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It's a daydream of mine to work in Antarctica for a season. I don't really know how it works and I doubt it's something I could do, I'm not a scientist. Seems
by RUG3Y 10y ago
It's a daydream of mine to work in Antarctica for a season. I don't really know how it works and I doubt it's something I could do, I'm not a scientist. Seems like it would be an awesome experience though.
- smcl 10y agoI had periods of this feeling too - but I think being so isolated and distant has the potential to supercharge any bad feelings. At this specific moment I'm a bit down generally, if I was on the other side of the world miles away from anywhere I'd be feeling extremely low. At the times when I've felt good and the possibility of Antarctica excited me[1] I could not conceive of the possibility of not being 100% into the idea of being there - right now I'm extremely glad I'm not :) [1] - like when I read Big Dead Place - a book I think you'd enjoy. It's written by someone who'd stayed in a couple of the US antarctic bases (McMurdo and Pole, iirc). Warning it will make you want to go http://feralhouse.com/big-dead-place/ http://feralhouse.com/big-dead-place/
- RUG3Y 10y agoIt's definitely not something I would want to do forever. I'd love to do it once and have the experience and also contribute to important and interesting work.
- smcl 10y agoOh definitely, even at my most enthusiastic I was only ever keen to do a couple of seasons
- RUG3Y 10y agoThanks for the book recommendation, I'll have to check it out.
- avar 10y agoThere are lots of non-science jobs, cooks, mechanics, firefighters, divers etc. See http://www.coolantarctica.com/Community/find_a_job_in_antarctica.php http://www.coolantarctica.com/Community/find_a_job_in_antarc...
- nathancahill 10y agoFrom friends that have done it, I've heard that it's quite the opposite. Harsh, depressing climate and heavy alcoholism.
- RUG3Y 10y agoThe harsh climate is what appeals to me, of course I wouldn't want to experience it long-term.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- cozzyd 10y agoThe climate isn't so bad in summer (when most people go), but the all-day sunlight can be hard to deal with for some. On the plus side, McMurdo has 24-hour pizza!
- vocatus_gate 10y agoI just returned from a winter-over contract and loved it. Incredible experience.
- clarkema 10y agoEx-BAS Winterer here, currently at Halley for the move season. I'd second this -- it's an experience you can't get anywhere else, as long as you go into it with the right mindset. It isn't like being at home, and if you expect that you'll be disappointed -- the harsh climate and the light/dark are part of the challenge that makes it appealing.
- lucaspiller 10y agoSounds a bit like the Baltic states - there's a reason why alcoholism is so high here :D If you like winter it can be nice for the first few weeks, but after three months of cold and dark it's very easy to get depressed. At least the internet is good here.
- cozzyd 10y agoAssuming you fit the stereotypical HN demographic, these might be appealing: https://ghgcorp.applicantpro.com/jobs/ https://ghgcorp.applicantpro.com/jobs/ Also, plenty of science groups hire "technicians" and "engineers" and other sorts of things to go build stuff. For the really hardcore, you can try something like https://wipac.wisc.edu/careers/winterover-experiments-operator https://wipac.wisc.edu/careers/winterover-experiments-operat...
- FLUX-YOU 10y agoAny idea how open these positions are to software developers applying to do sysadmin work?
- cozzyd 10y agoI was there as a "grantee" (i.e. Scientist) so I don't know much about the contractor side of it. On the user-facing side, it seems to be a Microsoft-heavy place (we got active directory accounts, etc. and had to log into one of the Windows machines in the cluster to change our password). My interaction with the IT people was mostly asking for port forwarding / static IP reservations for some some of our computers that needed to be accessible from up North, and for that they seemed to forward those requests to Denver (where the contractor HQ is).
- vocatus_gate 10y agoI just returned from a winter-over contract in Antarctica, at Palmer Station. It was an incredible experience. If you have any thought you might like it, I say go for it. I did an AMA while there and it actually made it to the front page of reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5656e1/iama_i_dont_have_a_lot_of_time_but_network/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5656e1/iama_i_dont_ha...
- finid 10y ago> Seems like it would be an awesome experience though. Unless you're there doing research that you enjoy doing, I can tell you that it will not be an awesome experience. For a few days, OK, but beyond that, you probably will be bored to death. I once spent 30 days in the middle of nowhere doing research. Just a few guys, no females. When we got back to civilization, everything looked super colorful. The green leaves of plants I first saw, and it remained like that for a few days, after we got back looked absolutely beautiful. I thought I'd never seen green colors that bright. And the sight of women, omg!
- lupin_sansei 10y agoI felt like after a week in winter in Seattle and then returning to summer in Australia. Everything was so bright and colorful.
- pyre 10y agoEven if there are members of whatever sex you're interested in, I think that there is a general rule (official or unofficial) against getting involved (romantically/sexually) with others when you're in that sort of environment.
- clarkema 10y agoAntarctic Winterer here. Hahahahahaha! Erm, yeah, suuuuuuuure.
- pyre 10y agoI remember there being an Reddit AMA from someone that was going to winter in Antarctica and that's where I got that from. So maybe that's the 'official word' or people doing different jobs have different amounts of care for that "rule." I dunno. It seemed to make sense to me that getting involved with each other could have fallout when it comes to getting actual things done if there are hard feelings, etc.
- morgante 10y agoYea, good luck with that.
- pm 10y agoSame. I'm Australian, but to get a job doing something there I'd probably have to be their IT guru (something I'm not particularly keen on, but I'm not a research scientist or somesuch). But I wouldn't mind the isolation, and the opportunity to get some astronomy done.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- morgante 10y agoIt's definitely one of my dreams to do as well. I just need to get the gumption to actually do it (and the luck to actually land a contract).
- IgorPartola 10y agoAt one point I saw a job posting for a Linux admin to go there for the summer. It's certainly possible.