Geology Job Descriptions for Dummies

Is this guy "Where the rocks are"?

We all know there are some disadvantages to being a private in the Army infantry or a policeman (people shoot at you), a fireman (you have to run into burning buildings instead of out of them) or a garbageman (you spend all workday around trash). But what are the disadvantages of other occupations? Do admen like Don Draper face any work-related dangers other than the high probability of lung cancer? Well, someone asked, and a Demand Media (aka eHow.com) contributor rushed to rake in fifteen bucks to explain "The Disadvantages of Being a Geologist" on Chron.com; not that freelance programmer and "writer" Jeffrey Joyner actually had any idea...

Joyner spent quite a bit of time on generalities about what geologists (supposedly) do:

"Geologists try to understand how the Earth was formed and what forces shaped its present features. They study rocks and minerals to determine how and when they were formed."

Of course, Jeffrey had to get to the meat of the matter, which he (thought he) did in his introduction – probably a rewording of several other "disadvantages" post he'd contributed to DMS:

"Although one individual might consider an aspect of the occupation to be a disadvantage, another might considers the same aspect an advantage, there are a few job requirements that are widely viewed as negatives."

What are these "negatives"? According to Jeffrey, they include

Educational requirements: Joyner says entry-level jobs require a 4-year degree, but if you want to research you need a PhD. Apparently he's never heard of a Masters degree... oh, and the courses are "hard" (they must be: they're science) Field work: Joyner says "Geologists must go to where the rocks are..." and complains that such places are often remote. Well, if you want to spend all your time within 1000 feet of a Starbucks, "remote" may not be your thing. But a lot of people think remote places are pretty nice. Besides, truth be told, a lot of geologists spend perhaps 5% of their work time "where the rocks are." Travel: we're not certain how that's different from "...go where the rocks are." Geology is an "inexact science." The geologists we know -- and we know a lot of geologists -- find that invigorating. If you want "exact answers," be an engineer (like Jeffrey Joyner). Salary... Joyner says that the median salary is X and grows at Y% per year, both pretty good numbers. How's that a disadvantage?

We asked our geology friends (remember,  there are a lot of them) what are the disadvantages of being a geologist. Not one of them complained about how much education is necessary, how much travel is needed, or that there are no clear-cut answers like there are in accounting. In fact, geologists make fun of other fields (especially engineering) dominated by absolutes. No, the disadvantages cited by most are that they are generally managed by non-scientists (engineers or accountants) and that many non-academic jobs are in cyclical fields, leading to relatively low job security. Take, for instance, the oil industry, where thousands of geologists have been RIFed in the past few years. 

But Jeffrey Joyner didn't do his research. All he did was read a few general articles and pretend he knew the answer – par for the course for Demand Media contributors, and par for the course for a Dumbass of the Day.

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