For prospective environmental students, we usually wonder what is our future jobs look like? Many Vietnamese and maybe Asian parents usually think this career will be involved with cleaning garbage, sorting trash in the municipal landfill, or become a lab technician. This might correct but not cover everything about this career.
An Environmental major is an interdisciplinary major with involved many other areas from physic, biology, chemistry, water, air, soil, and even more. With the raising of technology, the environmental major is also involved with technology and data analysis. In college, environmental students will have the chance to study everything related to this major, and after the first two years, they will have to choose their concentration, their future job based on their preferences and area of interests. After 7 years of studying and even working in this field, here is my summary list of environmental jobs based on titles in the alphabet:
- Agricultural Specialist
- Agriculture and Food Scientists
- Air Quality Scientist
- Arborist
- Archeologist
- Biologist
- Botanist
- Building Energy Auditor
- Climate/Atmospheric Scientist
- Conservation Scientist
- Drafter (AutoCAD, 3D Modeling, etc.)
- Ecologist
- Eco-Tourism Operator
- Emergency Disaster Response Preparedness Specialist
- Energy Auditor
- Energy Sales (Solar, Wind, Etc.)
- Engineer (Environmental, Mechanical, Geotechnical, Civil, Chemical, Etc.)
- Environmental Analyst
- Environmental Attorney
- Environmental Auditor
- Environmental Chemist
- Environmental Compliance Technician
- Environmental Construction Oversight / Permitting
- Environmental Consultant
- Environmental Data Analyst
- Environmental Design Professional (environmental engineering and building)
- Environmental Educator
- Environmental Field Scientist / Technician / Engineer
- Environmental Geologist
- Environmental Health and Safety Officer / Technician / Inspector
- Environmental Health Specialist
- Environmental Inspector
- Environmental Journalist
- Environmental Markets Trader
- Environmental Permitting
- Environmental Planner
- Environmental Policy Analyst
- Environmental Project Manager
- Environmental Science Teacher
- Environmental Scientist
- Environmental Technician
- Fire Management Specialist
- Fish and Game Warden
- Fisheries Scientist
- Forest Service Ranger / Many other jobs
- Forester
- Fundraising Specialist (for a non-profit environmental organization)
- Geologist
- Geoscientist
- Geospatial Analyst (Commonly a GIS Position)
- GIS Analyst / Technician
- Habitat Restoration Technician / Scientist
- Hazardous Waste Technician / Scientist
- Hydrogeologist
- Hydrologist
- Industrial Hygienist
- Laboratory Technician / Scientist
- Land Surveyor
- Landscape Architect
- Lead-Based Paint/Asbestos/Mold Inspector and Abatement Specialist
- Marine Biologist
- Media / Social Media Strategist (for an environmental organization)
- Meteorologist
- Microbiologist
- Mosquito Abatement Technician
- National / State Park Guide / Interpreter
- Natural Resource Specialist
- Park Ranger / Many other jobs at State and Federal Parks
- Rangeland Management Specialist
- Reclamation Scientist / Engineer
- Recycling and/or Solid Waste Specialist / Manager
- Remediation Scientist / Engineer
- Remoting Sensing Scientist
- Researcher
- Sales
- Soil Conservation Scientist / Technician
- Soil Scientist
- Solar Technician
- Stormwater Permitting / Scientist
- Sustainability Analyst / Consultant
- Transportation Designer / Planner / Engineer
- Transportation Research Scientist
- Treatment Plant Engineer / Operator / Technician
- Urban Farming / Urban Agriculture / Urban Forestry
- Urban/Regional Planner
- Water Quality Scientist / Engineer
- Water Resources Scientist / Engineer
- Watershed Scientist
- Wetland Scientist
- Wildlife Biologist
- Wind Turbine Technician / Engineer
Here is some sample question you should ask yourself to determine your preferred working environment, use this list to assist your personal interests, preference, skills, knowledge, and the types of job you want to work. What types of work environment do you want to work in?
Working in the field? Or Working in the Office? Or Working in the Lab? Or Working in the manufacture or warehouse setting?
- You might like working in the field if you say yes to these below questions:
- How do you feel getting your hand dirty? Do you like to use your hand to collect samples?
- Do you like to travel around? Do you like to communicate with customers?
- Can you stand, walk, and bend around 8 hours/day and even work overtime, or weekends?
You might like working in the field if you say yes to these questions: If yes, field work is for you, and after gaining some experience, you can get promoted to the Manager, and you will have your own office! However, this path is may get tough with somebody, like me who do not want to get my hand dirty, and I have some backache issue, which prevents me from walking for more than 5 hours.
2. You might like working in the lab if you love conducting lab experience, spend a lot of time to prepare samples, conduct analysis, and write technical reports. There is only one option: become a Lab Technician or Lab Analyst, and this job is straightforward and does not require much experience. Students will have a chance to experience this job in universities, in courses, classes, and it always the first entry-level position for many environmental students who want to land their job in this field after graduation.
3. If you want to work in the facture, manufacture, or warehouse setting: you will involve both reviewing paperwork, conduct training, planning, and everyday inspection. EHS, Industrial Hygienist, and Compliance Office are some samples if you answer yes.
However, this type of job might require you a lot of certifications, additional training, and years of experience before you can work with limited supervision. In some workplaces, employers might emphasize safety before the environment, and your job might involve a lot of paperwork, and you likely have a shift schedule. For the most entry-level position, you will be placed on a night shift or first shift with overtime and even weekend work. If you choose to work in the office, you should ask these questions?
4. Do you like to work with data? or working with technology? Can you sit at the office for 8h per day? Your daily job will be involved in conducting analysis with analysis software such as R, SPSS, Python or GIS software.
Working with data may be exhausted, and this job may require you to understand economics, statistics, and even how to code from R-Studio, SPSS, and Python. It could take hours and even weeks or years to run a graph like a climate change analysis above
Another example is, in a sustainability analyst career, your job might involve with life cycle assessment, or how to reduce Greenhouse gas emission, and reduce the waste in the cycle to the minimum as possible. Environmental Analyst, GIS, Urban Planner, Environmental Planner, and Sustainability Analyst maybe for you.
In conclusion, this is still not a complete list because this field is too broad and not specific. The recommendation for environmental students is they should plan what is their skills, assets, interests, and working environment.
Reference
This list is based on this reddit’s post
Environment Experience From A Passion Environmentalist 