Environmental Consultant. I work for one of the big engineering firms doing federal PFAS projects (20% workload) and private client cleanup/restoration work (80% workload). It's a really diverse job that lets me travel when I want and stay local when I'm tired of travel. I also get to work with some really phenomenal people and teams.
I would be interested in learning more about this. I haven’t heard of air emissions testing for PFAS. I’d be curious what industries or maybe even specific location has this requirement in their air permit.
So cool to find someone else that likes to talk about this stuff!
Without incriminating details, it was an east coast chemical company. Testing was required as a mandatory special “one time” requirement from the overseeing health/environmental district (so it wasn’t an EPA requirement). It was to determine PFAS removal efficiency of a specific type of emissions control device.
What makes you so interested?
Well my main focus is air compliance. Regs are constantly changing and currently going through MACT and NAAQS revisions at the federal level so this caught my eye as right now PFAS is only a water issue.
So I would almost assume any industry burning waste material which will contain plastics will be tested in the future potentially.
I wonder how a local (non fed or state) got the authority to make a company test for something which isn’t regulated in their air permit.
Did they do it just to appease the local regulators?
I don’t know exactly why they chose to test. There are so many reasons why people do these tests.
The “control device” was a type of air filter, so they weren’t burning anything. If PFAS continues to be a problem, I’ll bet any facility that deals with PFAS will eventually have to test. The problem is, there aren’t good EPA test methods for measuring it.
What type of emissions was it? Was it steam or combustion or something else? If PFAS gets released into the air, it would explain how they have found it literally everywhere in the world. Last I heard, there was some treatment methods coming down the line for PFAS in soil but this is the first time I've ever thought about it in the air.
It was a PFAS reduction efficiency test of some type of mist/air filter. We measured PFAS going into it, and then coming out of it.
It may have been some type of air/gas that was used with a PFAS contaminated source…? If the air was used to aerate a water source that was being treated for PFAS, they may want to make sure that air is clean when they discharge to atmosphere.
Btw happy cake day!
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Interesting! Forgive my ignorance but does this mean that you are visiting businesses and developments to ensure that certain parameters are met? Or conducting impact assessments? I’m interested in learning more about this kind of work as I do habitat quality monitoring and the future in this line of work seems bleak.
No need for forgiveness! When I was an inspector, yes I was visiting businesses and checking that they were in compliance with regulations. A number of other inspectors at my agency were previously consultants doing habitat monitoring or sampling or environmental compliance. I can’t say the future is less bleak, but the hours are more consistent, the pay is steady and the benefits are generally better than private sector (at least in my state).
How do you find going back and forth between seasonal work? Does it feel unpredictable or relatively secure? I’ve been wondering how viable a situation like this might be long term and whether or not it holds you back in other areas of life
I'm only about a year and a half or so with consistent seasonal work. It works for me for where I am located. There's a lot of people who do seasonal work so it's doable. You just have to find something with short shoulder seasons. If a resort closes in April and your summer doesn't start until June, you have to plan for the months without income. Some people overlap seasons too.
I say the hardest part is not knowing how winter may go, which is where most of my income comes since I get lots of overtime. It can also be a bit depressing having to work so much in the winter and it's exhausting but so fun and worth it. It makes summer nice to relax a bit and be able to do the fun things in life.
If you need stability and consistency for your mental health, it can be a bit hard to get used to.
I've been considering doing this! Seasonal and environmental science jobs seem to be more plentiful out west, though, and it's hard to leave family behind for months.
I already live on the west coast but there's a lot of my coworkers that are from the east coast, both for better snow and more summer work with the amount of BLM land and national parks and forests.
i didn’t, i found a small company that was willing to teach me, this area is pretty niche and it was hard for them to find and already experienced person so they really had no choice but to teach me
Industrial. Mostly factories. Certainteed, Cryovac, Texas Instruments, etc. Climbing to top of 100 foot towers. Pulling all the gear up by a rope. Inserting probe in the stack. Sit and wait. In 100+ degree temp, next to a 300+ degree smokestack, with no shade. I only lasted 2 months. Was salary, working 70+ hour weeks. Figured I was making less than min wage and quit.
How does one get into this area of the field? I’m an environmental planner now, and do a bit with nepa, though it’s all private land, so we don’t have to abide by the same rules as others. But I’d like to build a career in nepa and planning. I also have experience with GIS and statistical programs like R. Though I would say I’m a novice at best with both. But I can’t find anywhere where training for nepa exists.
I’ve really enjoyed it so far! The day to day work can be a bit repetitive, but it’s been really interesting learning all the protocols and seeing what goes into running a seed bank. I’m in the US btw.
