Ask HN: Outdoor jobs for geeks?

[Tichy]

Are there any outdoor jobs that cater to the geek mind? The only thing I could think of is maybe naturalist (running around collecting and cataloging biological entities)?

It seems difficult to code while walking outside. Perhaps one could shift ones career in such a way that at least it involves long talks full of philosophical discussions (thinking for example about Ray Kurzweil).

[wyclif]

Land surveying. Includes knowledge of civil engineering, trigonometry, cartography, hydrography, geology, law (boundary), and forestry.

http://www.surveyingcareer.com/

P.S. We need your help!

[jasonkester]

Computer Programmer.

Look, there aren't that many careers that will pay you $100+/hr on a short-term contract. Take one of those for six months, then go hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Then ride your bike to Florida.

That's a full year plan, half of which is spent outdoors, at the end of which you'll still be about $50k ahead of where you would have been if you'd taken a job planting trees for the forest service.

We really do have it better than just about everybody else. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of it!

[J_McQuade]

I've long been a fan of going out into the woods with minimal tools (decent belt knife, axe, tarp, blanket, billy can and a box of matches) - you'd be surprised at the hack value you can find out there. Finding the most elegant way to turn a couple of bits of tree into a chair can be far more rewarding than a few hours spent twiddling your .emacs file, I can tell you!

Sadly, it's not immediately apparent how to turn any of this into a paying 'career' - unless your name's Ray Mears, of course, or you're prepared to do it full-time and become a hermit (tempting, sometimes, I know...).

One of my ideal visions for an outdoors-ish job would be making and installing energy producing wind-turbines from scrap, which is something I've been interested in for a good while now. You'd likely never get rich doing it but there's an increasing market for off-grid energy that may soon be enough to support a person.

[krupap]

I was a Cave Specialist/Physical Science Tech for the National Park Service for several years. I built GIS models, led cave surveys, mapped surface hydrology, and hiked up high ridges at night with night vision gear and a computer to ID bat echolocation calls. I could spend a day skiing to a backcountry air resource station to measure ambient air quality or stay in the office and draft a map. It was a perfect mix of outdoors and geek.

You can find jobs like that at http://www.usajobs.gov/.

[pragmatic]

I've found that hacking on my house provides a lot of needed physical labor/activity.

I do things like improve the lighting in my garage so I can work on various projects out there. I'm also thinking about taking up gardening.

I too have really felt the urge to get up and do real physical stuff lately. I wonder if it's part of the disillusionment of web 2.0. So much bad news about the economy,etc that I don't feel that working on the "next big website" is really going to pay off.

[mtb72]

Field engineer for a cellphone/mobile broadband company. You'll need to travel around to mast sites and customer sites to do QA, troubleshooting, test signal strength and do basic IP networking stuff.

You need a head for heights.

[andyking]

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/winterhill/winter-hill10.php

This isn't far from where I live - I'd quite like to get into the engineering and particularly transmission side of radio (currently in programming although I have an amateur radio licence) but I don't fancy working 1,000 feet above the ground in a little cage... (look at the pics, they are stunning!)

[MikeElkins]

Underwater robots. http://www.bluefinrobotics.com

Have to love tech and boats.

[davidw]

Sea/water stuff... that's a good point. There's probably a fair amount of variety there - marine biology, oil surveying, stuff like that. I guess it's not so attractive for those of us who love the hills and forests, but it's not a bad idea at all.

[davidw]

Interesting question. I love being outdoors, and find that it's necessary to get a fair amount of exercise to be physically and mentally healthy. Perhaps it's best not to combine that with work, though...

My grandfather worked as a forest ranger, and he seemed happy enough, although I'm not sure it was much of a geeky occupation (although he did know the common and latin names of a large variety of flora and fauna). My other grandfather, OTOH, worked on the instrumentation of early jet planes. Definitely geeky:-)

[Tichy]

At least if your job depends on being physically fit, it seems rather risky. Could be that one would be more likely to keep working even if slightly ill, putting long term health at risk. Also, of course there would be a higher risk in general to be incapable of continuing to work due to health reasons (as more parts of the body would be involved in the work).

[robg]

I think farmers are the original hackers.

[jyothi]

before that fire and then wheel - all hacked.

[access_denied]

I think the original hack is maybe the spearhead of the hunter; pitty, those guys were so much like the jocks we detested at high school.

[helium]

Travel writer. Lots of hackers are also good writers. It can involve a lot of research into the history and culture of different places.

OK, maybe I'm just using my dream job :)

[vorador]

You could get involved in GeekCorps : http://www.geekcorps.org/

[dylanmcd]

The "Get Involed" link brings up a lightbox but doesn't load anything. Is this organization still active, and have you been involved in it?

[KirinDave]

Photography is a good geeky job that involves a lot of outside work. Photography is actually a very technical art these days, which also is strongly related to the artistic expression of the photographer.

I have recently taken up photography as a technical but low-stress pastime. It appeals to my programmer-brain and my under-utilized artistic appeal at the same time. It is also a great excuse to go to interesting place. As a bonus, part of learning photography is learning interesting things about cognition, vision and light. All cool stuff.

Photography listens to "intent" and "execution" nearly as much as programming, which makes it very appealing to me. It's remarkable to me how two very similar pictures at identical venues can convey very different feelings, based off intent and execution.

[gregwebs]

I am going to try to program while outside.

[Daemmerung]

I do a little of this, using a Dell D630 ATG (reasonable review: http://www.ruggedpcreview.com/3_notebooks_dell_ATG630.html) to supply screen visibility in full sunlight.

Programming while out of doors may not be as satisfying as you might think. One is still very sedentary for very long periods: hot weather feels hotter, cold weather much colder, and buzzing insects more annoying. You may miss having a whiteboard or your printed-matter library handy. Also, outdoor furniture typically makes a terrible substitute for proper office furniture.

On the plus side, eye strain is less of a problem given the built-in eye relief of long focus outdoor viewing. And trees and birds make very pleasant office companions who will always respect your privacy.

Ultimately, I find the out of doors better for reading (email, tech papers, the occasional HN link) or reviewing code than actually programming.

[rythie]

I find having a glossy screen on my laptop a bit of pain when doing that.

[mannicken]

Do you mean jobs that don't involve computers and are outside? Many geeky jobs will probably involve some sort of writing utensils, how is it different from computer?

I work as a software development freelancer and often work outside with a laptop or just pencil and piece of paper.

[Tichy]

I don't have anything against computers, but it seems using them to code usually involves being sedentary. Sometimes I feel kind of imprisoned and think I should be moving about more.

Maybe it is only about balance, so a job that involves lot's of field work (eg for data collection) and some "home" work (data processing) might be good.

[wglb]

Here is one kind of outdoor geek activity: http://mcsquaredholdings.com/Pictures.htm

[krschultz]

Construction management

[berntb]

A data point: An old friend burned out after a decade of being a consultant with a long commute. Now he has worked a few summers as a gardener.

He is in shape, tanned and happy, so I have given up trying to make him go back to computers. ("Join the dark side... we can drink coffee throughout the day!")

Personally, after doing a commute like his for just half a year, I took the first job I could find, moved 800 km and happily bicycle to work.

Well, this summer I'd prefer gardening even if it rains; I'll have to do Java the coming months.

[Tichy]

Come to think of it, that is kind of what the hero in Office Space did - except he chose construction work instead of gardening.

Still, gardening or construction seems too limited to me. I want to change the world (not only my backyard, although technically it is a part of the world).

[TriinT]

Astronaut!! Does extra-vehicular activity count as outdoors activity? ;-)