and because as a society we do not value environmental and educational work). You will get better suggestions if you give a location, but assuming you are in the US, everyone needs people who can write grant proposals, give a presentation to community members, or organize a meeting with city engineers and USFWS biologists to look for solutions to a local water quality problem.

There are land trusts and other non-profit environmental groups everywhere, some with a lab focus, others with policy or outreach focuses. There are environmental education jobs based out of city agencies, community colleges, non profits, university extension offices, and other places, some more formal and others much less so. A lot of states have watershed groups that range from fully non-profit to being public agencies (for example, Oregon has watershed councils, most of which are staffed mostly by people with exactly your kind of background) and that do both outreach and very practical watershed improvement work.

The harder part is getting the jobs -- there is a lot of competition, the pay is sometimes low, and as others have noted it might mean accepting seasonal jobs or living in places that are not your first choice. The lack of a science degree isn't usually a major barrier, and I definitely wouldn't take on significant debt to get a second degree unless you have family money.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:26 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

If your goal is to work an outside science job, you really need some education. You can get a tech diploma in various outdoor sciences in two years, but it sounds like you may be able to get an undergrad degree in biology in about that time building on your previous degree. You may even be able to get into a grad program with the understanding that you have to complete a year of undergrad courses before you start. I would definitely look to further education because otherwise you are going to have a tougher time finding this kind of job (though there certainly are possibilities, e.g. in the non-profit sector, that you might be able to get into without a science degree). If you are a good student, you should be able to find this type of work during the summer and possibly during the school year too.

For the teachings kids part, there are definitely some jobs that can have some of that. That said, assuming you can arrange your schedule, that is also an area where volunteering would be a possibility. If you are willing to do just teaching, you can go farther without a degree.
posted by ssg at 8:32 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Other than the teaching, that sounds like an environmental technician/technologist position to me. I've done this kind of work as a side job and trained on the job- my education is in a different area. It was awesome, very fun and great to be outside all day (although people who do it as a permanent thing would probably have a more nuanced view).

I work in the industry (although in a different capacity) so feel free to message me if you want more details.
posted by bighappyhairydog at 8:45 PM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

One possible avenue to explore are fisheries observation programs, and related jobs. There are a lot of different organisations and subfields with varying requirements, so it's possible there might be a position available somewhere for someone with more limited technical experience. (Unlikely, but definitely possible). If you start with the organisations listed on the Wikipedia page you can click around and get an idea of the type of jobs available and if they sound appealing. E.g., here is a related entry level technician position that doesn't require a science degree, and would give useful experience for getting a related environmental or marine science role.

You could also contact the APO or the NOAA and literally just ask if they know any place for someone with your experience. (Hey, there are some West African observation programs being set up: maybe they need French speakers)!

Finally, some of the NOAA volunteering positions might be appealing, just as a foot in the door?
posted by rollick at 10:51 AM on November 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is pretty much what the staff at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont do.
posted by workerant at 2:22 PM on November 10, 2015