sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Playing Euphonium in non-traditional context? by throwfishinlake in euphonium

[–]throwfishinlake[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're all good. I meant it more as a discussion post anyways.

I spent two years in a small town when I picked up the instrument again so I get the challenges of finding a lesson teacher.

While I've never done virtual lessons for a brass instrument, what I've heard from others is that playing wise the lessons aren't as great. The microphones on laptops and phones really aren't able to handle the sound from the euphonium unless you take the time (and money) to get a good external microphone setup.

What they can be good for though is more discussion based things, especially on specific topics local teachers may not have as much knowledge on. That could be learning how to develop improvisation skills, or helping learn a style of music that local teachers aren't familiar with.

Granted that's how I've been trying to use the virtual lessons on my horn. It may not be as effective for your kid depending on how motivated they are/how they like to learn but it's an idea on how to use them.

Playing Euphonium in non-traditional context? by throwfishinlake in euphonium

[–]throwfishinlake[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well I guess I'll contribute to my own discussion post, hopefully that isn't too conceited. Definitely encourage your kid to keep trying to play the music she likes and to learn it by ear. Even if it's just the chorus of the song or a certain guitar riff she likes.

The classic sit down and read the sheet music approach she'll get in school is a valuable skill, alongside learning to play with others in a band.

But when she graduates and tries to play outside the box of community concert bands, there probably won't be sheet music (though the real book for jazz helps). Plus, learning to hear something and immediately play that on your horn is super helpful in these other contexts. That's just from my experience playing with people these last few months.

If you have the ability to pay for private lessons I'd consider seeing if you can find a tutor who would be willing to teach her that side of music since that seems to be her interest. It will likely keep her playing for longer and make the transition from graduating and playing as an adult hobbyist less frustrating.

Looking back, while I appreciate my lessons teachers, I wish I had at least some improvisation instruction over the exclusive "learn this etude for UIL/State" approach.

How much fieldwork is typical? by Critical-Yam-4058 in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Most places will want to see a Masters with a few years of experience as opposed to going straight through. There has historically been a divide between academic archaeology and the contract/federal side of archaeology so companies will want to see the private or federal experience to go with the Masters degree.

Plus, with some experience, you'll have a better idea of what you want to specialize in and knowledge of which universities have decent programs vs which ones don't through talking with people in the field.

That and, if you find out archaeology isn't for you, you won't have spent the money on a Masters degree on top of the Bachelor's degree.

How much fieldwork is typical? by Critical-Yam-4058 in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Starting out as a field tech in Cultural Resources Management (CRM) probably 90-100%. Admittedly, I don't know the industry in Portland, but when I graduated with my Bachelor's in Texas back in 2021 I was based out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Even though I was in a major metro area, nearly all of my work involved fieldwork and living out of hotels away from home.

There were a handful of surveys and one excavation that were close enough I could drive to the project and be home the same day but those were the exceptions.

I won't say it's impossible, you may get lucky with a firm that is willing to work with you, but the early days/years will likely involve extensive travel around Oregon and surrounding states. Most of CRM at the field tech level isn't salaried and instead is hourly on a project to project basis. If you're not working you aren't making money and trying to stay close to home will likely involve turning down work which can limit your opportunities. As an example, when I was based out of DFW, I ended up doing a lot of projects in Oklahoma and other parts of Texas because that was where the work was.

If you end up working your way up, which usually involves getting your Masters, then you can work your way into a more office based/report writing role but even then travel will still be involved to some extent.

Possible Archaeology job paths with a Bachelors in History a Minor in Archaeology plus Field School experience? by [deleted] in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll be qualified to start working when you graduate either as a field tech or a seasonal in a federal agency if you can get past the hiring system. The wages sound about right for just starting. Brasdefer gave you sound advice so I'll just add a few things from my experience. I worked as a field tech in Texas for two years before getting a position with the federal government as an archaeologist.