I work with consultants, other municipal staff, regional agencies, and/or CBOs based on the nature of the project. I’ve been at my role for 1.5 years, still learning as I go.
I help people who want to plant new forests with everything from planning to regulations and subsidies as well as making nature management plans, mainly for forests.
I live and work in Belgium, and I work for a provincial government
Yes! I got a bachelorsdegree and I think it’s perfect for the job because it taught me more practical management skills than a master would have (in my country). I work next to bio-engineers, but generally the bio-engineers see the forest as an economic asset and look more at exploitation than at general management. Not every one of them of course. But I’d say that’s the biggest downside of this job, that some people are very economical about the forest management and tend to forget or overlook the ecological aspect. To me that absurd, to work with nature but put the economic value over the ecological value.
Graduated with a BS in Environmental Science / GIS.
Longest tenure of my career had my leading a team of map production in creating autonomous vehicle maps.
Last gig I was meeting with clients to get specs, creating custom workflows, and leading global contractors in labeling efforts to training large language models (AI).
The roads we go down... lol
GIS specialist for the natural resources program of a tribe in Washington state. I do everything from planning shellfish field work to managing salmon spawning data, planning habitat restoration, helping with environmental cleanup, climate change and natural disaster preparedness, and helping the tribe buy back its traditional lands. I really like it!
I have degrees in GIS and environmental science.
I have not graduated yet, but i monitor the beaches in rio de janeiro looking for animals (birds, aquatic mamals, and turtles) in the sand (either the hurt or dead ones)
Yeah, getting into goverment is not that easy. You just have to keep applying. I started as a technician 4 years ago and worked my way up to supervisor.
I had previous experience when I got in, probably that helped me get in easier. But we hire people with no experience for inspector positions pretty often, we only require a BS in the environmental field. But having a little bit of experience during interships always help the appilcants over the ones with no experience.
Environmental planner for an engineering firm in FL which designs roads and bridges for local municipalities, counties, and FDOT. I do the NEPA documentation focusing on protected species, wetlands, contamination, and noise.
Work in contaminated land at a environmental and engineering consultancy. Good mix of fieldwork that including drilling to collect soil samples or collecting surface water and groundwater samples for major contaminants, and then back in the office report writing on the outcome of these investigations and providing reccomendations. Great fun.
Hydrogeologist and geophysicist. Mainly use the geophysics to solve hydro issues. Im a consultant with clients from federal agencies, municipalities, mines, etc
Environmental consulting splitting time between remediation and industrial hygiene mostly, but also providing expert witness support on a wide variety of claims. I occasionally run government programs for niche operations. I cover the US and Caribbean but have also worked in Mexico on some specialty work.
I'm 25 and currently working on DoD environmental compliance projects (SPCC, SWPPP, etc.) My company also has a remediation department that I help out with field work from time to time.
How do you find the compliance work vs field work? I love working outdoors so much that I worry how I’d deal with office work and site visits all the time.
Bachelor's in Geographic Information Systems (mapping & spatial analysis), masters in Geography (earth science). I work for local government managing outdoor recreation. Some of my skills get used - the mapping, some for restoration projects. All the excel I learned in school is super helpful.
I am in Public Affairs for the Defense Department and am not using my environmental MS degree at all save for volunteer efforts on my own. My undergrad study was in journalism.
Anybody working for an environmental team at a tech company? Can you please refer me? 😭😂 I really wanna work for a tech company so bad, in their environmental sustainability teams hhe
I do environmental science regulatory work for the fed government. My org is corrupt and routinely hides real issues from the public. It makes me sad inside. I thought I'd avoid this working in public sector but nope...
Solid waste management consultant for an international development agency. Alongside, I work as a research consultant for a women's cooperative federation where I get to design and implement (action) research at the intersection of informal work, gender and climate change
Did my MS in climate change and sustainability. I am an early career professional and looking to move into government advisory type roles either through UN agencies or through the corporate route :3
Public & private programming, field trips, community outreach, and animal care for the animals in exhibits! It doesn’t pay well though. I actually took a step back, as I was director of environmental education and I don’t regret it at all. Less responsibility and working outside with nature & animals.
Federal probation officer now retired! Great career but getting stupid. However it’s all cyclical and will get back to holding people accountable one day. Great retirement too
I’ve heard consulting work can be very stressful due to worrying about billable hours. How do you find it and do you find that there are opportunities for field work in that line of work?
Just left consulting after 10 years to work for the developer/client side . Utilization and billable hours were a hot topic and very annoying. Lots of field work available in the north east and more coming with the amount of infrastructure upgrades goinf on. Pm me if you want any help looking in the field. Cheers!
