Can I even get into this industry with a BS in Geology? Im trying to leverage my experience in ArcGIS (geospatial data analysis, feature creation, using SQL, database population and management), and I used Matlab in a couple labs in a couple of classes, and a Java class. Also teaching myself advanced excel functions, reading up on SQL, and got myself university edition of Tableau to make pretty (((((viz)))))
Could I become a data analyst of sorts if I don't sperg out on the interview? Would you hire me /biz/?
id hire you if you had your HAZWOPER cert. 40h only, none of that bullshit 32/24 hr
well forget about excel if you want to be a data analyst.
Learn R instead. Free, open source, you can write your own functions etc. and people update new packages to it all the time.
Also Stata and SPSS should be on your resumee. At least that's how it is in the survey/social/economic data field.
>>1303810
Yeah, I was hoping (when I first started researching environmental-industry jobs) that my first job would pay for that training. It seems know that forking over the money and getting it myself is probably the way to go for that extra edge. What do you do anon?
>>1303856
>SPSS
this is definitely a plus if your managers have ever used it. if your industry is env consulting, you probably wont need it.
honestly, a cert is your best bargaining chip. there are so many folks applying but so few honestly have the safety/knowledge certs. HAZWOPER is the main one to focus in env consulting, possibly MSHA if thats your field. forget confined entry, forget ahera unless you're getting into NOA or western geology.
>>1303856
Before I graduate in a week, I'm downloading as much free software my university offers. So far I got matlab, tableau, SAS. I'll also get R because I hear so many people talking about it. Can you say anything about swirl as a method of learning it?
http://swirlstats.com/students.html
Can anyone mention some sort of online portfolio that is heavily used to display some of my autistic work?
>>1303861
protip: ask around for certs. it may be an anecdote, but the teamsters in my area give free training for forklift, hazwoper, confined entry, first aid, cpr, fit tests, etc... it's a community service gig, and theyre happy to train people coming into the field.
look around before paying for a course. in-person training is preferred, but no one really shies away from online certs.
that cert alone shows you have a defined interest in the field. im not a hiring manager or anything high up, but ive been invited to three new hires to ask questions and all three have had their certs. it's how i got my internship and my present job, at least part of the reason
>>1303871
I taught myself R while doing my bachelors as well. It really isn't even as hard as people make it out to be, I had like 0 experience with software/programming stuff and could still somehow make it work. There are tons of books out there for free, lots of PDFs. I mostly used german stuff though.
I'd recommend to just get some example data from the web that resembles the kind of data you want to work with, and just try out the stuff you want to do. Google has pretty much everything to offer here.
Oh and if you want to get into data mining I strongly recommend Yanchang Zhao's book. Also free on the web.
GIS period are in demand, but a lot of people don't know what it does and how it helps. I don't know much about physical geography, but I believe with geology you can work in oil or mining industry and with GIS, *almost* exclusively from a desk. As all you need are geographical surveys to find where a probable site is... I think?
Personally I know more about human geography, and the big money with GIS is in real estate and Geo marketing (insurance maybe? Like to find earthquake and flooding zones? Idk). You need experience (don't we all?) Before you can be good at it.
I don't know of any direct way to link finance and trade to GIS, but there's surely a way... remember that geography is a tool to analyse spacialy almost any problem (like the law of the instrument, but in a good way).
Hope that helps, please excuse poorly formatted sentences, I blame the phone
>>1303877
>>1304077
thanks guys, I'm hoping to distance myself from geology and really focus on analytics, visualization, and more of the business intelligence industry that is really fking vague. Maybe I could use the BS in Geology as a fallback, and find some mudlogging or mwd position a decade in the future after I get laid off for being too damn handsome or something.
There is a LOT of suggestions of things to learn (so far Ive heard the following advocated for multiple times: R, SAS, Python, Tableau, SPSS, Financial modeling, statistics, VBA, and more ive forgotten).
So im gonna focus on like 3 things, probably SQL, R, and Tableau, and just bust a nut studying 1 at a time for a couple of weeks while I still have 6 months of deferred loan payment.