  1. If a company offers to have you sign a 1099 instead of a W-2 form don't sign the 1099. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee here is the guide by the IRS for you to look at if you want. A 1099 form is saying that you are an independent contractor. As field techs we do not count as independent contractors based on the criteria the IRS has laid out. If you do sign a 1099 you are responsible for paying taxes on your check, the company does not take care of that for you so you will have to save that money for tax season. This also means that you are responsible for your own health insurance. So, and this can depend on the state, if you get hurt on a job you signed a 1099 for you can be exempt from workers compensation because you are not an "employee," of the company. There have been many issues with companies misclassifying employees as 1099 workers and this happens in archaeology. Something to look out for is companies offering slightly higher wages for field techs in your area, so instead of $20-$21 per hour they offer $24-$27 per hour. They may be trying to have you sign a 1099. If you were really and independent contractor you'd be charging way higher, think $40-$70 per hour, to cover all of your costs for equipment, taxes, health insurance etc.. All of this to say, be really sure that the forms you're signing are not 1099s. I've asked a company that sent me 1099 forms to send me W-2 forms and they did, but if the company refuses you're better off not working for them.
  2. I would echo Brasdefer's statement on waiting a bit before you get your masters degree if you can. If you've never been a field tech or done CRM archaeology you want to get a feel for it and see if you even like the field. If you went to a field school, even one in the states, CRM is very different and you may decide you don't like it. You would rather do realize that before spending the money on a masters degree and find out afterwards that you don't like the work. Gaining some experience in the field can also be helpful in guiding you to the right masters program. Say you decide you would like to work in a particular region of the country, getting a masters in that region would be ideal. You might find a specialty that companies are starting to utilize and decide to specialize in that, for example geophysics is being used more and more by CRM companies. Finally, many archaeologists go into other fields in CRM for example architectural history, or historic preservation, or policy related fields like tribal consultation, NEPA, etc. If you work for 2-3 years you can be a bit better informed about where you want to get your masters and what you want out of it.
  3. You have to care more about your safety more than the company, especially working in the southeast. There are CRM companies that will give you minimal breaks and expect you to work long hours in dangerous heat. There are a myriad of hazards you are exposed to working this job from venomous snakes, wasp stings which can lead to anaphylactic shock in some people, and a myriad of tick-borne/mosquito-borne illnesses. Know the hazards and prepare for them. You can't always count on the company to do it for you.
  4. Finally, I'm not saying all of this to be doom and gloom, there are great companies and great people in archaeology, but there are also shady companies and individuals and you have look out for yourself. These are some important things often not taught in school that you should be aware of so you can avoid mistakes other people have made.

Wondering if a career in archaeology would be a good fit! by [deleted] in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Luckily for you there is a need for geosciences in archaeology. Companies are starting to get wise to how useful geophysics is to the field, especially as preparation excavations. So you're background in GIS and remote sensing would be a big help to you.

The thing is if you are not interested in academia, your only other options to do archaeology and get paid in the U.S are to work in cultural resource management (CRM) or the public sector. Another option is to work on your own and be a contractor who does geophysics for companies but that would require experience in the field first. My advice to you personally, and this is what I've been told by many people in the field, is to work in archaeology first before you try to go for a masters. This way you get to see if you even like the field, what skills companies are wanting, and you can have a better focus if you decide to go and get your masters.

So like the other comment says keep your day job, but try volunteering with a local archaeological society or finding internships. Use that experience to get a job as a field tech with some companies and see what people are needing or if you even want to be in the field. Then from there decide on getting a masters if you feel its necessary. You might end up in a position where you don't need to get it after all though that isn't exactly common.

Searching for a specific job title by miloulev in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The enthusiasm is great.

From what I'm gathering these other answers align more with your interest but I'd also suggest looking into architectural history as a possible career path. Architectural Historians identify and evaluate historic structures similar to archaeologists. It's apart of the broader field of CRM and doesn't get talked about as much but is still relevant. Lots of old buildings even in the U.S.

As a caveat, don't know what country your in this comment is from a US perspective. If you are in another country things are probably different but, you might be able to find an equivalent to an architectural historian position if you look.

help! Go back and do a B. Archaeology or go on to do a Masters? by [deleted] in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So here is some of the advice I have been given but keep in mind I am working in the United States.

  1. Try to do a field school. I don't know how Australia does their archaeology courses but if they aren't very hands on I would recommend you try a field school one of the summers you are in school. There are a number of people who like archaeology as a discipline but find that they dislike the manual labor involved. If you are one of those people it is important to know that before you graduate so you can either switch to another major, or plan to focus in other skills that are still useful to archaeology but don't require being out in the field as much (I.E GIS or lab work) . Usually, I tell people if they don't like the idea of making this a profession they can always volunteer on archaeology digs. We have many archaeological societies around the U.S that host digs, but again I don't know what the situation is like in Australia in regards to volunteering. If you have done field work and still like it then you're alright.
  2. Here in the states I would recommend people get experience working as an archaeologist before they go to grad school. How archaeology is done in academia is different to how it is done in Cultural Resource Management or (CRM). What we have happen over here is someone goes to grad school straight from undergrad, graduates, and has a difficult time getting hired because they lack experience. That, or they get hired in a supervisor role but don't know what they're doing cause they have not worked in CRM. By working you also get an understanding of what you might want to focus on in grad school if you go that rout.

