Major/career advice needed (actually skiing related)

**Dickeymotto** · 12-06-2011, 09:52 PM

Lately I've been seriously questioning my choice of major and the career it may lead to. I'm currently studying geology at the University of Utah with the intent to emphasize in mineralogy or something mining related. I love the subject but the more I learn about it, the less it seems like it will be conducive of the lifestyle I'm shooting for. Here is what I'm after:

Decent salary ($50,000+)
Live in SLC
Have adequate free time to ski an ~80 day season
Good job outlook and opportunities
Good job security/stability
Mentally stimulating or academic
Does not involve blood or gore (I can't handle that shit)
No cubicle hell
Completable in under 5 years (I'm a 2nd year undergrad right now)

Any ideas?

**TheDon** · 12-06-2011, 10:10 PM

You considered being a nurse?

Work 3 twelve hour shifts and ski 4 days a week (until your wife says otherwise).

Pay is basically what you are after but you get to save people's lives or be a floor nurse and pass drugs.

**Neezer** · 12-06-2011, 10:17 PM

with geology you could get into oil.....a lot of guy work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. so when you're on the rig you are stuck there, but you get 180 days off in the year. and for your two weeks you can go wherever you want.

**endure** · 12-06-2011, 10:24 PM

I did my undergrad in geological engineering and masters in hydrogeology/geochemistry.. I worked the past 2 years in consulting and got 80 ski days in each year (driving to Whistler from Vancouver). Sure you may be sent to the field sometimes, but most of that occurs in the summer. Something to think about..
The true bonus of doing geological engineering though is that it has allowed me to pursue my true dream.. avalanche research. Lots of opportunities out there with geology

**taynton** · 12-06-2011, 10:24 PM

My take: I'd rather be working on something I love for 315 days a year and ski (or bike or whatever) 50 than work a job I didn't like for 265 to ski 100. But I try hard to get both.

I think geology/ mining can be a great work/ski blend. Not sure how the work is in SLC, but there is a ton in Interior BC (Fernie, Rossland, etc) where the skiing lines up well with where the work is. 80+ might be tough of skiing but I bet you could get 60+.

80+ working full time is tough unless you can find a gig that has seasonal work or something like a 4day-10hour work week. Maybe some employers will be open to negotiate, maybe sometimes you'll get lucky. Or be a consultant and set your own hours.

Dentistry?

**icelanticskier** · 12-06-2011, 10:53 PM

take all that money you might be blowing on higher edu and at the same time trying to figure out which way is up and look into getting yourself a real estate license.

i'm not currently up to date on how the rental/sales market is in utah as it's been quite some time since i lived there, but here on the EC it's almost too easy if you do it right.

i left home at 18 to be a responsible ski bum skiing 100+ days a year with a goal of buying my
1st property shortly thereafter. well after 10 years bummin and saving 5-8 grand a year extra from working a little bit harder in the summer, i had 5 properties, a couple of them multifamily by the time i was 30 and sold them at a retarded profit in 05/06 and at 38 and am comfy with a cush retail gig and a couple of rentals to keep me honest

still ski 80-100 days a year if i want, or surf 200 days like i'll end up with this year.

choose yer own adventure. what works for one doesn't work for another. higher edu is an absolute rip off for most imo. take that money and let it make money from the get-go.

shit i just put a bunch in a 6% annuity. there's good deals to be had out there.

folks ask me what i'll do when i retire. i say, "retire from what?"

just my .02

da blog ala rog

**plurpimpin** · 12-06-2011, 11:40 PM

Honestly mining and minerals is a great way to go if you want to ski, especially if you're not super picky about staying in SLC. I have a friend that got a degree in mining and minerals engineering, he's works for a coal mining company in Steamboat. He works the swing shift 4pm - midnight so he gets to ski every day.

Plus if you get into coal the mines all happen to be in great places to ski.

Hugh Conway · 12-06-2011, 11:41 PM

unicorn fart powered coop operator comes the closest to meeting that list of requirements

**Scott~** · 12-07-2011, 04:21 AM

Chemical Engineering awww yeah~

**CarveMan** · 12-07-2011, 04:26 AM

This is kind of out of left field, but Australia is in the middle of an unmitigated mining boom and is employing geologists left right & centre.

