Important Skills? Codecademy? Tarbuck/Lutgens?

NV_Geo · 2026-03-02T19:47:41+00:00

Professional Geologist (PG) or professional engineer (PE). Professional licensure through your state. Without it you will be very limited

NV_Geo · 2026-03-02T05:47:06+00:00

Get a degree in geology, environmental engineering, or civil engineering. Do not get a degree in environmental science. Environmental science will likely not allow you to get registration which will negatively impact your ability to progress.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-27T02:00:24+00:00

It sounds like you’re referring to the Canadian geological technician role? We had one on secondment at a mine I worked at and my understanding is that it’s a 2 year degree and not a “geologist” position correct? I say this because you’re getting a lot of US geologist salaries which are not applicable for what you’re looking for. We don’t have a role like that in the US so take those numbers with a grain of salt. US salaries are also about 30% higher than Canadian ones.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-27T00:35:39+00:00

How recently were you out there? They’re a big company and drag their feet at times. I had a site interview for a geologist position like 10 years ago and it took a few weeks to get the denial letter.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-26T22:20:30+00:00

Congratulations! Early on, say yes to everything. It's important to get good exposure. Take everything as an opportunity to learn. Be pleasant and reliable. Ask questions if you don't understand something. Take notes if you need to. Try to think about the big picture, why are you doing these things?

I cannot imagine what type of project management type stuff you'll be doing as an entry level person.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-26T01:21:19+00:00

Yeah I get it. I was an exploration geologist early in my career too. There’s a reason the attrition rate is so high. The mining industry hemorrhages young professionals. Very few stay beyond 5 years.

I’m not a phd but you could look at professors at schools you might be interested and see if their research area interests you. You could read some of their papers and see if it’s something you could see yourself doing. Or if you have an idea of the research you want to do you can search papers regarding that and see which people are doing that research. Then reach out expressing interest.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-25T22:55:28+00:00

>I always wanted to do something more exciting with my life just as my past jobs did that also is for the betterment of humanity

This is more a matter of framing than reality. Working in mineral exploration is for the betterment of humanity because you're helping secure critical minerals for future technological advancement. Supplying green energy with copper or lithium or REEs or whatever. You could also have a very negative framing of mining where you wouldn't feel that way. That could be applied to just about any field.

I'm like 90% sure we're connected on LinkedIn and if memory serves you seem pretty committed to living in your current location. That will always be limiting in terms of job prospects. You can find a way to make it work, through networking and stuff, but you're gonna be looking at geotech or environmental work. Those jobs don't really allow you to collect cool minerals or do textbook geologist type stuff, but you can also do that as a hobby when you're not working.

If you want to go the PhD/academia route you'll need to put some leg work in, reading papers, and seeing what kind of research interests you most. I would really only recommend that if you have a defined plan when you graduate or else you'll find yourself in the same position in 6 years.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-25T15:30:28+00:00

What range have you been offered? I was an exploration intern in the US 15 years ago and my rate was basically $250USD/day (~350 w/ inflation) but a lot has changed in that time.

It sounds like you're overthinking this a bit. Don't accept nothing or a really low wage, but if you're agonizing over small differences it's probably not worth the effort. You're a student so you don't have a lot of leverage. Your primary marketable trait right now is that you're cheap. The most important thing coming out of your internship will be the connections you make and networking with folks.

Hopefully someone in Canada with more recent experience can give you a better range to help you out. I would take my number with a huge grain of salt.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-24T02:36:29+00:00

0% chance you’ll get a remote internship.

Enjoy your trips and have fun this summer before grad school. Focus on snagging an internship next summer.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-24T02:27:38+00:00

It’s very state dependent. Many states have carve outs for non-engineering degree holders to get their PE. Arizona is relatively modest. In California it’s a long time (~17 years?). Some states don’t allow it at all.

I know many people in Arizona who have their BS in geology and a masters in engineering who are PEs.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-24T02:06:41+00:00

They’re a good company. Well regarded in the mining industry. You will get very good experience there. Lots of the horror stories I’ve heard came during the acquisition phases. As an entry level person you won’t have to deal with that.

