{"id":113,"date":"2018-06-13T13:15:52","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T20:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/?p=113"},"modified":"2018-06-14T10:33:50","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T17:33:50","slug":"ubc-geography-alumni-blog-post-amy-thai-m-sc-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/2018\/06\/13\/ubc-geography-alumni-blog-post-amy-thai-m-sc-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"The Prodigal Geographer Returns Home: My Ongoing Hunt for the Elusive ‘Ideal’ Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amy Thai<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When we\u2019re young and someone asks us, \u201cSo what do you want to be when you grow up?\u201d it\u2019s an easy answer. \u201cA teacher!\u201d \u201cA doctor!\u201d \u201cAn astronaut!\u201d\u00a0 And maybe these days we\u2019ll also hear, \u201cA YouTuber!\u201d \u00a0When I graduated from university, I thought I wanted to go into \u201ccommunity-based environmental outreach\u201d.\u00a0 I wanted to teach everyone how to be green and save the world.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve now realized that what I want to be when I grow up is a moving target (as well as the definition of when we\u2019ve \u201cgrown up\u201d).\u00a0 Each job I\u2019ve had has been a lesson in what I like and dislike when it comes to a career, and I\u2019m still looking for that sweet spot.<\/p>\n

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\nModelling my \u201cinstrumented bicycle\u201d that I rode to collect data for my Master\u2019s thesis<\/em><\/p>\n

I completed my B.Sc. in Environmental Science (2005) with a minor in Physical Geography at UBC.\u00a0 My undergraduate education exposed me to a variety of sciences, including chemistry, biology, and physics, but it was the Department of Geography that stole my heart, hence the minor because I took enough geography classes for UBC to officially recognize my affinity for the department.\u00a0 I loved the small classes, passionate professors, and homely permanent temporary building that never seemed to change despite all the futuristic glass and reclaimed wood structures popping up everywhere else on campus.\u00a0 It reflected the department that it housed: a humble and unassuming powerhouse.\u00a0 Geographers were kind, intelligent, and a little rough and quirky.\u00a0 Those classes in GIS and meteorology made me feel like I had just scratched the surface of something so much bigger, so I applied to do my M.Sc. in geography. \u00a0I wanted to be part of that gritty yet brainy plaid- and fleece-wearing community. \u00a0I didn\u2019t apply anywhere else because there was nowhere else I wanted to study.\u00a0 I already felt at home here. \u00a0Despite those cautions of putting all of your eggs in one basket, I got in.\u00a0 For two years, I worked under Ian McKendry and my thesis focused on air pollution along bicycle routes.\u00a0 It was only after I was accepted to the program that I learned he was an avid cyclist too: I saw it as another sign I was in the right place.\u00a0 I had a pretty awesome time collecting data by cycling around the city, my handlebars laden with scientific equipment that was worth orders of magnitude more than my bike.\u00a0 To me, undergrad was a taste of university, but in grad school, I could really gorge on the university experience.\u00a0 I loved learning how to formulate my own hypothesis and designing a study to test it out.\u00a0 Chasing knowledge was a lot more rewarding than sitting in a lecture hall and having it handed to me.\u00a0 I graduated in 2007, and was off into the real world.<\/p>\n

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\nM<\/em>aking liquid nitrogen ice cream at my first post-university job as a <\/em>School Program Leader at the Calgary Science Centre<\/em><\/p>\n

My first job after graduation wasn\u2019t very glamorous and didn\u2019t even need a graduate degree.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even remember if it required a university education.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the type of job you\u2019d think someone fresh out of grad school would take, but I was moving to Calgary to follow my engineer boyfriend (now husband, so that all worked out) and didn\u2019t want to land there unemployed, so I took the first offer, which was with the Calgary Science Centre (now snazzily branded as the Telus Spark) as a School Program Leader.\u00a0 At the time, I was still interested in a career in environmental education, so I figured that would help me with the education part.\u00a0 At first, it was a lot of fun because I was running hands-on workshops for kids coming to the science centre for school field trips and organizing summer campus.\u00a0 Some days I felt like I was being paid to play.\u00a0 I built rollercoasters using K\u2019Nex and solar cars with Lego, I did experiments with liquid nitrogen and Bunsen burners.\u00a0 The first year was great and I felt it was pointing me toward my aspiration of being a \u201ccommunity-based environmental educator\u201d.\u00a0 But when September rolled around again, I just got a sense of \u201cOh.\u00a0 Here we go again.\u201d\u00a0 I was teaching the same workshops to another batch of kids.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how teachers do it year after year without feeling like a broken record.\u00a0 Plus, I was teaching all sorts of science, from geology to physics.\u00a0 I missed environmental science.\u00a0 It was time for a change.\u00a0 Lesson learned: science is cool, but my passion is environmental science.<\/p>\n

