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In an alternate reality I’m a scuba diving marine biologist. I hated biology in school, but I’ve always had a soft spot for fish. Now I think biology is cool an

In an alternate reality I’m a scuba diving marine biologist. I hated biology in school, but I’ve always had a soft spot for fish. Now I think biology is cool and so I have some ragrets. Scuba diving is something I’ve always wanted to do, but never put any effort into getting started. Thanks for nudging me in that direction.

Hammershaft 5y ago
I think this points towards the inability of traditional schooling to engage kids in educational topics. I experienced something similiar where I bounced off math in school, partially because it was taught to me as rote memorization. Only years later did I realize how much I enjoy learning maths.
- the_only_law 5y ago
  I had a love for biology even before programming, though it was kinda difficult to do anything with it outside or reading books I could on partially understand. Of course, even today I’m not sure I could stomach the salary they pay biologists and I’m even open to a pay cut to some degree.
- ip26 5y ago
  Life sciences as a field is known for grueling repetitive manual labor and rock bottom wages (because so many people are passionate about life sciences). Traditional schooling has its flaws, but in the case of life science I would argue it goes the other way- students are dazzled by the cool parts and unaware of the slog after school.
qchris 5y ago
Not sure if you're in the US, but once you get your Open Water certification, you might want to see if there's a university near you that offers the AAUS[1] scientific diving course. It can be a path for being able to do underwater research, but without necessarily need a biology or ecology degree. I'm finishing it up right now, and the last time I took a biology course was sophomore year of high school. [1] https://www.aaus.org/ https://www.aaus.org/
- owenversteeg 5y ago
  Cool, that sounds really interesting! Forgive me if this is easily Googleable (I couldn’t find it) but what do you do once you have your AAUS certification? Do you get a full time/part time job doing scientific dives for a university, or do you do volunteer research? Do you do your own research or help marine biologists do theirs?
  - qchris 5y ago
    It really depends! I'm currently on staff at a university, and some of my time moving forward will be allocated towards helping a research project that needs a diver with some instrumentation skills. I do know at least two people who have taken it that aren't officially part of the university, although they did have some ties (alumni or lived locally). In general, you probably won't be doing your own research unless you enroll in a PhD program or somehow enlist some other folks to help you do some citizen science that you'll try to publish. Having the AAUS certification can definitely help in getting you a job at a university, if you're interested in that sort of thing, in which case you'll mostly likely work on whatever projects the group that hires you is doing. A word of caution; academic marine technicians are generally paid very little, especially compared to what a lot of the HN crowd seems used to making. That's the "general answer"; an honest one is that it will really depend on the specifics of the university, their policies/approaches to diving, and your connection to that community in whatever form it takes. Hope this was helpful--my email's in my profile if you have more specific questions!
- tvb12 5y ago
  If you don't mind me asking, how long (1 semester? days/week?) is the course you're taking? For me, the closest location listed on the site is a university about 3 hours away. There's not a lot of info on their page, but it sounds like something I'd be interested in, if I could actually work around it.
  - qchris 5y ago
    If I'm remembering correctly, the requirements are something like 100-150 hours of coursework, plus around a dozen training dives; that gets you your basic certification. Past that point, as you get more practical experience, you're allowed to do deeper/more technical dives--it's not like exactly Open Water, where they functionally say "you're certified, go have fun and we'll never see you again!". My first time through the course got disrupted by COVID, but I think the lion's share of the training happens over the course of 1.5-2 months of part-time.

Hammershaft 5y ago

I think this points towards the inability of traditional schooling to engage kids in educational topics. I experienced something similiar where I bounced off math in school, partially because it was taught to me as rote memorization. Only years later did I realize how much I enjoy learning maths.

the_only_law 5y ago
I had a love for biology even before programming, though it was kinda difficult to do anything with it outside or reading books I could on partially understand. Of course, even today I’m not sure I could stomach the salary they pay biologists and I’m even open to a pay cut to some degree.
ip26 5y ago
Life sciences as a field is known for grueling repetitive manual labor and rock bottom wages (because so many people are passionate about life sciences). Traditional schooling has its flaws, but in the case of life science I would argue it goes the other way- students are dazzled by the cool parts and unaware of the slog after school.

qchris 5y ago

Not sure if you're in the US, but once you get your Open Water certification, you might want to see if there's a university near you that offers the AAUS[1] scientific diving course. It can be a path for being able to do underwater research, but without necessarily need a biology or ecology degree. I'm finishing it up right now, and the last time I took a biology course was sophomore year of high school. [1] https://www.aaus.org/ https://www.aaus.org/

owenversteeg 5y ago
Cool, that sounds really interesting! Forgive me if this is easily Googleable (I couldn’t find it) but what do you do once you have your AAUS certification? Do you get a full time/part time job doing scientific dives for a university, or do you do volunteer research? Do you do your own research or help marine biologists do theirs?
- qchris 5y ago
  It really depends! I'm currently on staff at a university, and some of my time moving forward will be allocated towards helping a research project that needs a diver with some instrumentation skills. I do know at least two people who have taken it that aren't officially part of the university, although they did have some ties (alumni or lived locally). In general, you probably won't be doing your own research unless you enroll in a PhD program or somehow enlist some other folks to help you do some citizen science that you'll try to publish. Having the AAUS certification can definitely help in getting you a job at a university, if you're interested in that sort of thing, in which case you'll mostly likely work on whatever projects the group that hires you is doing. A word of caution; academic marine technicians are generally paid very little, especially compared to what a lot of the HN crowd seems used to making. That's the "general answer"; an honest one is that it will really depend on the specifics of the university, their policies/approaches to diving, and your connection to that community in whatever form it takes. Hope this was helpful--my email's in my profile if you have more specific questions!
tvb12 5y ago
If you don't mind me asking, how long (1 semester? days/week?) is the course you're taking? For me, the closest location listed on the site is a university about 3 hours away. There's not a lot of info on their page, but it sounds like something I'd be interested in, if I could actually work around it.
- qchris 5y ago
  If I'm remembering correctly, the requirements are something like 100-150 hours of coursework, plus around a dozen training dives; that gets you your basic certification. Past that point, as you get more practical experience, you're allowed to do deeper/more technical dives--it's not like exactly Open Water, where they functionally say "you're certified, go have fun and we'll never see you again!". My first time through the course got disrupted by COVID, but I think the lion's share of the training happens over the course of 1.5-2 months of part-time.