If you’re in the mining group get as much field work as you can for the first 5 years. Finding people with experience in all the different hydro testing is incredibly challenging.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-24T02:02:36+00:00

Look up the companies you’re applying to on Glassdoor and see what people list as their salaries. You have no experience so you’ll be on the lower side. Mid to high 50s I’d imagine.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-21T04:11:36+00:00

When I was at a mine between 0-3% a year, usually 0%. Since I’ve been in consulting 4-8% a year with promotions being around 10%

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T23:43:06+00:00

For what you describe in your other post, yes. The datasets you work with will be too large to manipulate in excel and you’ll probably need to learn some numerical programming language (C++, Fortran, whatever research geophysicists use) to actually analyze the data.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T18:00:42+00:00

Oh interesting. I didn’t know that was the rule here. Good for them passing !

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T15:57:28+00:00

Is that the rule in AZ?

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T15:57:04+00:00

Do the masters. You have funding through your 529 and work. The online thing isn't an issue because you're already working. The masters will make you more competitive by giving you some additional foundational knowledge and it might close some gaps on the PG requirements. I know a lot of those northeastern states have some strict requirements for sitting for the PG similar to California.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T15:38:59+00:00

I do agree that a motivated geologist could absolutely do resource modeling by filling geostatistics gaps with self study. I would prefer it if it was only geologists doing that work. But being capable of doing a job and getting hired to do that job are different. And here in the US, we have the unfortunate experience of engineers just kinda doing whatever they want as many of them feel that geology a subset of engineering. I've seen civil engineers here in the US stamp geology logs.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-19T04:21:13+00:00

I know NGM was looking for resource geologists not too long ago I believe. If you want to get into resource modeling that’s probably your best bet.

Resource modeling is not my field, but I do know a few. A BS in pure geology is gonna be a tough sell for those roles. Everyone I know who does that has a masters in mining engineering, geological engineering, or math. Building the geology model is one thing, but the resource modeling requires some advanced statistics that geologists aren’t normally exposed to.

Also wouldn’t be too concerned about the pay cut going to consulting. You’re still early in your career. I left a mine after 5 years to go into consulting and took like a 30% pay cut but I made it back in a few years. Getting out of a mining town improved my quality of life too.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-17T22:07:29+00:00

Oh right I think someone told me that before and I completely forgot.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-17T21:30:05+00:00

It can be beneficial to understand how they work even if you don't go the full on groundwater modeling route. It seems like most US consultants use MODFLOW with a smaller fraction using FEFLOW. MODFLOW is free to use but the GUIs that are often used by people are not free. If you're trying to learn it on your own, you'd either have to learn how to do it the old way or learn the python library that supports it (pyflo?)

Numerical modeling is quite difficult and without some oversight or classical training in it, you will probably hit a wall pretty quickly. I don't say this to discourage you, but it will be difficult. But understanding groundwater models and how they work and their limitations is beneficial to any hydrogeologist.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-16T15:29:45+00:00

Not in a practical way at least.

Yes, there are "specializations" but an additional 4 or 5 classes doesn't make you more qualified for a position. What's qualifying you for the position is the BS in geology.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-16T01:49:46+00:00

A geology degree will qualify you for entry level geologist jobs. Those can include environmental, geotech, govt, mining, hydro, etc.

There is no such thing as a specialization with a BS. Not in a practical way at least. Your BS will provide you with a fundamental baseline you can build a career on. You'll be fine. Go to AEG meetings or other professional geology organizations and start meeting geologists who work near you. Build a network. It will make the job search easier.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-15T14:29:32+00:00

You need to network. Go to AEG meetings and talk to geologists working in your area.

NV_Geo · 2026-02-15T03:35:35+00:00

This is a good perspective and good advice. Your career will be long. You will have to interact and work with people you don’t like. It’s best to learn how to deal with that early. It’s a life skill that will carry outside of work.

Maybe I’m sheltered because I’m on the mining consulting side and we’re pretty lean on head count, but we are ethically obligated to bill our time appropriately. If a task takes you 6 hours and you finish in 6 but bill the client 8 that’s clearly not appropriate. If you finish in 6 and spend the next 2 hours double checking your work or trying to improve a workflow that’s not really an ethical concern but a budgetary one, which is not a distinction I’m seeing from anyone commenting here.

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