The companies are fighting to employ them and the pay is fantastic.

Living in the desert doesn't necessarily meet your skiing requirement, but they often have 14 on /14 off rosters and shit like that. I'm sure you could manipulate things to work your arse off for big coin, then ski the entire season.

Like I said it's out of left field but worth mentioning.

**jeffro83** · 12-07-2011, 11:22 AM

i also had (well, have) these same concerns about a career i can juggle my passions with. my girlfriend's a nurse, and i have always thought her job is the DREAM job for pretty much anything you want to do in your off time. she works 12's, makes a shit tonne of cash in each of those 12hr shifts (pretty much anywhere in the western world), and has the flexibility of working a casual/contract job, rather than steady work. even when she was working full time, she'd work 2 x 12's (days), 3rd day off, before she started 2 x 12's (nights), then FIVE DAYS off.

i just came from nearly 4 years of 4 on/off, working 12's as well as a telecom tech. would have stayed with it if a) the job was somewhere that mountains existed, and b) if i finally started getting a piss break during my 12hr shift.

anyway, nursing....my only beef apart from the added 2-4yrs of school (i already have a degree, so i could technically fast-track a nursing degree) is that i don't want to be sticking my finger up uncle bob's bunghole to make sure he's 'relieved' for the time being...and hope that he starts taking metamucil.

also, all shit aside...i have a good friend in geology/mining and she makes a killing...though she doesn't live in the mountains, i'll also agree that being where a lot of ski resorts happen to be is a good thing if you're into geo jobs. i've considered getting mining/geo education for the same 'ski dream' purpose.

my other thought was that i would start an apprenticeship in a trade (likely electrician), and hope to god i could find half ass work for an electrical company during my 1st 4 years, preferably with lax workload during the ski season, and intense load in the summers. that's more of a pipe dream though, i think.

good luck man!

**axebiker** · 12-07-2011, 12:41 PM

Sell weed.

**jack shit** · 12-07-2011, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by Dickeymotto

Lately I've been seriously questioning my choice of major and the career it may lead to. I'm currently studying geology at the University of Utah with the intent to emphasize in mineralogy or something mining related. I love the subject but the more I learn about it, the less it seems like it will be conducive of the lifestyle I'm shooting for. Here is what I'm after:

Decent salary ($50,000+)
Live in SLC
Have adequate free time to ski an ~80 day season
Good job outlook and opportunities
Good job security/stability
Mentally stimulating or academic
Does not involve blood or gore (I can't handle that shit)
No cubicle hell
Completable in under 5 years (I'm a 2nd year undergrad right now)

Any ideas?

Plan on getting a Masters to make it in that field. Research your employment options now and work to get where you want to go.

**Kim Jong-un** · 12-07-2011, 12:55 PM

You're really going about this the wrong way...

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/chel...F8RS1rILbNoS6O

You may have to make some compromises in the looks dept, but always remember--you're in it for the skiing.

**RockChalk** · 12-07-2011, 01:07 PM

I majored in Geology, graduated in 2009. From what I have gathered a Masters is absolutely requisite for anything other than working as a technician. Either learn a trade, or plan on getting good grades and getting into a Masters program for geology, most are very competitive so I would advise forging some good connections with professors at your school. (letters of rec pretty much trump everything else when it comes to getting accepted to masters geology programs- its a pretty tight knit community.)

**Sparwood Dave** · 12-07-2011, 01:21 PM

http://www.sparwood.ca
Second largest deposit of metalurgical coal in the world in the heart of the Rockies
Half hour to Fernie, 75 minutes to Castle

**awf170** · 12-07-2011, 01:24 PM

Find something that ends with engineering... I don't know much about the geology field, but I would bet anything that people who study mining/geological/whatever... engineering get paid a lot more than people who just have a geology degree.

**xyz** · 12-07-2011, 01:27 PM

Stick with Geology and mining. You'll actually get a job when you graduate for starters. You could probably score a one at the Bingham mine. They have big plans to go underground.

OR, as an exploration geologist you could work your ass off all summer in an exploration camp and take most of the winter off (while potentially collecting UI). Or go work in a mine close to the mtns. I'm a mining engineer and worked work 4 days on 3 days off with a month plus of paid vacation. I lived in a ski resort and drove over a mtn pass each day so even if it was a work day, I could, and did slay pow on the way home from work. Or work 2 weeks on /off somewhere up north.

