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What is a good job for someone interested in the environment, science, and engineering?

I'm just looking for recommendations on jobs that are interesting/fun and pay well and involve some of the topics above.

job-search environmental-science environment environmental-engineering sustainability
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Aaron’s Answer

There's environmental engineering jobs which would cover those three topics. As far as fun and interesting, this would depend on what type of environmental you're interested in. I loved the permitting, laws, and compliance side. Working with lawyers and engineers, acting as the middle person of communication to make sure the company isn't at risk, etc. It was fun for me but that's because I like the details. I enjoy having to buckle down, read papers, cross reference, and figure things out that way so it works. That may or may not sound boring to many environmental engineers.

There's definitely conservation work you can get into and that probably sounds more "fun" to many people. You could do water conservation with Coca-cola for example and you get to go out to different water sources, sample water, etc. So there's travel involved. You could do consulting and lots of travel is involved with that. There's so may varieties of environmental work though that really you could find a job in environmental that would suit your needs. If you want to travel, if you like reading, if you enjoy hiking and being out in the field....you can find an environmental job for any of those inclinations.
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Paulina’s Answer

Coming from my personal experience (I am a business process engineer and ecological ecologist) - I would recommend you trying entry-level jobs (analysts and similar) in the voluntary carbon market space. Projects that reduce or avoid emissions of CO2 equivalent can be found around the globe (but most of them are in the least developed economies, and in the world´s south), and can range from renewable energy, to cookstoves or forestry (conservation, plantation, improves soil management etc).

I would recommend you browsing and learning further on the CarbonStandards / Registries. Explore these and have a look at some project examples. The documentation you’ll want to look at is: the Project Design Document (PDD), Monitoring Reports (MR), Verification Reports (VR). There’s a lot to digest but it can be really helpful to gain some understanding of the typical format for each of three main registries and the content for different types of projects.
• Verra Registry https://registry.verra.org/app/projectDetail/VCS/3813
• Gold Standard Registry – GSF Registry (goldstandard.org)
• CDM Registry - CDM: Project Activities (unfccc.int)

Best of luck in finding your path!
You are at the most exciting stage at the moment:)

p.
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Zoe’s Answer

There are a lot of ways to get into the sustainability field with those skills! Some answers here that I want to shout out again are: environmental engineering and sustainability analyst positions (working on sustainability reports for companies). There are also a few others I think are great choices:
- environmental consulting/sustainability consulting
- carbon accounting
- working for large organizations that focus on helping companies account for their carbon use (the carbon disclosure project, STARS, Apex consulting
- impact investing

When it comes time to deciding your career in sustainability, there are really two major schools of thought: you can do a "normal" job for a company whose mission and vision is aimed around making the world a more sustainable place (like being an analyst at the Carbon Disclosure Project), OR you can do a "sustainable" job for a more traditional company (this is like the environmental engineering, sustainability analyst, etc).

It also helps to understand what field you're interested in under the umbrella of sustainability: there's more conservation/environmental focused sustainability and more people oriented sustainability (affordable housing, climate justice, ethical supply chain practices, etc)
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David’s Answer

I went to school and received my degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in computer engineering. I went into the Telecommunications industry and have not regretted it for a minute. There will always be a need for engineers in the Telecom industry and the Telecom industry is by no means going to go away. We will always need ways to communication with others. Plus the pay is good too :)
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Asheen’s Answer

I have a degree in engineering and an MBA, and work in the field of corporate sustainability / ESG. I love the work, and the field is exploding these days, thankfully (for us and for the planet).

Some of the entry-level options for corporate sustainability work include working on sustainability reports, and working on greenhouse gas inventories (aka carbon footprints). Having an engineering degree is particularly useful for some of the more quantitive analyses around carbon accounting, renewable energy, etc.

Speaking frankly, the pay is significantly better than the equivalent jobs in nonprofits or activist organizations that are working toward similar ends. Sustainability jobs used to pay a bit less than the equivalent level in marketing, HR, finance, etc., but in the last two years they've really come to par.

All the best!
Asheen
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