I have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of fish from the atlantic basin, specifically in and around the south east US and Carribean.
It freaks people out sometimes when I just start reciting fish facts whenever the rare occasion this comes up.
It's from me living partially on a boat as a child and tearing through books about fish while dreaming of being a marine biologist until the cold hard reality of for-profit education hit me in my early adulthood.
What are your weird topics and skills?
If you plan on doing fieldwork this will save you hours so learn your body well. It’s worth the hour or two of practice a month
I planned on it. Interviewed for the USGS a while ago but it fell through but field work would be the ideal for me but you know I have to work 40 hours outside of school to make ends meet but I graduate next semester so maybe more options will pop up.
USGS is a great place to start and the experience is diverse in future application but burns people out quickly if they aren’t ready for the workload so be wary. It’s a fantastic field to work in though and as much as I do not dream of labor, geologist has always been the closest thing to a dream job to me.
Unfortunately I don’t see as much of the field now that I’m living in nyc. I miss it a lot but you have the privilege of getting to live and be employed with stability just about anywhere you want with geology
I have been manual laborer for a long time before I went back to school. So the workload I'm used to but it's always been my dream to work outdoors. I just didn't have the programming stuff yet they wanted because I hadn't finished the courses involved. But hey maybe a graduate degree who knows.
It very rewarding to study. I want to go back for my PhD one day and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. In case I do, I have a climatology degree to fall back on which I also recommend looking into! Good luck!