Geologists--are you rock hunting, or doing something else?

I'm curious what other geologists are doing... I've been at my environmental consulting company now for over 10 years, and I'm getting a little sick of the consulting gig. I get some geology work (sitting on drill rigs, characterizing soil, aquifer tests, etc), but obviously the higher up you move, the less field work you get. I cannot sit in front of an idiot box all day for the rest of my life. The older I get, the less I enjoy being outside for 10 hours when it's 15 degrees (or 95 degrees for that matter), but would absolutely take that over wearing a tie and sitting in front of the computer. Salary is important, but secondary at this point.

Anyone else have a similar situation? I'm trying to brainstorm other things I can do. I know this is highly variable based on how different each person is, but I'm curious what others are doing.

I got tired of the 4-6 week shifts doing exploration work. Now I'm doing some random forestry gig. Doesn't pay as well, and it's physically harder, and I'm outside more. Wait a sec. I got demoted. In life. Living the dream is tough! But I'll be in wicked shape for splitboarding. Hopefully someone else can chime in on ow to use geology experience to make boatloads of cash without working inside or outside all that much !!

Wow. This reads like my biblio from 3 years ago...creepy. I ended up leaving private consulting for a job with state government on the regulation side of things. Definately better but different.

It's a better work life balance but I actually miss the travel sometimes. I would never consider going back to consulting knowing how you wkuld just end up in that middle/project management bullshit. IMHO the best part or env consulting is that 0-8 year mark when you get to do field work and still manage some. Once you get into full time project management I feel like I'd want to blow my brains out. But that just me.

/hammered rant

either work at a desk writing reports based on due dilligence

or

in the field conducting exploration/university research for the benefit of commodity sales/science.

I spent 13 years in gold exploration. First 8 years roaming the desert aimlessly., 130 - 150 nights on the road in exotic Eastern Nevada and Third World Country locations. Loved every minute of it!! Drove an F-250 XLT Limited Extended Cab with a 460 and a 5 peed manual tranny, carried and rode an ATV, camped out, drank shit loads of company paid for killer beer. Winters slow, skied 50-60 days per winter. Found out we were going to have a kid. I lucked into a job as a branch manager at an assay lab, no travel required. Got to open labs and manage sales in lovely eastern Nevada and Alaska while running the most profitable lab of 12 worldwide in Reno. Winters slow, skied 50-60 days per winter. Gold plummeted to $200 per ounce, from about $600. Decided to change careers. Found a sales job in environmental cleanup, think Safety-Kleen, Clean Harbors. Very interesting work but way too corporate. Had to report to an office every day. All Sierra ski resorts were customers. Skied 40 - 50 days per year. Found job selling chemicals, home based. Been doing that for 10 years now. Customers include town of Mammoth Lakes, Squaw Valley Ski Resort, Kirkwood Meadows PUD, and most water and waste water plants, districts, etc. in the Eastern Sierra from Mammoth to Lake Almanor including all those around Lake Tahoe. Winters slower. Ski 60 - 70 plus days in good winters, 50 -60 in below average winters.

I set my own schedule, can be on first chair on powder days or last chair on windy pow days. Catch the corn window from 10 - 1, no problem. Gotta say the only years I wasn't happy were the 3 years I spent in environmental cleanup. They were the most interesting work wise but the corporate BS was too much.

Mostly wear jeans and a polo shirt, occasional Khaki's. MTB or skis are somehow in the car a lot when I'm doing mountain sales calls.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I wouldn't trade a thing about my career path.

Of the geologists I know, the one working for the mining and exploratory companies drive old pickups or subies and have earthy looking girlfriends(male and female). The ones teaching at the university all drive fine cars work a couple of hours a week and live in tutor houses with vines growing on the exterior. These guys never ever break a sweat a work.
Not to mention the bevy of undergrads with daddy issues.
Hope this helps.

To counter that point, the 4th highest paid man in Canada a couple of years ago was a bushrat exploration geo who had moved up to CEO of a mid-tier mining / exploration company I had the pleasure of working for.

And then there are the oil guys, who can make more 1 year out of college than any hardrock geo have a reasonable chance of making.

I'm in upper management of an AMEX listed junior mining company. What am I doing? Corporate strategy and internal budgets, financial modeling of individual project or multi-development scenarios, M&A DD, investor tours, SEC filings, prepping for TSX listing (43-101 TRs), resource modeling, geologic mapping, managing drilling programs, managing junior geologic staff, and so on....

My advice for the OP - Figure out what work makes you happy and go figure out how to make it pay what you need. If you have a little ambition, and are not overly risk adverse, it really is that easy.

I guess my auto notifications are turned off for this thread... Thanks for all the responses. As expected I guess, there is quite a range here. Very interesting.

GeoMatt, I love the last three or four things you list that you do, and have ZERO interest in the rest. Which probably isn't a good thing--I'm worried that my ignorance in general business will hurt me down the road, but I'm also trying to figure out if I can play my hand so I don't have to like it/get involved in it. Interesting advice, by the way. I've always thought the tough part was the ambition and/or risk, but maybe it's actually finding the thing that makes you happy that's the tough part. There are a lot of things that make me happy, I guess I should actually sit down and try harder to figure out which one is economically viable as a career path...

Soups--I have thought of the regulation side, but have heard that you feel even more like a rat on a never-ending wheel with nowhere to go... ? Do you get into the field much??

Gageyk, I've heard many a geologist go into sales... sounds like a good mix of work and play!

Bushman, it does, thanks. Solidifies my thoughts of not going the academic route and actually working for a living. Haha.