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\nLaunching the car2go carsharing service at Mount Royal University, Calgary<\/em><\/p>\n

My next job had a stronger environmental angle: I was the Sustainable Transportation Coordinator in Mount Royal University\u2019s (MRU) Parking and Transportation Services department.\u00a0 I felt like I was making a difference: I organized events to promote cycling, transit and carpooling to campus, I improved the campus\u2019 cycling infrastructure by installing more user-friendly bike racks and a bike shelter, I helped launch a carsharing service in Calgary, and I studied how people were getting to campus and why they chose the method of transportation that they did.\u00a0 Those were my \u201cTransportation\u201d duties, but I also had \u201cParking\u201d duties at the customer service desk.\u00a0 Parking was the most hated department on campus and being at the front desk exposed me to the worst sides of both students and staff.\u00a0 We were sworn at and called names when parking permits were sold out or someone received a ticket.\u00a0 I almost cried the first time a parent yelled at me about how his daughter couldn\u2019t buy a parking permit online, but I quickly developed a thick skin and got used to smiling and nodding and letting disgruntled customers do their thing until they calmed down.\u00a0 But those days were rough.\u00a0 Also, most of the work was project coordination and I began to miss the technical stuff like analyzing data and learning about the latest science or technology in a particular field.\u00a0 It was time to move on.\u00a0 Lesson learned: I\u2019m a scientist at the core and I need the technical stuff to keep me entertained.<\/p>\n

Switching from a cushy public sector job to the private industry was the most challenging leap to take yet the most interesting career change so far.\u00a0 I must have sent out at least 50 applications until one smallish environmental consulting company agreed to take a chance on me, someone brand new to the consulting world.\u00a0 My expertise was in air quality, but to start I was slotted into the regulatory group, overseeing groundwater monitoring projects.\u00a0 I was happy handling scientific data again and writing technical reports, but I was working with groundwater, not air.\u00a0 The company planned to expand its services into air sampling but I was the only person there with an air quality background.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t find the guidance or mentorship that a junior staff member like me needed at this point in my career.\u00a0 However, it was a good introduction to consulting (hello timesheets and chargeability), and I soon found a position at a larger environmental consulting company, this time in their well-established air quality group with senior scientists who were willing to teach me the ropes.\u00a0 I thought it was a good fit, based on my educational background: my business card said I was an \u201cAir Quality Scientist\u201d and my delightfully nerdy co-workers didn\u2019t say it looked \u201chazy\u201d outside when a layer of yellow hovered over the skyline, they said it looked \u201cNOx-y\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\nInstalling a meteorological station near Prince Rupert, BC.\u00a0 One of the <\/em>best fieldwork trips during my time in the consulting world.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was more interested in ambient air quality, measuring the stuff that\u2019s out there and we\u2019re breathing in, but I soon learned most of the air-related work done in this group was dispersion modelling and emission calculations.\u00a0 It was too abstract for my liking.\u00a0 And frankly, kinda boring.\u00a0 No fault to the company, we just weren\u2019t the match I thought we were.\u00a0 At least I was managing one field project and I had a lot more fun driving 4 hours into Alberta\u2019s foothills to change out filters at an air sampling station than sitting at my computer trying to learn a programming language so I could run a model that would tell a client that their hypothetical facility was \u201cclean\u201d enough for them to pass regulators\u2019 scrutiny.\u00a0 So when the recession hit Calgary and I was \u201creorg\u2019d\u201d into a contract position in a different group that did more fieldwork, I was relieved to say goodbye to the drudgery of modelling.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFieldwork took me to many small towns throughout BC and Alberta.\u00a0 Often, these towns <\/em>boasted having the “World’s Largest” something, like Quesnel’s gold pan and nugget.<\/em><\/p>\n