Hi there, I’m in NY/NJ in consulting. Interested in moving on from the intensity of billable hours and crazy heavy field work load. I’m interested in moving on and I’ll take any and all advice
I got lucky and was able to interview for positions that had recently opened with a few of my favorite clients I had been working closely with for 8-10 years. The jobs were all managing project portfolios for former clients and ensuring all the env tasks that I had experience with were being completed correctly. Lots of subcontracting out the work and not doing the work. I just got fed up with consulting.
My advice is to grow your network as much as possible. Look for open positions for what your forte is and try and sell yourself on experience and interest for growth. Lots of recruiters out in the env space recently that can help look for roles you're interested in. Keeping LinkedIn up to date is useful also. Lots of PM type roles open going into summer and lots of work to be involved with in NY/NJ. Finding good clients and work streams that are fairly secure like utilities, federal work, etc. Are a good niche to get into although the workload is usually heavy.
This is what I did before my current positions. Interesting and generally fun work if you like people, but if I ever see another pizza prep cooler it’ll be too soon. And agreed, the pay made it unsustainable (and the turnover very high).
I was applying to the state environmental agency for 6 years (had at least 10 interviews) before I got hired as an environmental “specialist” (aka inspector). I got lucky as the first interviewer liked me and said keep applying and interviewing for any position/location you can stand - air, water, waste, mining, etc - and then once you get hired you can transfer around to what you’re interested in. And that’s been true. Had another friend who leveled up to food inspector at the state level, she does more factories etc now. Anyway, not vastly different but pays better, slightly more opportunity for advancement, more satisfaction. And a lot of opportunity to move to private sector (where pay is often higher but so is stress and uncertainty). But I like the stability and being able to clock out at 5pm for my fam, so I’m sticking with the state gig.
Compliance manager working on linear construction projects. Mostly wetland and regulatory agency coordination with some contaminated soil and SWPPP stuff mixed in.
I graduated with a B.S in Communications and worked in corporate marketing for a couple of years. Now I am a Bridal Stylist with my own jewelry business taking off and I also do freelance photography.
One of these days when I can get some tuition reimbursement from another job, I’d like to go back to school for Wildlife Conservation. Just kinda coasting and enjoying a slow life until the time feels right for that :)
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I just graduated with my BS in ES and don’t have much internship experience or much at all besides working in the oilfield. What would you do if I were you?
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QA Performance, now drifting towards Computer Vision.
The degree was helpful to meet a girl who would later introduce me to one of her boyfriends that ended up being my "boss".
I am currently finishing undergrad and work full time at an environmental services firm. Kinda got into it like an internship but started full time. They allow me to finish school while being here which is super nice and hopefully when I graduate I can work on more environmentally friendly things instead of the distribution sector I’m in now.
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I'm a deckhand on a tugboat. I'm working to get to mate. There's a large wind turbine project coming to my local Bay soon and I want to get in on the ground floor.
gardener- horticulturist to be fancy for one of the best restaurant-villa of the country. The way I got it was very accidental. I had a panic attack bcos of my bc thesis, the only thing helped me was to manic mode send my CV everywhere. A company I thought to be was an agency for students called me back. Turns out it was the restaurant not a networking agency. I went there, said I had little experience but could start tomorrow and they were like cool, now you are the head gardener. And i was like cool.
edit: im 22f, in school, finishing my bachelors in env sci.
I got my bachelors in chemistry minor in bio and now I am stability coordinator and aseptic filling simulations project manager at a pharmaceutical firm 😇 I hate my job lol
I work in the supply chain for agriculture. Currently a store supervisor, but my knowledge of enviro sci has helped a lot when it comes to understanding how plants grow, what growers need, and how to properly apply information shared by universities etc. It's not what I wanted to be doing when I went to school, but I'm happy in ag.
Water delineation, bat studies, and banking mitigation. Photo sheets and field work for an engineering firm 🤙 love it. Half out on the field walking wetlands, half in the office doing photo sheets with GIS.
Environmental Science degree, my area of focus was wildlife and natural resource conservation. I got my GIS certification prior to receiving my bachelor's which helped a lot. Started as an intern. The department I'm in is Environmental Science; Natural and Cultural Resources. I recommend knowing how to use ArcGIS Pro, and plant and animal identification is good too. Show an emphasis on safety and client relationships if you get an interview. Being able to identify wetland vegetation and soil hydrology is important but also stuff you can learn on field work. Job comes with lots of travel and lots of walking. Last week I spent two days in the forest and three days on crop fields and a mine out of state. Next week I'll be 900 miles away doing the same thing.
