I'm one of those "surplussed people." They hammered the engineers and the foresters.
I am considered a forestry technician officially. The loggers call me the forester. I went to a 2 year college and then to OSU for a 10 week course in forest engineering.
Right now in our agency, there's a major shortage of engineers. There are also quite a few forester jobs. With a 2 year degree, you might get up the ladder as far as what is known as a GS 12, if you are in Timber Sale Administration. Of course, you would end up being in a larger city or town and wouldn't see the woods too much at that level, which is the Timber Sale Contracting Officer. But the opportunities are there.
We baby boomers are retiring. The workshop I went to last week, as usual, had folks trying to recruit or steal other folks away. There is already a shortage.
The good points of what I do? I work on my own, can come and go at all hours if I want, and can get out in the woods. I like working around logging operations, I like seeing people get things done, and loggers are characters.
Right now there isn't much logging going on so I've been flagging and tagging units for an upcoming timber sale.
The bad points? I work for a bureauocracy. I am where it all rolls down to. I often have to make sure the loggers do things that they know, and I know, are very stupid and might be harmful in the long run, but the people who went to more college are requiring it to be done. The people who have more schooling have more sayso. That's the way it is.
Like loggers, we get hurt. With us it is soft tissue damage. The knees are vulnerable. I've trashed an ankle. It now seems to lock in place going up steep hills. I've torn rib cartilage twice, and broke a finger. I tore my calf muscles in one leg big time. You should see me climb out of the pickup at the end of the day. I go slow.
But, I like my job when I'm out in the woods. Can't think of anywhere else that I'd like to work....well maybe as a snow ranger or river ranger.
It is when I'm having to take part in a meeting, or in the office...politics, that I do not like my job.
Get back in school, take math. If I made it through the engineering stuff, anybody can. I was told to stay away from science and math because I had no aptitude......HAH! I got all A's and one B from OSU.
I am considered a forestry technician officially. The loggers call me the forester. I went to a 2 year college and then to OSU for a 10 week course in forest engineering.
Right now in our agency, there's a major shortage of engineers. There are also quite a few forester jobs. With a 2 year degree, you might get up the ladder as far as what is known as a GS 12, if you are in Timber Sale Administration. Of course, you would end up being in a larger city or town and wouldn't see the woods too much at that level, which is the Timber Sale Contracting Officer. But the opportunities are there.
We baby boomers are retiring. The workshop I went to last week, as usual, had folks trying to recruit or steal other folks away. There is already a shortage.
The good points of what I do? I work on my own, can come and go at all hours if I want, and can get out in the woods. I like working around logging operations, I like seeing people get things done, and loggers are characters.
Right now there isn't much logging going on so I've been flagging and tagging units for an upcoming timber sale.
The bad points? I work for a bureauocracy. I am where it all rolls down to. I often have to make sure the loggers do things that they know, and I know, are very stupid and might be harmful in the long run, but the people who went to more college are requiring it to be done. The people who have more schooling have more sayso. That's the way it is.
Like loggers, we get hurt. With us it is soft tissue damage. The knees are vulnerable. I've trashed an ankle. It now seems to lock in place going up steep hills. I've torn rib cartilage twice, and broke a finger. I tore my calf muscles in one leg big time. You should see me climb out of the pickup at the end of the day. I go slow.
But, I like my job when I'm out in the woods. Can't think of anywhere else that I'd like to work....well maybe as a snow ranger or river ranger.
It is when I'm having to take part in a meeting, or in the office...politics, that I do not like my job. Get back in school, take math. If I made it through the engineering stuff, anybody can. I was told to stay away from science and math because I had no aptitude......HAH!
I got all A's and one B from OSU.
