What do you do? My official title is "Environmental Services Technician" but that doesn't tell you much. I work for a civil engineering consulting firm and I mostly do field work for projects that need some kind of government approval and that is mostly environmental related.
Do you like it? The people are (mostly) great but the work sucks since I'm low man on the totem pole and always will be.
What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm well-suited because I'm smart. I'm the only one in our company that does this kind of work that doesn't have a degree in either Environ Science, Environ Engineering or Civil Engineering. However, I'm also poorly suited because I don't have a degree. None of my actual work gets validated in my name. I do the work and someone else (with a degree) takes credit for it.
What kind of people do best in your work? People who at least somewhat care about the environment. A lot of the work I do is for the eventual destruction of such environmental features so it's probably best to not be a tree-hugger (extremely passionate). You must be albe to at least stand working outdoors if not enjoy though unless you enjoy the cubicle farm. You also need to pay attention to fine print details and be able to put up with government and client imbeciles.
What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? A college degree is pretty much mandatory. I sort of lucked into my job from knowing the right people and proving to them I could do the work.
What is a typical day like? There is no such thing as a typical day, but I can say what I did today. I had to be at a power plant this morning by 8AM. They want to add "scrubbers" to their facility that are used to reduce emissions (at this plant it will reduce S02 by 98%) and part of this project is to put in a new stack. They are filling in mines under this area with grout and concrete, which is where I come in because I am certified in testing these to make sure they are up to specs. Today we had 5 concrete trucks (all of which needed tested and 1 truck had samples collected that will be pressure tested in a lab). The pour lasted from 8AM to 1PM when the concrete pump broke down. In between testing the concrete trucks, I also had to test and get samples of the grout. Got out of the plant around 2:30 today after doing my paper work and then had to take samples that I made on Friday to the lab.
All in all, it's not really hard work. It killed my back the first couple days but then I got used to it. Tomorrow they're not pouring so I'll have an easy day before going on vacation for San Diego. If you're interested at all, here's the power plant on
google maps. Currently, we're working maybe 100 feet off that river (Allegheny).
What kind of problems do you encounter? Well, since I'm the bitchboy and [censored] flows downstream, I'm covered in [censored] all the time.
What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Trying to understand what my boss is saying. He's from Thailand and has lived here for like 30 years, yet it's near impossible to understand him.
How much do you make? $25k *sigh
How much can one expect to make in your position? If my position included a degree to go with my work experience and training, easily double what I make.