I'm a consulting cubicle monkey now but on pow days, I just do my work at night.

**systemoverblow'd** · 12-07-2011, 01:32 PM

Does $50,000 pass as decent salary for a lifelong career in Utah? Aiming for the middle probably isn't going to get you where you want. "If you aim for the stars, you might have a chance of hitting the ceiling. If you aim for the ceiling you might fall flat on your face.”

**powder11** · 12-07-2011, 01:47 PM

I got a bidness degree from the U of Utah and now I run a painting contracting bidness in Whistler. I hit it hard spring, summer, fall and then ski all winter. When its all said and done, I take home @ $75k give or take. Not bad for only working 8 months a year and skiing whenever I want. It's ironic because when I was painting houses during the summer to pay for school, I was thinking how I was going to school so I would never have to paint houses again! It's all good because I'm pretty much off the tools/ladders and focus on running the business. I also really get off on the satisfaction of taking something that looks like shit and making it look awesome. I could probably make more money if I worked right through, but it's tyupically pretty slow in the winter and the $15k-$20K extra I might make isn't worth not skiing.

**Socialist** · 12-07-2011, 02:06 PM

get a job w. field work - geology&mining is good.
Bank time during working months - use time during powder days.

**Dickeymotto** · 12-07-2011, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by systemoverblow'd

Does $50,000 pass as decent salary for a lifelong career in Utah? Aiming for the middle probably isn't going to get you where you want. "If you aim for the stars, you might have a chance of hitting the ceiling. If you aim for the ceiling you might fall flat on your face.”

I forgot to mention that my fiance is a PA. $50k is around what I would have to make to put us comfortably into a six figure household income. Besides, thats the LOWER limit.

Thanks for the advice mags. After running some numbers and seeing that geology can in fact be exactly what I'm looking for, I'm going to stick with it. With the course work I've already done, it would take nearly the same time to get a masters in geology as it would to get a bachelor's switching to something else. If I re-arrange my projected course schedule to cram in a couple of difficult semesters now, I can be doing nothing but geology electives/internships/thesis for the last two semesters of my undergraduate.

Thanks again for the advice.

**chadeau** · 12-07-2011, 02:46 PM

Stick with mining, and like someone else said, put "enginering" behind geology. It'll give you more job flexibility if logging miles of core and mapping acres of outcrops turns out to not be your thing.

I'm a geotechnical engineer who works in mining consulting and I work hard all summer banking time so I can ski more during the winter. The managers at my office know they can work me hard during the summers, provided they give me flexibility during the winter. I work predominatly in cold climates, so most of the fieldwork occurs over the summers, leaving me in the PNW for the winters.

If you can put up with the fly-in/fly out (FIFO) lifestlye, getting a gig with a mining company with a remote site or a consulting firm that has consistent fieldwork is the way to go. Depending on the gig, you'd have to put up with 2-3 week rotations, but then you'd have ~2 weeks off on your own time to storm chase. FIFO jobs usually pay more so you'll have extra cheddar to blow on gear. Not to mention that it's hard to blow cash from a remote mine site.

I've worked with guys who don't even have a permanet residence for when they are offsite. During their rotations off, they either couch surf or sleep in vehicles as they storm chase. You'll save even more scratch this way.

To comment on the Oz option (which I've done), an engineering or geology degree is pretty much a greenlight for an Australian buisness visa. If you've got experience to boot, consider it open bidding for your services. If you are based in Western Australia (where the majority of the mining boom is) your off-shift options are Japan during Northern Hemisphere winters and NZ during Southern Hemisphere winters. I ended up blowing lots on flights since most of the mining companies only cover your flights as far as Perth or Brisbane. I know of some people who had paid flights out of NZ, but they were native Kiwi and had a considerable history with the mining company.

So in short...stay with mining.

**brice618** · 12-07-2011, 02:52 PM

If you want a life, don't become an engineer.

**BDKeg** · 12-07-2011, 03:09 PM

if you're leaving your house to get to the "office" then you're doing it wrong.

telecommute software developer for the win. Make your own hours, make really good money, live where you want, ski all the time and you won't have any trouble finding a job after a few years experience.

dream job? In my opinion it is.