I worked as an occupational hygienist for about a year, doing air quality monitoring for asbestos abatement, measuring noise levels, and sampling paint to test for lead.\u00a0 I loved the fieldwork and travelled all over Alberta and BC to places I never would have visited otherwise (like Grand Prairie, Rainbow Lake and Medicine Hat in Alberta and Campbell River, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake, and 100-Mile House in BC), but my personal life got put on hold because it was difficult to do anything when I was being sent to the field, often for weeks at a time, on short notice, or being asked to work evenings and weekends.\u00a0 The travel was exciting at first, but quickly became draining.\u00a0 And occupational hygiene wasn\u2019t what I went to school for.\u00a0 Lesson learned: consulting was an adventure but they work you like a dog and I felt disconnected from local communities.\u00a0 I was helping our clients succeed, but I wanted to devote my time to a more noble cause that would help everyone, not just private companies.\u00a0 Consulting had the technical stuff that my job at MRU was missing, but it was missing the community-based stuff that MRU had.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nSuited up to go inspect an asbestos abatement project.<\/em><\/p>\n

So when my contract ended, I felt like I had been set free.\u00a0 The Calgary economy was still weak, so I saw this as a chance to search for a job in a different city because I knew the job market in Calgary would be small and highly competitive.\u00a0 My husband and I always said we\u2019d go where the jobs were, which was the main reason why we moved to Calgary in the first place after graduating from UBC.\u00a0 We\u2019d toyed with the idea of moving back to Vancouver, so maybe now was the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBack to a cushy office job at Metro Vancouver.\u00a0 It was the first job where I had my own office… <\/em>until we moved into oursdfdfsdf new building and everyone was put into cubicles.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And now here I am, back in a cushy office job, as an Environmental Technician with Metro Vancouver\u2019s Air Quality and Climate Change group.\u00a0 Although my title might make it sound like the job has a lot of fieldwork, it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 I do more data management than data collection, but I also coordinate projects and write reports.\u00a0 I just celebrated my 1-year anniversary here, so I\u2019m still learning how things work in a government setting.\u00a0 But it was surprising, and a little flattering, when I showed up on my first day and a couple of my coworkers said they were familiar with my Master\u2019s thesis, despite me completing it and being removed from the BC air quality community for the last decade.\u00a0 Some even asked if they could read my thesis. \u00a0And I was amazed to find my research referenced in one of the technical reports used here.\u00a0 When I had worked in consulting, the sentiment I got from my co-workers was something like, \u201cHow cute, you have a Master\u2019s degree.\u00a0 Now hurry up and get me those CALPUFF model input files.\u201d\u00a0 But here, I felt respected.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t so much those 3 letters after my name that made me feel at home: it was the connections I had forged and the work that I had done during grad school that resurfaced at Metro Vancouver, as if the air quality community was welcoming me back.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a small community: if \u201cUBC\u201d and \u201cair quality\u201d appear on your resume, chances are we\u2019re separated by fewer than six degrees.\u00a0 It turned out that my group at Metro Vancouver worked quite closely with Michael Brauer, who was on my thesis supervisory committee.\u00a0 When I was working on my thesis and needed air quality data from a Metro Vancouver (known as GVRD back then) monitoring station, I had reached out to staff at the GVRD, who I now sit a few desks away from.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve let go of my desire to do \u201ccommunity-based environmental outreach\u201d as a career, but this job is like a more science-y version of it which satisfies my nerdy side.\u00a0 Environmental science?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 Technical stuff?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 Making a difference in the world?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 Related to what I did in school?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 As a bonus, this job reconnected me with my UBC Geography roots: the Department of Geography found me again because I was working here and invited me to contribute to this blog, so I\u2019ve now come full circle, from geography student to geography alumnus supposedly imparting wisdom to current geography students.<\/p>\n

Maybe what I\u2019m looking for in an ideal job will change again in the coming years as I develop my career, and this job will lose its lustre.\u00a0 Maybe it won\u2019t.\u00a0 Although what I want to do for a career might change, as well as the titles on my business cards, one thing that will stay the same is that I\u2019ll always be part of the community of UBC geographers, and proud of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amy Thai When we\u2019re young and someone asks us, \u201cSo what do you want to be when you grow up?\u201d it\u2019s an easy answer. \u201cA teacher!\u201d \u201cA doctor!\u201d \u201cAn astronaut!\u201d\u00a0 And maybe these days we\u2019ll also hear, \u201cA YouTuber!\u201d \u00a0When I graduated from university, I thought I wanted to go into \u201ccommunity-based environmental outreach\u201d.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[783698],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-msc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/geogalumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}