Anyone work in environmental consulting (Amec/Golder/Stantec/etc)

[Super_Geo]

Have a couple quick questions for people in the industry:
- how applicable is a biology undergrad?
- is it hard to lateral into this field if you have semi-related experience?
- what kind of a position do you start in, how do you progress, etc.

Back when I worked in engineering, I remember using environmental consultants all the time, and for quite a wide variety of things. I'm not too familiar with how people start/progress... do you go through a rotation? Are there more sought after fields (pun intended) to be in?

Appreciate any insight. Thanks!

[tsi_neal]

I work in the industry

1. Biology is not overly applicable but it should get you in the door and where you take it depends on opportunity within the company (type of projects they currently have and usually get) and your motivation.

2. Depends, semi related experiance should help open doors.

3. Fresh out of school will usually start you water sampling in boring and remote parts of the province. But with prior experiance you may (likley) get to skip that part of the job.

What is your experiance and what type of environmental consulting do you want to do?

[Super_Geo]

Thanks Neal, I'm actually asking around for a friend. He has 3-4 years of experience in air quality testing out in the field. Do you know what kind of lateral opportunities that would provide? Also, is it a good area to be in or should he be looking to jump into a different area? Thanks man!

[tsi_neal]

There are a couple of companies around that specialize in air quality, and some of the larger firms have air quality departments, so that would be a very easy fit. If he is looking for change than he at least can play the I've been in the field sampling card. Either way its a win.

In some ways its an excellent field to be in, others less so. The reality is we are driven by government regulations on O&G, so the good news is great job stability but the bad new is we are a an expense that will rarely gets the money we should... (read as lower pay for "equivalent" positions to O&G, with the upside of a recession proof job). Many people are very happy in the field but there is a definite migration from consulting to O&G (often consulting is just the stepping stone to the appropriate environmental position at the O&G company)

[sxtasy]

Anybody with a forestry degree in this field?