My read of the original paper by Brickney is that technical/analytical skills are very important. Looking at their PCA, most of the variation lies on a spectrum of technical/analytical/field experience to project management/interpersonal. Despite comments on this listserv, both hard and soft skills seem to be important.
Also, the analysis only explains 60% of the variation, which is a vast amount in a job-market that has a lot of highly specialized duties and highly diverse workplaces. Ecology-related job places are astounding in how different they are. Lots of banter about GIS. I'd like to throw in my two-cents: everything in ecology has a space-time context, and colleagues without basic GIS facilities are frustratingly difficult to work or communicate with. Second, if you are serious about working with large ecological data or serious about taking up GIS, beware of courses that amount to little more than ESRI tutorials and set you up with a platform of limitation and disappointment. Even at the highest echelons of ArcMastery (and expensive licenses), you'll inevitably end up having to tell your superiors that you couldn't complete such-and-such a task because 'ArcGIS doesn't do that.' (But hey, that's a good looking map!) Getting really good at ArcGIS is like becoming a master of Macromedia right before Flash came out: they jump from Avenue, to VB, to Python, to .... ? Instead, if you use R for GIS, there is always a way to do what you want. It may be difficult, but mastering R for a difficult GIS task yields transferable skills in a host of disciplines. It used to be a huge pain, but recent libraries like 'rgeos' (mixed with 'rgdal' and 'raster') give users most of the cookie-cutter facilities familiar to ESRI users. And its free. Rob On Feb 17, 2013 6:04 PM, "Wayne Tyson" <landr...@cox.net> wrote: > Ecolog: > > It's just interesting that the number-one skill required for ecology is > GIS. Now I know why I was such a failure! > > Well, on second thought, I guess I shouldn't place all the blame on the > absence of GIS skills (and the absence of GIS at the time). I "sucked" at > statistics too--but what the hell, statisticians need jobs too, no? > > So after I got out of the military, I took Business Administration and a > few courses of Public Administration, but the latter I had to learn mostly > on-the-job--no college can prepare one for the absurdities of > "administration" and "management" in bureaucracies, government and private. > > I took business law. 'Nuff said. > > I was no chemist, molecular biologist, or microbiologist either, so I > hired them when I needed them. The smidgen of those subjects I knew about > was often enough to get by without them, but I sure do wish that I had had > more of them, and WAY more geology. > > Margaret Mead once said that "the most important thing to know is what you > don't know." > That concept took off any pressure to be an APC (all-purpose capsule), to > know EVERYTHING, and worse, to BELIEVE it. Ever notice how many people DO > know everything? > > But SHOULD your objective be focused entirely upon getting a job and > fighting your way up the pyramid? Well, you'll need a job, of course, but > if that's all you're focused on, that's all you'll ever have. Academic > training can be a valuable thing, but it's only a START--even at the Ph.D. > level. (Howls and screams.) You have to get to the point where "everything" > seems to fall into place, and you come to UNDERSTAND how things work. (See > "Breaking Through," The Ed Ricketts biography by Katherine A. Rodger, and > "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Richard Feynman. "The Log From the > Sea of Cortez" by John Steinbeck (and Ricketts) is also a great read, as is > the entire book, "The Sea of Cortez" by the same author(s).) Read widely. > Experience widely. > > Don't waste your life; do what you're passionate about. Have expectations > of yourself if you want, but don't waste your life having expectations of > others. If you're not passionate, get an MBA and get rich. > > WT > > "The worst kinda ignerance ain't so much not knowin', a 'tis knowin' so > much that ain't so? --"Josh Billings" > > "They tell us we are wasting time--but we are wasting our LIVES!" --Eric > Hoffer > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "malcolm McCallum" < > malcolm.mccallum@HERPCONBIO.**ORG <malcolm.mccal...@herpconbio.org>> > To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> > Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 8:03 PM > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] A Graduate Student's Guide to Neces sary Skills > for Landing a Job > > > Clara, I agree. >> >> To be marketable in the workplace you must have skills that are in >> demand in the workplace. Its that simple. Too many students graduate >> without marketable skills. >> Marketability for grad school does not equal marketability for a job >> out of the BS. >> You want to get a job in ecological field? >> Here are the skills I recommend: >> 1. GIS >> 2. statistics >> 3. public administration >> 4. env/wildlife/fisheries policy & law >> 5. Any and all instrumentation involving chemistry, molecular biology and >> micro. >> >> Why? >> Everything