Finding meaningful climate work no longer requires abandoning income, professional growth, relationships or the other things that make a life satisfying.
I have a similar, if earlier, story. I was trained as a physicist and engineer and spent the first large chunk of my life working in and with the US Air Force's space program. Then, at mid-life crisis time and with the urging from my wife, I completely changed course into academia and then consulting to work on reducing traffic congestion and its environmental side effects by lessening the need to commute to work. Now, 50+ years later those efforts seem to have had their effect, although there is still much to do.
I would add one more fundamental to the five that I counsel young engineers; know what you know.
Of course the corollary is know what you don't know but the focus is on the positive and what you contribute to the team. The real purpose is to improve confidence in your knowledge base so you don't get bullied or bamboozled.
You start out as a pedestal and then grow into a column and sometime in the future you too are holding up the pantheon of your of your professions knowledge base. Ensure you are building a strong column.
An additional heuristic for me... focus on just one task (including learning about one of the three new topics) every day with the 5 things in mind. If I finish early, read a book or clean up the Inbox, or the garage!!!
Michael Barnard. I never had a true mentor. Your words are excellent guidance. As a stuck O&G professional I feel less stuck now. Even though many colleagues think I am retired, I am re-wired and reinventing. In my 50+ years I realized the technical acumen was not established to chase status, money or validation. It was to problem solve the real world climate crisis issues at hand. Energy is all around us. The ultimate question is which do we want to exploit aggressively for the betterment of all humanity. Paradoxically, the economic superpower China, not the humanitarian China, has clearly answered this.
Great to hear Paul. I know a lot of former O&G people doing great work outside of the gassy bubble. You have a lot of value to provide. Technical and business skills and the wisdom that comes with doing hard stuff is transferable.
Michael, from everything I have managed to read, you are only a killjoy to those who refuse to listen or have no real counter arguments. You and others (Jan Rosenow, etc.) are stating the hard truths that are tied directly and intimately to unfortunate perceived and continued entitlements (usually in non-renewables and antiquated grid regulatory concepts like COSR vs PBR for example). Those entitled entitities feel threatened. You, Jan R. please keep informing.
I have a similar, if earlier, story. I was trained as a physicist and engineer and spent the first large chunk of my life working in and with the US Air Force's space program. Then, at mid-life crisis time and with the urging from my wife, I completely changed course into academia and then consulting to work on reducing traffic congestion and its environmental side effects by lessening the need to commute to work. Now, 50+ years later those efforts seem to have had their effect, although there is still much to do.
I would add one more fundamental to the five that I counsel young engineers; know what you know.
Of course the corollary is know what you don't know but the focus is on the positive and what you contribute to the team. The real purpose is to improve confidence in your knowledge base so you don't get bullied or bamboozled.
You start out as a pedestal and then grow into a column and sometime in the future you too are holding up the pantheon of your of your professions knowledge base. Ensure you are building a strong column.
Nice. I have a kinda' similar story.
An additional heuristic for me... focus on just one task (including learning about one of the three new topics) every day with the 5 things in mind. If I finish early, read a book or clean up the Inbox, or the garage!!!
Michael Barnard. I never had a true mentor. Your words are excellent guidance. As a stuck O&G professional I feel less stuck now. Even though many colleagues think I am retired, I am re-wired and reinventing. In my 50+ years I realized the technical acumen was not established to chase status, money or validation. It was to problem solve the real world climate crisis issues at hand. Energy is all around us. The ultimate question is which do we want to exploit aggressively for the betterment of all humanity. Paradoxically, the economic superpower China, not the humanitarian China, has clearly answered this.
Great to hear Paul. I know a lot of former O&G people doing great work outside of the gassy bubble. You have a lot of value to provide. Technical and business skills and the wisdom that comes with doing hard stuff is transferable.
Michael, from everything I have managed to read, you are only a killjoy to those who refuse to listen or have no real counter arguments. You and others (Jan Rosenow, etc.) are stating the hard truths that are tied directly and intimately to unfortunate perceived and continued entitlements (usually in non-renewables and antiquated grid regulatory concepts like COSR vs PBR for example). Those entitled entitities feel threatened. You, Jan R. please keep informing.