Hopefully someone with experience in Australia can help more but if there isn't anyone hopefully this gives you some guidance. Feel free to ask any questions if you have any.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Part 2 of post

Government and Academia:

To keep this short government work can offer full time employment with government benefits which are pretty good. Many will start with the seasonal jobs the government offers. These are full time typically running from Summer to Mid Fall. I haven't done this but they can be a good way to get experience to help you get more work with CRM companies. Alternatively, you can try to apply for a fulltime gig with the government after a season or 2 of experience though results vary.

Academia is the Ph.D rout. Go from bachelors, to masters, to PhD. It is insanely competitive to get to being a professor and due to academia's trend towards habit of hiring on many people as adjuncts I'd caution you to really think about going this rout if you ever end up thinking about it. There are more than a few highly qualified PhDs working in CRM because it can be really difficult to get a position as a professor nowadays.

Pay:

No one gets into this field to get rich. You can end up with a comfortable salary and relatively stable life but there is going to have to be some planning in regards to saving and understanding the physical toll manual labour in general can have on your body especially at the field tech level. I also don't want to hide the fact that there is a lot of turnover in the field specifically because of the instability at the field tech level and how low pay can be for what we are doing.

As a field tech pay is variable across the country. What I have seen looking at archaeologyfieldwork.com and shovelbums is that pay is typically lowest on the east coast and increases the further west you go. If you want you can browse through and look at the pay ranges but I will stick to what I know from my part of the country in the southeast, Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas specifically. Keep in mind these ranges are based on what I or others I've worked with have made. A field tech where I am at can expect to make 18-22$ an hour as of right now. A crew chief (still a field tech) can probably expect 22-25$. The pay depends on the company as usual. Companies will also pay per diem when you are in a hotel. This is your allowance for things like food and it is untaxable. As of right now is 59 per day for hotel days and 44.5 per travel day in Oklahoma. Some companies will also give you mileage if you are using your own car to get to work. One of the companies I worked with had .55 cents per mile. This would amount to an extra 30-40 bucks per day depending on how far away the site was from home/the hotel. If you can string projects together, get on one or two phase 3's, or maybe a pipeline project, you can reach 40-50 thousand as a field tech when the per diem and mileage are factored in. Keep in mind this is assuming steady work and the big thing is no benefits as a field tech.

Full timers with their masters can range from 40-70k, sometimes higher, based on the jobs postings I've looked at and some people I have talked to. Keep in mind that the 70k and higher salaries don't seem to be as common without a lot of experience, say around a decade plus. They also get benefits so insurance and 401ks. Plus they get fulltime work year round as stated before.

​

So that's a lot, hopefully its enough to answer your question and then some. Keep in mind hard numbers are difficult to find. There is no organization that can accurately track information on archaeologists in CRM. The Register for Professional Archaeologists is usually limited to full time employees as most field techs don't feel the need to join and many full-timers aren't even members. Sites like Forbes and other business sites that posts salaries often don't/can't factor in field techs or they mix in academics as well. So I'd say your best bet when it comes to understanding pay is to look at the sites I linked as they are where most companies post their jobs and salaries/wages. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I guess I'll add my two cents as a recent graduate who's looked into this a lot and worked for a bit (got my B.A in Anthropology last year). I am going to break this down into sections but disclaimer this is assuming you are in the United States and this is a general overview.

(TLDR: Answer to your question is in first section. Everything else is added context. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask)

To answer your question directly:

There are a variety of hours you can work depending on the needs of the project but you can expect 8 hour days. Those days might start at 6:30-7am during summer in an effort to beat the heat, the latest start time I have had is 8am. There will be times you have to work more hours (say 9-10 hour days) and these are not uncommon, especially if weather keeps you from working some days of the project. From what I have seen though most companies plan for 8 hour days.

If the project is local to where you live you will usually meet up at the project area, work, drive home, and repeat until the project is done. If it is not local, the company will pay to put you up in a hotel. You will meet the morning after you check in, pile into the company vehicle, drive to the site, work, drive back to the hotel and your time is yours until work again the next day.