uses GIS today. >> Statistics are just plain required. >> If you are working in the public sector, PA will prepare you for what >> you actually do most of the time...paperwork. >> policy and law is mostly what you will be doing paperwork on (permits >> and permitting issues!) >> instrumentation may pick you up a research tech post. >> >> Also, if you go into the private sector, every one of those areas is >> highly marketable. >> If you have none of them, you are going to have a rougher time. >> Again, this is coming out of a BS. >> >> Ideally, you better have Wildlife + Wildlife Techniques if going into >> a wildlife field or Fisheries + fisheries techniques if going into a >> fish field. You might check the respective certification programs. >> Anything ecotox will help too. >> >> Malcolm >> >> >> >> On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 5:31 PM, Clara B. Jones <foucaul...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> 1. ...assuming that your summary is an accurate reflection of the >>> *CB*article... >>> 2. ...i am shocked that there is no mention of actual skills...most of >>> the >>> traits you mention might be categorized as "intangible"...you need these >>> skills to be a car salesman...not to impugn car sales-persons... >>> 3. ...IMO, an applicant has a better edge if s/he brings something >>> transferrable [marketable!] to the table that no-one else brings to the >>> table... >>> 4. ...often this "something" is one or more quantitative skill... >>> 5. ...or, skill in a fundamental or "hot" area of research w long-term >>> potential... >>> 6. ...or, a grant... >>> 7. ...i am somewhat exercised by your post because, IMO, too many young, >>> especially, female, applicants don't bring much to the table that others >>> don't already know or that cannot be readily duplicated or that is mostly >>> generalist-oriented... >>> 8. ...early-career applicants need to bring something "with legs"...as my >>> Grandmother Jackson used to say...in other words, bring something to the >>> table that can go somewhere [that the department and the >>> college/university >>> and the field want to go]... >>> 9. ...clara b. jones >>> >>> On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Helen Bothwell <helen.bothw...@nau.edu >>> >wrote: >>> >>> In a recent publication in Conservation Biology, Blickley et al. (2012) >>>> analayzed what skills are necessary for graduate students to be >>>> competitive in >>>> the job market. We discuss these in the Early Career Ecologists blog >>>> and >>>> hope >>>> that many of you will find this useful: >>>> >>>> http://earlycareerecologists.**wordpress.com/2013/02/12/a-** >>>> graduate-students-<http://earlycareerecologists.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/a-graduate-students-> >>>> guide-to-necessary-skills-for-**landing-a-job/<http://** >>>> earlycareerecologists.**wordpress.com/2013/02/12/a-** >>>> graduate-students-guide-to-**necessary-skills-for-landing-**a-job/<http://earlycareerecologists.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/a-graduate-students-guide-to-necessary-skills-for-landing-a-job/> >>>> > >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Clara B. Jones >>> Director >>> Mammals and Phenogroups (MaPs) >>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbjones1943 >>> Cell: -828-279-4429 >>> Blog Profile: >>> http://www.blogger.com/**profile/09089578792549394529<http://www.blogger.com/profile/09089578792549394529> >>> Brief CV: >>> http://**vertebratesocialbehavior.**blogspot.com/2012/10/clara-b-** >>> jones-brief-cv.html<http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com/2012/10/clara-b-jones-brief-cv.html> >>> >>> >>> >>> "Where no estimate of error of any kind can be made, generalizations >>> about >>> populations from sample data are worthless." Ferguson, 1959 >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Malcolm L. McCallum >> Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry >> School of Biological Sciences >> University of Missouri at Kansas City >> >> Managing Editor, >> Herpetological Conservation and Biology >> >> "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - >> Allan Nation >> >> 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert >> 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, >> and pollution. >> 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction >> MAY help restore populations. >> 2022: Soylent Green is People! >> >> The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) >> Wealth w/o work >> Pleasure w/o conscience >> Knowledge w/o character >> Commerce w/o morality >> Science w/o humanity >> Worship w/o sacrifice >> Politics w/o principle >> >> Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any >> attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may >> contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized >> review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not >> the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and >> destroy all copies of the original message. >> >> >> ----- >> No virus found in this message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 10.0.1430 / Virus Database: 2639/5610 - Release Date: 02/17/13 >> >>