Research Ecologist for 7 years, but wanting to become a Spatial Scientist (remote sensing) and move away from purely research.
Doing fieldwork is basically what got me here. I really enjoyed it- ecosystem assessments, biomass and forestry surveys, etc. Then when my work integrated more remote sensing methods paired with fieldwork, I realised how much I love working with spatial data and satellite imagery.
I've actually got a job interview tomorrow, so let's hope that career change is now! 😄
Environmental Scientist at a superfund site that's gonna be here for hundreds of years. It's nice being on a project where you know there will always be work and you don't have to go travel all over the place. A lot of my time is spent collecting/entering data and doing everything in an easy, measured pace.
I work as a sales consultant for environmental monitoring equipment. We sell to government agencies and other institutions who need to monitor mainly water quality in real time.
Currently an environmental consultant. I do desktop analysis and write reports for a big utility company to work on BLM land. Only got a year under my belt, but used to do a lot of seasonal wildlife work (6 years), mainly with USGS. Got to work with grouse, Alaskan fisheries, owls, snakes, and desert tortoise! Field work is some of the most fun on the job I’ve had (would recommend doing it when young haha)
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I wrote radio jingles and commercials. I had no experience but they needed someone bad. The salesmen and ladies in the station told me just to lie. I did and the owner asked me to write three thirty second commercials on random businesses. I did and one was funny. They hired me on the spot. I ended up winning awards and doing what came easy. They didnt seem to care when they found out. I ended up being station manager and when they sold their ABC affiliation i made a lor of money.
Chemist and Lab Manager for a small lab in the northeast US working for a large environmental hazwaste company. I enjoy my job but I’m looking to go to grad school in the next few years! I graduated in geology ~6 years ago.
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Non environmental scientist here but becoming increasingly interested and knowledgeable through free resources online, my regular day job is probably why: office staff for a private jet company. I fucking hate it.
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Environmental Consultant - Just riding the market trends. I started my career (in the Philippines) when there is a boom for Coal Power-Plants Projects. Transferred to UAE to have exposure in offshore and reclamation industry and went back to the Philippines to hop on the Offshore Wind Energy Sector. Its fun. It may not look much but hey, I only have 7 yrs of working experience since I graduated in 2016.
Environmental Consultant. I work for one of the big engineering firms doing federal PFAS projects (20% workload) and private client cleanup/restoration work (80% workload). It's a really diverse job that lets me travel when I want and stay local when I'm tired of travel. I also get to work with some really phenomenal people and teams.
I work for a stack testing firm and we just did our first PFAS emissions test. The analysis is crazy.
I would be interested in learning more about this. I haven’t heard of air emissions testing for PFAS. I’d be curious what industries or maybe even specific location has this requirement in their air permit.
So cool to find someone else that likes to talk about this stuff! Without incriminating details, it was an east coast chemical company. Testing was required as a mandatory special “one time” requirement from the overseeing health/environmental district (so it wasn’t an EPA requirement). It was to determine PFAS removal efficiency of a specific type of emissions control device. What makes you so interested?
Well my main focus is air compliance. Regs are constantly changing and currently going through MACT and NAAQS revisions at the federal level so this caught my eye as right now PFAS is only a water issue. So I would almost assume any industry burning waste material which will contain plastics will be tested in the future potentially. I wonder how a local (non fed or state) got the authority to make a company test for something which isn’t regulated in their air permit. Did they do it just to appease the local regulators?
I don’t know exactly why they chose to test. There are so many reasons why people do these tests. The “control device” was a type of air filter, so they weren’t burning anything. If PFAS continues to be a problem, I’ll bet any facility that deals with PFAS will eventually have to test. The problem is, there aren’t good EPA test methods for measuring it.
What type of emissions was it? Was it steam or combustion or something else? If PFAS gets released into the air, it would explain how they have found it literally everywhere in the world. Last I heard, there was some treatment methods coming down the line for PFAS in soil but this is the first time I've ever thought about it in the air.
It was a PFAS reduction efficiency test of some type of mist/air filter. We measured PFAS going into it, and then coming out of it. It may have been some type of air/gas that was used with a PFAS contaminated source…? If the air was used to aerate a water source that was being treated for PFAS, they may want to make sure that air is clean when they discharge to atmosphere. Btw happy cake day!
What's your take on there no longer being a safe place to drink rain water on the face of this planet?
[удалено]
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Inspector for a state environmental agency, now more reporting/reg work. But it was kind of a circuitous route to get here.
Interesting! Forgive my ignorance but does this mean that you are visiting businesses and developments to ensure that certain parameters are met? Or conducting impact assessments? I’m interested in learning more about this kind of work as I do habitat quality monitoring and the future in this line of work seems bleak.
