NPR's "All Things Considered" program goes to the Colorado School of Mines where lots of students are getting hired well in advance of graduation at $80K+ salaries with signing bonuses.
A Wall Street Journal article says that new geology grads are getting $80,000 per year - up 50% since 2003.
Petroleum engineers do even better with $80,000 to $110,000 salaries, plus signing bonuses and perks.
A Bloomberg.com article says don't get an MBA. Instead get a geology degree with courses in minerals and fossil fuels. Geology grads in exploration and extraction are fetching record salaries.
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists conducts an annual survey of salaries in the oil and gas industries. They show substantial recent salary gains.
Geologists accepting new employment or contracts often sign confidentiality agreements related to their work.
Here is an interesting blog post that might make you think about what you are signing.
A Mining Weekly article says the need for geologists trained for the mining industry is very high but qualified grads are scarce. Part of the problem: grads often opt for employment outside of mining.
Professors say that its hard to keep students in school until graduation. Companies are offing them jobs before their degree is complete and up to $100K Canadian after graduation.
(This one isn't about jobs but we all need occasional breaks.) A guy in Pennsylvania set a new record for stone-skipping. Fifty one skips! We think that this record should rightly belong to a geologist, but don’t know anybody who can whip him. Gneiss throw!
If you plan to do any mapping, GPS or GIS work while in China it would be a really good idea to learn all about their mapping laws. Ignorance can land you in jail.
