Geo Mika is hosting Accretionary Wedge 61: here's the link: http://www.geomika.com/blog/2013/10/01/61-october-2013-what-do-you-do/.
Here is the call to post:
So, for the October 2013 Accretionary Wedge, tell us: What do you do?
What coursework is (or would be) most helpful? How often are you in the
field? What does your job look like? How did it or will it change over
time (junior to senior positions)? Drop me a link here, or tweet me at @mikamckinnon.
At
first I wasn't going to do this AW because right now I'm just a stay at
home mom that is retired. If that doesn't make sense to you its
because I had a child at the age of 43 (who is now a teenager) and back
in 2005 when my husband bought out another business it came with a very
efficient office manager and I no longer had to do his books for him.
It just made more sense to stay home and take care of my child than to
try to find another job. We joked about me being retired since some of
my high school friends were starting to retire anyway at that time.
Also shortly after I was no longer working for my husbands business
and deciding to go back to work in geology two events happened in my
life that made me realize I was no longer cut out to be a geologist,
especially one working in the field which is what I loved to do. They
also made me think about life and what was really important to me.
The first was I got bit by a fire ant and had an anaphylactic reaction
to it. It turns out I'm highly allergic to all ants, not just fire
ants. Its kinda hard being outside all the time and not be around ants
unless I'm in some remote cold location which just wasn't going to
happen living in Louisiana. That was something that I could deal with as
long as I continued to get shots and also always carried epi-pens with
me. But the other thing stopped me and made me rethink everything and
realized I just wasn't suppose to be a working geologist again.
The second thing that happened was I ended up with skin cancer on my
face and I'm suppose to avoid direct sunlight on my face as much as
possible. As it happened when I used to go out into the field I would
not wear sunscreen or very little (mostly because that was before they
were aware of how important it was to wear). Its hard working and
keeping your face and skin covered in the hot LA sun. Don't make the
mistake I did of never wearing sunscreen- if you do work in the field
make sure you put plenty sunscreen on.
But being a
stay at home mom has its advantages because now I get to help drive to
different places where my husband has meetings to attend. While he is
doing his business thing I get to play tourist and see and do a lot of
different interesting things like going to the petrified forest in MS here , or rockhounding in North Carolina here, or seeing the Austin chalk here , or seeing the boulders weathering in AZ here
and there are other places I've been too like Spain and the Alps that
were just as much fun and only came about because of business reasons.
(Even though I have had these setbacks to keep me from working in
geology all the time, you can't keep me away from it totally. I rather
be dead than not be able to explore and see different interesting
geological features - I just go & see & do and hope nothing bad
happens plus I now always carry epi-pens & a cellphone with me where
ever I go..)
I did work in the geology field for
awhile in the oil and gas industry as a developmental geologist. Then
when the downturn came in late 80's/ early 90's I did go into
bookkeeping. At the time bookkeeping was good for me since I had small
children and could work from my home and my husband started his own
business and this kept us from having to hire someone. I ended up doing
that for 20 + years.
When I was first in the oil and gas
industry I was not married or had children. I never realized how much
time I would be spending away from my place. I enjoyed the work and
didn't mind but knew having a family would be difficult. Back in 1986
because it was difficult to get a job in geology at that time, I decide
it was time to start a family if I was ever going to have one. I've
never regretted making that choice but it did keep me away from geology
for a long time.
The few women I knew in the industry at that
time all had to make that decision- whether it was more important to
have a family and work elsewhere or to stay in the field and not have
children. Working as an oil & gas geologist and having kids just
did not work out because we would spend so much time out on the rigs -
In the 1980's I did not know of a single woman that was able to do
both. Sooner or later something had to give and usually it was their
job. Most of the one's I knew that had kids ended up becoming school
teachers. Please keep in mind that when I went into geology it was
before fax machines, cellphone, PC and laptop computers were invented.
You had to go out to the rig and stay there until the job was done. One
time I was on a rig for a month and a half. Times have changed with
those inventions and so now I really can't say anything about how things
are in the industry and being a working mother.
(The men I
knew never had a problem with having children and working in the field.
They would let their wives handle the kids while they were gone. Most
of the wives did not work or had jobs that were not petroleum related
like teaching or office managers. I knew of a couple of couples that
were both geologist but they never had children due to health issues of
one of the spouses.)
Courses I took that helped
me a lot - hydrology and a Oil & Gas exploration course or mineral
exploration. I think everyone should have had something along those
lines if you don't plan to work in the academic world.
Courses I did not take and wished I had: was anything business
related. When you get out into the workforce whether its being a
professor or in the industry its all business related and budget
driven. Once I started to work my company paid me to take those
business courses because they were so important. Since I had some under
my belt it made it easy to go into bookkeeping/accounting later on.
It's always good to have a plan B that you can fall back upon if things
don't work out the way you envision them to.
I would also say
if you are a female - consider taking some education courses if you want
to have a family too just in case working in the field doesn't work for
you. Education courses also would help if you plan on going into
academia and getting your PhD. Nothings worse than having a boring
teacher and those courses can help you with your teaching aspect of it.
I know I've been out of the field for a long time and
things probably have changed but I can't imagine things changing so
much that having business courses won't be of a benefit to you.
The
other thing is - I feel like I can never learn enough about geology and
have enjoyed studying geologic things my whole life- I'm constantly
getting new books and field guides. You can never know it all and its
something you can spend your whole life perusing and enjoying. The
one thing that has changed so much since when I got into it-- was plate
tectonics. When I got into the geology field plate tectonics was not in
the text books and they have all been revised to incorporate this
idea. I wonder what other fascinating discovery is out there that will
revise later books. I love coming across something that gives me a
whole new perspective on something I had previously studied, like Walter
Alverez and his theory of how the dinosaurs died off due to a meteorite
crashing into the area that is now Mexico. I can't wait to see what
other discoveries that are going to come about and change my thinking
about certain things.
This is not related to the post.
I would like to host the Accretionary Wedge some time. If I got
December - I would like to do Geo-Ornaments. Make and ornament from a
favorite mineral or rock and then post a photo of it. If it was for some
other time another Accretionary Wedge I would like to host is - Keep
Sake Geology - think of a favorite place that has interesting geology
and make a keepsake photo of it - that is representative of the area and
captures what makes it so interesting geologically wise.
I've tried submitting these but have never heard back or been scheduled
in. I would greatly appreciate any help with this and being able to
host again.
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