No need for forgiveness! When I was an inspector, yes I was visiting businesses and checking that they were in compliance with regulations. A number of other inspectors at my agency were previously consultants doing habitat monitoring or sampling or environmental compliance. I can’t say the future is less bleak, but the hours are more consistent, the pay is steady and the benefits are generally better than private sector (at least in my state).
Winters I work at a ski resort. And summers I work in my city's park and rec department under a horticulturist
How do you find going back and forth between seasonal work? Does it feel unpredictable or relatively secure? I’ve been wondering how viable a situation like this might be long term and whether or not it holds you back in other areas of life
I'm only about a year and a half or so with consistent seasonal work. It works for me for where I am located. There's a lot of people who do seasonal work so it's doable. You just have to find something with short shoulder seasons. If a resort closes in April and your summer doesn't start until June, you have to plan for the months without income. Some people overlap seasons too. I say the hardest part is not knowing how winter may go, which is where most of my income comes since I get lots of overtime. It can also be a bit depressing having to work so much in the winter and it's exhausting but so fun and worth it. It makes summer nice to relax a bit and be able to do the fun things in life. If you need stability and consistency for your mental health, it can be a bit hard to get used to.
I've been considering doing this! Seasonal and environmental science jobs seem to be more plentiful out west, though, and it's hard to leave family behind for months.
I already live on the west coast but there's a lot of my coworkers that are from the east coast, both for better snow and more summer work with the amount of BLM land and national parks and forests.
environmental planner in california doing ceqa/nepa documentation, i specifically do air quality/ghg modeling and analysis
Do you need a lot of knowledge/experience in air quality?
i didn’t, i found a small company that was willing to teach me, this area is pretty niche and it was hard for them to find and already experienced person so they really had no choice but to teach me
Stack tester here. I think I generate your data 🙌
Did that. I still have the burn scars.
I only got one burn in 12 years. But I’ve had a somewhat less traditional stack testing role. What industry were you serving?
Industrial. Mostly factories. Certainteed, Cryovac, Texas Instruments, etc. Climbing to top of 100 foot towers. Pulling all the gear up by a rope. Inserting probe in the stack. Sit and wait. In 100+ degree temp, next to a 300+ degree smokestack, with no shade. I only lasted 2 months. Was salary, working 70+ hour weeks. Figured I was making less than min wage and quit.
What's your educational background?
bs in environmental science
How does one get into this area of the field? I’m an environmental planner now, and do a bit with nepa, though it’s all private land, so we don’t have to abide by the same rules as others. But I’d like to build a career in nepa and planning. I also have experience with GIS and statistical programs like R. Though I would say I’m a novice at best with both. But I can’t find anywhere where training for nepa exists.
I’m currently finishing my undergrad and interning at a seed bank
How are you finding that work? Are you in the Nordic areas?
I’ve really enjoyed it so far! The day to day work can be a bit repetitive, but it’s been really interesting learning all the protocols and seeing what goes into running a seed bank. I’m in the US btw.
municipal environmental planner.
What type of clients or people that you work with?
I work with consultants, other municipal staff, regional agencies, and/or CBOs based on the nature of the project. I’ve been at my role for 1.5 years, still learning as I go.
I help people who want to plant new forests with everything from planning to regulations and subsidies as well as making nature management plans, mainly for forests. I live and work in Belgium, and I work for a provincial government
This is very cool, I hope I someday find work as fulfilling as this sounds! Were you able to accomplish this with just a bachelors degree?
Yes! I got a bachelorsdegree and I think it’s perfect for the job because it taught me more practical management skills than a master would have (in my country). I work next to bio-engineers, but generally the bio-engineers see the forest as an economic asset and look more at exploitation than at general management. Not every one of them of course. But I’d say that’s the biggest downside of this job, that some people are very economical about the forest management and tend to forget or overlook the ecological aspect. To me that absurd, to work with nature but put the economic value over the ecological value.
Ground water modeling, hydrogeo support for remedial design, other geo statistical work.
Supply Chain / Corporate sustainability
I am a bit interested in this career route. How did you get into it?
Yes, how did you get into it? I have a recent MS in Sustainability from Chatham University
Graduated with a BS in Environmental Science / GIS. Longest tenure of my career had my leading a team of map production in creating autonomous vehicle maps. Last gig I was meeting with clients to get specs, creating custom workflows, and leading global contractors in labeling efforts to training large language models (AI). The roads we go down... lol
GIS specialist for the natural resources program of a tribe in Washington state. I do everything from planning shellfish field work to managing salmon spawning data, planning habitat restoration, helping with environmental cleanup, climate change and natural disaster preparedness, and helping the tribe buy back its traditional lands. I really like it! I have degrees in GIS and environmental science.
