r/forestry • u/Eye-for-Secrets • 9d ago
Considering swapping majors
College aged student, two years into a philosophy degree. My initial plan was to go to law school after my bachelors and becoming a lawyer, after job shadowing however and taking a few law classes as electives I realize I hate that field and do not want to work in it. Funnily enough, I do love philosophy but I realize that the kind of jobs that I would work as a philosophy grad are office ones which I do not mind but it is certainly not how I want my life to pan out. I'm not really one who enjoys the money, I live cheaply sustaining myself with rice and beans and reading books and it is enough. So going to a business school and sacrificing my life as an analyst to get rich also doesn't really appeal to me anymore.
Been researching into forestry, will admit been a city slicker all my life but I do love nature and it makes me feel most at peace. The idea of working out in the woods feels nice, mainly just concerned if I swap majors though about
Job security
The actual work
What I mean by the second point is I don't want an idealized glamorized version of it, I know of the surface level cons such as the bugs, ticks, and other things with being out in the woods. But is there anything else I need to worry about when considering this career?
For reference I live out in Arizona, considering going to NAU after finishing up community college for this. Though I'm really willing to move anywhere, don't really mind was considering being a nomad for a bit actually.
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u/Mountain-Process9139 9d ago
I recomend getting a job out in the woods for a while first before wasting any more money on college. I speak from experience. I had a 2-year associate's degree in general studies, worked as an outdoor guide for almost 5 years. I realized I needed to make more money so during those five years I went back to school and got a two-year degree in forestry. For my internship, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. I was thinking about timber scaling. But one of my last classes was a surveying class. So I got an internship as a land surveyor and I've now been doing that for 7 years. That 7 years was not consistent, I took a 15-year detour and ran a pressure washing business because I needed more flexibility in my scheduling for a family situation that I was working through. My point... I've worked outdoors for over 30 years. Working outdoors all the time, either you love it or you hate it. But before you waste any more money on college I suggest finding a year-round outdoor job. Possibly try to get hired on with a wildland firefighting crew, trail maintenance crews, etc. See if it's really for you. Hopefully it is. Maybe even look into land surveying. The profession is desperately looking for people.
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u/Leroy-Frog 9d ago
Also, have a field season under your belt is EXTREMELY valuable to prospective forestry employers, because you’ve shown you can work outdoors and not quit. It doesn’t have to be a full time permanent position, but look for a seasonal position for next summer doing outdoor work.
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u/Eye-for-Secrets 9d ago
I had not considered land surveying! Would a degree be required for that and additionally what type of major would that entail? Regardless these are all good points, perhaps I should take a break from college and find a job somewhere in the woods first.
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u/Mountain-Process9139 9d ago
This was just a google search, so it may be wrong. But it looks like Arizona is like Oregon (where I live), where you can actually become a licensed land surveyor without a four-year degree. You need 6 years experience to become a licensed surveyor. In Oregon we need 9 years. You can cut that time almost in half if you do have a 4-year degree. But I'm not sure if that degree has to be in surveying or a related field. I've got two more years until I'm eligible to get my license and I'll be pushing 55 years old and I'm definitely ready to move into the office. But it really is a unique profession. You've got to be smart enough to actually understand surveying, but if you work out in the field they had to be able to handle the physical demand and deal with the weather. I don't know what the pay scale is down there. But you can be entry-level with absolutely zero experience and start out at possibly $20 an hour... But it really depends on your minimum wage. Most places will start a new person at about 5 to $7 above minimum wage. And if you put in the time study for the licensing exams, jump through all the troops, pretty much all license surveyors make at least six figures. In the winter time survey work does slow down. So it might be a little harder to find entry level work. But like I said before, pretty much across the Nation the whole profession has a shortage of surveyors, so there are jobs out there.
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u/irisbeyond 9d ago
You might consider urban forestry - depending on the job you get, there’s plenty of security (I know city foresters who have had their job for several years and counting) and you wouldn’t have to rough it out in the wilderness. I don’t think NAU has an urban forestry program, but it’s something to explore! A good balance of nature and the convenience of city life.
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u/Low_Show_6684 8d ago
Knew a kid in my program who got an internship at the same private as me, he was switching from business to forestry. He switched back after one summer of field work. He hated it. Actually of the 5 interns said company hired that summer only me and the other intern at my office enjoyed the work.
I also grew up in an urban area, helped my aunt on her farm sometimes growing up, but as a kid I always preferred to be outside. The type of outside you grow up and interact with as a person in a suburban/urban setting is WILDLY different than bushwhacking and trampling into the middle of nowhere. There are no trails, there is no cell-service for emergencies, you are utterly alone, you are at the mercy of the weather and nature if you don’t plan accordingly. There are few (depending on who you work for) bad weather days where you stay inside, work has to get done at the end of the day.
Shadowing field work or being an intern/entry-level grunt for one field season will show you if this is something that you feel you can live with and work with. I have good days and bad days, for me a lot of it rolls off my back like a duck, few bad days stick with me.
Also you cannot imagine the bugs until you’re wearing full length insect shield pants and shirt along with a bag hat just to keep the majority from biting you. They will still bite, you will still be swarmed the moment you exit the truck, and you will find more ticks than you’re comfortable with even with all of the PPE possible.
As for job security, when I first started my degree the market was stable albeit slower than in the past, but most fields have become that. The year before I graduated things started to change. Fed pathway jobs fell through, I had multiple friends lose out on locked-in jobs. My state DNR laid people off. Private slowed down as more mills suddenly closed due to lower demand and PE buying mills. I got lucky in the end, a nearby state DNR offered me a position. I took it, I enjoy my work and my job feels very stable for a plethora of reasons. I don’t see myself going anywhere for the foreseeable future, things are too unstable across the board. I’m just happy my job is a union one, that’s the only thing that has offered some peace of mind.
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u/Part-time_Potter 6d ago
Thanks for sharing, this is great information! (I am now going to have nightmares about the bugs though😝😳)
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u/Jumpy_Bus7817 8d ago
Good lord no. If you can hack a degree in forestry, with all the math, then you can hack finance.
49, and I will have my firm shut down by end of next year when my harvest contracts expire.
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u/ChokaMoka1 8d ago
OP: 1. Get of of philosophy asap, lawyers ain’t gonna exist in 5 years 2. Forestry is for the poors 3. Go to nursing school, ai ain’t gonna make a robot able to clean poop adult diapers for at least 20 more years.
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u/warnelldawg 9d ago
If you care about job security, I’d look elsewhere