From the article: Geology and Home Life
Spending large amounts of time away from home may be an adventure, but what about the family? A young person asks, "I read that many geologists must be away from their families for a considerable amount of time. Did you get lonely often? How long were you away from your family? Is being away worth it?" Share Your Advice
Be prepared to be away from home
- My first job as a geologist was working in the field for mineral exploration. I was single and had no home. After getting my MS I worked in petroleum expl for 6 years and moved once. Then I had to move again to take a teaching job. 3 years ago I took early retirement from teaching and after 20 years away I am back in petroleum geology - as a mud logger. Great, I get paid to look at rocks and people make decisions based partly on my input - Utopia. Bad - I generally work 2-3 hours from where my wife and I live and I have been on this well 7 days/week for the past 72 days and we have from 2 weeks - 2 months to go. Having been married 26 years this is still not a good situation. My wife comes over once a month or so to visit me on my 12 hours off. Since mud logging is one of the 1st jobs a new geologst usually gets - be prepared. It isn't TDY in the military but it causes many divorces.
- —Guest Darryl Maddox