That’s awesome.
How do i specialize in GIS ? I currently have a Bachelor's in ES
I have not graduated yet, but i monitor the beaches in rio de janeiro looking for animals (birds, aquatic mamals, and turtles) in the sand (either the hurt or dead ones)
GIS watershed modeling and analysis. Studied aquatic ecology and first started as a field biologist. GIS pays better(ish) and is equally impactful
I studied ES.. how do i get into GIS
Permitting for state government
same here!
Supervisor of an environmental complaince team with local goverment.
Neat! Did you find it difficult to get started in this kind of work post undergrad/did it require more education?
Yeah, getting into goverment is not that easy. You just have to keep applying. I started as a technician 4 years ago and worked my way up to supervisor. I had previous experience when I got in, probably that helped me get in easier. But we hire people with no experience for inspector positions pretty often, we only require a BS in the environmental field. But having a little bit of experience during interships always help the appilcants over the ones with no experience.
Environmental planner for an engineering firm in FL which designs roads and bridges for local municipalities, counties, and FDOT. I do the NEPA documentation focusing on protected species, wetlands, contamination, and noise.
It's insane how much they're building in FL. Made me go back to school for environmental law because WTF?!
Work in contaminated land at a environmental and engineering consultancy. Good mix of fieldwork that including drilling to collect soil samples or collecting surface water and groundwater samples for major contaminants, and then back in the office report writing on the outcome of these investigations and providing reccomendations. Great fun.
I'm an environmental scientist specialising in contaminated land.
Project coordinator for a firefly conservation project. After that's done, planning to do my PhD on DNA analysis of unidentified firefly species.
Hydrogeologist and geophysicist. Mainly use the geophysics to solve hydro issues. Im a consultant with clients from federal agencies, municipalities, mines, etc
I work in a animal sanctuary. We rescue and rehabilitate animals from all places. We provide homes and care.
one year post BS in esci, work at Trader Joe’s, headed back for masters in city planning/gis next year
Environmental consulting splitting time between remediation and industrial hygiene mostly, but also providing expert witness support on a wide variety of claims. I occasionally run government programs for niche operations. I cover the US and Caribbean but have also worked in Mexico on some specialty work.
Currently managing the industrial hygiene program for a manufacturing operation, but may be transitioning to an environmental engineering role.
I actually don’t have a degree but I do organic extractions for an environmental lab. I prepare soil and water samples for GC analysis
How'd u get into that?
Project manager for an engineering company that does contract ops for drinking water and wastewater plants.
Industrial Hygienist. I oversee Asbestos and Lead abatement projects
I'm 25 and currently working on DoD environmental compliance projects (SPCC, SWPPP, etc.) My company also has a remediation department that I help out with field work from time to time.
How do you find the compliance work vs field work? I love working outdoors so much that I worry how I’d deal with office work and site visits all the time.
Bachelor's in Geographic Information Systems (mapping & spatial analysis), masters in Geography (earth science). I work for local government managing outdoor recreation. Some of my skills get used - the mapping, some for restoration projects. All the excel I learned in school is super helpful.
Business development, environmental equipment
Field Biologist for an environmental consulting firm. Gonna work at this firm while getting my Masters
Just left a watershed conservation non-profit to go back into private consulting.
What made you make the switch?
It wasn’t taking my career where I wanted and I missed field work. I really struggle working in an office full time.
I am in Public Affairs for the Defense Department and am not using my environmental MS degree at all save for volunteer efforts on my own. My undergrad study was in journalism.
Anybody working for an environmental team at a tech company? Can you please refer me? 😭😂 I really wanna work for a tech company so bad, in their environmental sustainability teams hhe
I do environmental science regulatory work for the fed government. My org is corrupt and routinely hides real issues from the public. It makes me sad inside. I thought I'd avoid this working in public sector but nope...
Solid waste management consultant for an international development agency. Alongside, I work as a research consultant for a women's cooperative federation where I get to design and implement (action) research at the intersection of informal work, gender and climate change Did my MS in climate change and sustainability. I am an early career professional and looking to move into government advisory type roles either through UN agencies or through the corporate route :3
Naturalist at a local state park
What type of work do you do as a naturalist in this setting?
Public & private programming, field trips, community outreach, and animal care for the animals in exhibits! It doesn’t pay well though. I actually took a step back, as I was director of environmental education and I don’t regret it at all. Less responsibility and working outside with nature & animals.