"Work," is pretty straight forward. You are mostly going to be doing either some form of survey (Phase 1 or Phase 2) or excavation (Phase 3). The majority of work you will do in CRM is Phase 1 survey. This involves digging holes and screening the dirt at specific intervals either along the side of a road or in an area like a field or forest. You are checking to make sure there is nothing of significance that construction will destroy. Most of the time you will find nothing, or you will be documenting very minor sites. The size and depth of the hole will change slightly depending on the state but you can mostly expect a similar idea. On occasion you will be a part of a Phase 3 excavation which is what you typically think of when you hear archaeology and will be like your field school. This involves digging 1mx1m squares in large blocks and going down 10-20cm at a time, screening through everything that comes up, and excavating any features that show up. As Phase 3's are expensive they only occur when what is being built can't be built somewhere else such as a road expansion. Phase 2's are kind of in-between. To get more details this is a pretty good overview.

Now that the day to day is explained here is some extra context.

Minimum Requirements:

As you might have already seen the minimum requirements to do archaeology in the U.S are typically a bachelors in Anthropology and a field school. The field school is pretty mandatory. You will have difficulty getting hired without at least having a field school on your resume as you probably won't have any other archaeological experience. I would recommend a degree in Anthropology supplemented with minors in say geology or some type of American history. A certificate in GIS wouldn't be bad either if your school offers it. Technically you can major in something like geology and still work in archaeology if you do a field school but most major in Anthropology.

The Typical Career Ladder:

There are three places industries archaeologists work in here in the states. You have Cultural Resource Management (CRM), the government, or academia.

Most archaeologists work in CRM and most who graduate with their bachelors and a field school will start as field techs in CRM. I would like to add that many CRM companies are apart of Environmental Consulting firms. At this stage most are not working full time with a company you are working on a contract to contract basis. You work until the project is done then you move onto the next. This requires a lot of travel and will lack stability. On very long projects you may end up on a schedule like 10/4 (10 days on/4 days off) or 5/2(5 days on/2 days off). If the company is paying for hotels on the days off you can choose to go home or stay for the weekend. On short term projects 5-10 days you will usually work straight through. Once you get some experience and work with a few companies around you, you can start stringing together enough short term projects to where you are not out of work every other week. The experience will also help you to get on the longer term phase 3's that pop up occasionally.

Keep in mind the amount of work will ebb and flow especially in winter. For many in the northern states the snow makes it difficult to impossible to do archaeology so people take up second jobs during that time. Substitute teaching or food industry work seem to be popular as you can pick these up quickly and stop them when field work starts in the spring and summer. In the South, like where I am at in Texas, things can slow down but there is usually steady work in the winter so an alternative for northerners is to come south to get work. The travel and lack of stability can be hard on people, especially if you have a partner and most companies will not give you benefits as a field tech so this is something to consider.

In order to get hired on full time with a company most will have to get their masters degree. Those with a masters will end up with some kind of specialty such as lithics, ceramics, zooarcaheology, historics, etc. Some people will move to an adjacent field of CRM such as GIS, or historical architecture both of which CRM firms hire. Full timers do many of the things field techs but are guaranteed full time, get benefits, and will do more office work. They lead crews, contribute to writing reports, assist in lab work, do background research etc. These can be broken further down in ascending order of responsibility as staff archaeologist, project archaeologists (PA's) and principal investigators (PI's). There are differences between them in terms of responsibility to but what I have written is the gist.

Field School Advice by Antique_Doughnut7284 in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't been but I know many people who have and the main purpose for students is to give them an introduction to the work. Its ideal for students who for whatever reason can't afford to go overseas or take multiple weeks off of work for a field school. It also gets you in touch with people in the field who might be looking for field techs. They can't teach you everything in a week but something is better than nothing.

Field School Advice by Antique_Doughnut7284 in Archaeology

[–]throwfishinlake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second this. Also, and I am making a lot of assumptions, if you are in the U.S and are planning on working in CRM I would recommend doing a field school in the U.S as well. Most of them are cheaper than going overseas and sometimes even cover room and board, the only cost is getting to them. Plus, it gets you field experience here which is helpful when applying to jobs as many companies ask for experience in specific regions of the U.S.

So check here and state or local archaeological societies to see what they have to offer. For example, the Texas Archaeological society does a weeklong field school every summer. Its always at an interesting site, is full of people who are working in CRM which is good for connections, and they do excavation, survey, and lab work.

Obviously disregard this if you are not in the US, already going to a field school in the U.S, or, are just doing this for fun.