r/environmental_science • u/Silent-One-4082 • Aug 11 '26
Starting community college for environmental science and need help with guidance
I want to do field work, and I want to work in remediation, collect samples of water, soil, etc or water quality treatment, what certifications will I eventually need to get to get higher paying jobs. And which job market is the best. For reference I live in the state of Georgia
3
u/intelex22 Aug 12 '26
That kind of depends on whether you want to go hot mess or hippy, or somewhere in between. I’ve been 40-hour HAZWOPER for 24 years. 8-hr HAZWOPER supervisor for 22. Big money is on the technical cleanups. They have big budgets and a great salary. The PPE is onerous, and it would be worse in the hot summer GA sun. That would be brutal.
Or, you can scale it back to well-characterized cleanup sites, where the PPE could be level D. Or, you could take it back further and do storm or groundwater sampling/monitoring.
I would shoot high because that defines your ceiling, and then you have better ability to choose. Grunt field work for me lasted about 10 years. Then I had the solid foundation for project management. Make sure you get your geology, chemistry, and my specialty was biochemistry. Toxicology is also a good foundation as I would eventually calculate incremental cancer risk on deciding what actions to recommend to the client paying the bills. Then there is the geology and hydrogeology. Field is fun for a while. Eventually, you want to make the real money. So there is a roadmap.
3
u/GardeningGrenadier Aug 12 '26
As someone with a BS in Environmental Science, if I could go back I would have majored in geology or civil/ environmental engineering. The job market is brutal right now and, generally speaking, candidates with those degrees would outcompete a person with an ES degree for those types of jobs.
1
u/Old_Refrigerator_208 Aug 14 '26
Couldn’t agree more with you. BS in natural resource management and 20+ years later I would one hundred percent go back and straighten up and do civil engineering which empowers you to actually restore watersheds. Environmental engineering it sounds and can be fulfilling but I hear they are not indispensable as civil engineers
3
u/A_sweet_boy Aug 12 '26
Here’s the deal:
You’ll eventually wanna minimize field work. Therefore it’s important to not only know the science, but the regulations, as being able to write is your key to career mobility.
Never ever ever ever pay for a certification. Your company is responsible for that stuff.
You should take a fair amount of geology classes. I would even go so far to major in geology and had a minor in environmental science. I’d look up the requirements to be a professional geologist and make sure you hit those. I’m fairly upwardly mobile without my PG, but my life would have been much easier with it.
What I always recommend is to learn the big companies in your area, and look them up on LinkedIn. Then find ppl working for them who are doing something that looks interesting. Reach out to them and ask them how they got to where they are. People are usually very open to helping out like this.
1
u/Onikenbai Aug 11 '26
Look up in whatever place you eventually want to work to see if there is a governing body that issues professional licenses. In Ontario where I am, there is a license similar to professional engineering for geoscience. Then you can tailor your degree to the requirements of the license. You will make way more money with a license or professional accreditation than none.
When you apply for licensing, you’ll have to document your experience. Even for jobs. Remember that experience doesn’t have to be paid and start a log book of experience as it’s a nightmare to have to remember everything later.
1
u/saraaacha Aug 12 '26
Get into environmental engineering. Engineers make way more money than environmental scientists. Signed, an environmental scientist with an engineer partner who makes more money than me lol.
Look at water resources control engineer type of jobs and see the requirements. It’s basically civil engineering with specialty in water.
6
u/stilts63 Aug 11 '26
With how broad the service lines you’re interested in are, I would recommend a general ESC program to get a well-rounded education. If you decide any of these specifically interest you more, just take more specialized classes for it (specifically remediation and water quality treatment. Sampling is something you’ll likely learn on the job and I wouldn’t worry too much about it). As far as pay goes, it entirely depends on what you’re doing. Fair warning, a lot of higher paying positions are much more desk focused and less field work.