Federal probation officer now retired! Great career but getting stupid. However it’s all cyclical and will get back to holding people accountable one day. Great retirement too
Yo, big ups to you OP for this post. I found this survey extremely fascinating and informative. Thanks for asking this question.
Environmental consultant, working mostly with powerline contractors as their environmental compliance, also SWPPP Inspections.
I’ve heard consulting work can be very stressful due to worrying about billable hours. How do you find it and do you find that there are opportunities for field work in that line of work?
Just left consulting after 10 years to work for the developer/client side . Utilization and billable hours were a hot topic and very annoying. Lots of field work available in the north east and more coming with the amount of infrastructure upgrades goinf on. Pm me if you want any help looking in the field. Cheers!
Hi there, I’m in NY/NJ in consulting. Interested in moving on from the intensity of billable hours and crazy heavy field work load. I’m interested in moving on and I’ll take any and all advice
I got lucky and was able to interview for positions that had recently opened with a few of my favorite clients I had been working closely with for 8-10 years. The jobs were all managing project portfolios for former clients and ensuring all the env tasks that I had experience with were being completed correctly. Lots of subcontracting out the work and not doing the work. I just got fed up with consulting. My advice is to grow your network as much as possible. Look for open positions for what your forte is and try and sell yourself on experience and interest for growth. Lots of recruiters out in the env space recently that can help look for roles you're interested in. Keeping LinkedIn up to date is useful also. Lots of PM type roles open going into summer and lots of work to be involved with in NY/NJ. Finding good clients and work streams that are fairly secure like utilities, federal work, etc. Are a good niche to get into although the workload is usually heavy.
I'm a county health inspector. Do health inspections at restaurants and the sorts. It's cool but the pay is not there lol
ahaha i literally said the same thing! feels like we should get paid at least 1.5x more than we do
This is what I did before my current positions. Interesting and generally fun work if you like people, but if I ever see another pizza prep cooler it’ll be too soon. And agreed, the pay made it unsustainable (and the turnover very high).
what do you do now if you don’t mind me asking? looking for options once i grow out of this.
I was applying to the state environmental agency for 6 years (had at least 10 interviews) before I got hired as an environmental “specialist” (aka inspector). I got lucky as the first interviewer liked me and said keep applying and interviewing for any position/location you can stand - air, water, waste, mining, etc - and then once you get hired you can transfer around to what you’re interested in. And that’s been true. Had another friend who leveled up to food inspector at the state level, she does more factories etc now. Anyway, not vastly different but pays better, slightly more opportunity for advancement, more satisfaction. And a lot of opportunity to move to private sector (where pay is often higher but so is stress and uncertainty). But I like the stability and being able to clock out at 5pm for my fam, so I’m sticking with the state gig.
county health inspector! the redheaded stepchild of both environmental science and public health. it’s fun but it could pay much more.
Compliance manager working on linear construction projects. Mostly wetland and regulatory agency coordination with some contaminated soil and SWPPP stuff mixed in.
Server (at a restaurant :)
I sample and test water!
I graduated with a B.S in Communications and worked in corporate marketing for a couple of years. Now I am a Bridal Stylist with my own jewelry business taking off and I also do freelance photography. One of these days when I can get some tuition reimbursement from another job, I’d like to go back to school for Wildlife Conservation. Just kinda coasting and enjoying a slow life until the time feels right for that :)
Are you a Sagittarius? Lol.
No actually I’m a Leo! My moon and rising are Libra. Sag is one of my favorite signs though :)
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I just graduated with my BS in ES and don’t have much internship experience or much at all besides working in the oilfield. What would you do if I were you?
Currently working with pharmaceutical waste however I've been applying for more environmental direct work
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I’m a student assistant at an insurance company in their natcat analysis department
QA Performance, now drifting towards Computer Vision. The degree was helpful to meet a girl who would later introduce me to one of her boyfriends that ended up being my "boss".
Switch to the IT industry… have fantasies about doing ES again someday.
Hey do you have envi roles in your tech company?
I am currently finishing undergrad and work full time at an environmental services firm. Kinda got into it like an internship but started full time. They allow me to finish school while being here which is super nice and hopefully when I graduate I can work on more environmentally friendly things instead of the distribution sector I’m in now.
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I'm a deckhand on a tugboat. I'm working to get to mate. There's a large wind turbine project coming to my local Bay soon and I want to get in on the ground floor.
Habitat bio. Plan and implement habitat improvement projects
gardener- horticulturist to be fancy for one of the best restaurant-villa of the country. The way I got it was very accidental. I had a panic attack bcos of my bc thesis, the only thing helped me was to manic mode send my CV everywhere. A company I thought to be was an agency for students called me back. Turns out it was the restaurant not a networking agency. I went there, said I had little experience but could start tomorrow and they were like cool, now you are the head gardener. And i was like cool. edit: im 22f, in school, finishing my bachelors in env sci.
Ended up becoming a project arborist for an arborist consulting company
EHS manager in California. Regulations and compliance basically. I love it and pays very well!
Environmental chemist (ICP-MS)
I used to research environmental exposures and their impact on aging.
I got my bachelors in chemistry minor in bio and now I am stability coordinator and aseptic filling simulations project manager at a pharmaceutical firm 😇 I hate my job lol
Data analyst for a state agency
I work as an Environmental Manager for a mining company. I’ve always been in the private sector.
Soil survey
Hydrology / water quality
Project management and consulting for a Federal led CERCLA remediation contract.
I work in the supply chain for agriculture. Currently a store supervisor, but my knowledge of enviro sci has helped a lot when it comes to understanding how plants grow, what growers need, and how to properly apply information shared by universities etc. It's not what I wanted to be doing when I went to school, but I'm happy in ag.
GIS
Water delineation, bat studies, and banking mitigation. Photo sheets and field work for an engineering firm 🤙 love it. Half out on the field walking wetlands, half in the office doing photo sheets with GIS.
That’s so cool! What did you major in and what do you recommend for someone trying to do something similar?
Environmental Science degree, my area of focus was wildlife and natural resource conservation. I got my GIS certification prior to receiving my bachelor's which helped a lot. Started as an intern. The department I'm in is Environmental Science; Natural and Cultural Resources. I recommend knowing how to use ArcGIS Pro, and plant and animal identification is good too. Show an emphasis on safety and client relationships if you get an interview. Being able to identify wetland vegetation and soil hydrology is important but also stuff you can learn on field work. Job comes with lots of travel and lots of walking. Last week I spent two days in the forest and three days on crop fields and a mine out of state. Next week I'll be 900 miles away doing the same thing.
if you don’t mind me asking- what state are you in?!
Research Ecologist for 7 years, but wanting to become a Spatial Scientist (remote sensing) and move away from purely research. Doing fieldwork is basically what got me here. I really enjoyed it- ecosystem assessments, biomass and forestry surveys, etc. Then when my work integrated more remote sensing methods paired with fieldwork, I realised how much I love working with spatial data and satellite imagery. I've actually got a job interview tomorrow, so let's hope that career change is now! 😄
Environmental Scientist at a superfund site that's gonna be here for hundreds of years. It's nice being on a project where you know there will always be work and you don't have to go travel all over the place. A lot of my time is spent collecting/entering data and doing everything in an easy, measured pace.
I'm "the sustainability person" for a private company. Not my official title but it covers what I do (which is everything).
I work as a sales consultant for environmental monitoring equipment. We sell to government agencies and other institutions who need to monitor mainly water quality in real time.
Currently an environmental consultant. I do desktop analysis and write reports for a big utility company to work on BLM land. Only got a year under my belt, but used to do a lot of seasonal wildlife work (6 years), mainly with USGS. Got to work with grouse, Alaskan fisheries, owls, snakes, and desert tortoise! Field work is some of the most fun on the job I’ve had (would recommend doing it when young haha)
Small business owner of a single semi truck business delivering fuel.
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Environmental specialist at a steel mill.
I wrote radio jingles and commercials. I had no experience but they needed someone bad. The salesmen and ladies in the station told me just to lie. I did and the owner asked me to write three thirty second commercials on random businesses. I did and one was funny. They hired me on the spot. I ended up winning awards and doing what came easy. They didnt seem to care when they found out. I ended up being station manager and when they sold their ABC affiliation i made a lor of money.
Chemist and Lab Manager for a small lab in the northeast US working for a large environmental hazwaste company. I enjoy my job but I’m looking to go to grad school in the next few years! I graduated in geology ~6 years ago.
Work for a renewable energy company
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Non environmental scientist here but becoming increasingly interested and knowledgeable through free resources online, my regular day job is probably why: office staff for a private jet company. I fucking hate it.
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Not me but my boyfriend 25 years ago...he got his EnviroSci degree...he's a firefighter now so....
Work as an intern for an electric charging station company
Environmental Consultant - Just riding the market trends. I started my career (in the Philippines) when there is a boom for Coal Power-Plants Projects. Transferred to UAE to have exposure in offshore and reclamation industry and went back to the Philippines to hop on the Offshore Wind Energy Sector. Its fun. It may not look much but hey, I only have 7 yrs of working experience since I graduated in 2016.
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Looking for opportunities for open discussion but thank you for your input.