4 ms·

There's a lot of good info in the article, but it's kind of disappointing she didn't cover how she actually got the job. It's mentioned that the jobs are quite

by tyingq 3y ago

There's a lot of good info in the article, but it's kind of disappointing she didn't cover how she actually got the job. It's mentioned that the jobs are quite competitive and that people are wait-listed for years sometimes.

Semaphor 3y ago
While it would have been nice, as she was an American working in the cafeteria, it was probably simply by applying at GSC.
- tyingq 3y ago
  Presumably those positions are competitive also, given the unique experience. So, knowing if she was wait-listed, for how long, or if she found some way around that, etc...would have been interesting.
  - CuriousCosmic 3y ago
    They definitely are competitive. Basically every resource gives the same advice which is: - Apply to every position you can apply to and are willing to work if you get selected (which if you really want to get down there should be essentially all of them). - Apply as early as you can (jobs get posted in the fall to early spring). - Keep applying year after year because most of the time it'll take you several years before you even get a slot.
notpushkin 3y ago
There's a nice bit on brr just about that: https://brr.fyi/about https://brr.fyi/about > How did you get this job? > I’ve been applying since 2017! It took 1,792 days since my first application until I heard back. (Not sure if them applying for an IT job and not cafeteria made things better or worse.)
- l0b0 3y ago
  Oh wut? I got an interview from the first application, back in (checks bookmarks) 2012 (edit: It looks like they applied for McMurdo, not the South Pole). It was an odd one - the first question was what to do first when entering the server room. I'd actually read up on a few things, and the correct answer was to ground yourself to get rid of the ridiculous amounts of static electricity which builds up in a super-dry environment. Static discharge has killed a whole bunch of their equipment. Another question was what I'd do if one of my family members had a medical emergency and could only be saved by an organ donation by me. In case of bad timing there next flight out would be in almost a year, so there would be nothing I could do. That one … was a bit harder to answer.
steele 3y ago
She got the job by applying, being qualified, and interviewing well. The only real life hack for most things is a combination of luck, work, and having a safety net if you fail. Come on, she listed job postings at specific companies categorized by function and international research organizations; were you expecting a secret handshake?
- tyingq 3y ago
  I'm interested in, for example, how long she had to wait, if she "applied cold", or knew someone that helped with a referral, etc. Why the snark?
- bmelton 3y ago
  Considering it took 4.9 years from her first application to even hearing back, I'd wager that blindly guessing at it having been a straightforward process probably isn't as effective as it seems
ubermonkey 3y ago
A friend of mine just did two stints down there -- first at a coastal base, and then again at the actual pole station. She's a nurse practitioner and decided a couple years ago to make hay while the sun was shining so to speak, since she was single and had no kids, so she started doing travel gigs. One of them was waaay down at the tip of South America, doing health checks and COVID screening for folks headed to Antarctica. She got along well with everyone, and someone had to bow out of a posting at the coastal station, so she got asked. She did well there, and got the offer for the post at the south pole. The pictures she sent back were AMAZING.
- tyingq 3y ago
  Oh, that's an interesting way in...working almost in Antarctica (Tierra del Fuego?) and being an obvious person to fill in for someone that had to cancel.
vGPU 3y ago
There’s actually a great resource on Reddit about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/antarctica/wiki/index/employment#wiki_employment_links_and_faqs/#wiki_employment_links_and_faqs https://www.reddit.com/r/antarctica/wiki/index/employment#wi...

by tyingq 3y ago

Semaphor 3y ago

While it would have been nice, as she was an American working in the cafeteria, it was probably simply by applying at GSC.

tyingq 3y ago
Presumably those positions are competitive also, given the unique experience. So, knowing if she was wait-listed, for how long, or if she found some way around that, etc...would have been interesting.
- CuriousCosmic 3y ago
  They definitely are competitive. Basically every resource gives the same advice which is: - Apply to every position you can apply to and are willing to work if you get selected (which if you really want to get down there should be essentially all of them). - Apply as early as you can (jobs get posted in the fall to early spring). - Keep applying year after year because most of the time it'll take you several years before you even get a slot.

notpushkin 3y ago

There's a nice bit on brr just about that: https://brr.fyi/about https://brr.fyi/about > How did you get this job? > I’ve been applying since 2017! It took 1,792 days since my first application until I heard back. (Not sure if them applying for an IT job and not cafeteria made things better or worse.)

l0b0 3y ago
Oh wut? I got an interview from the first application, back in (checks bookmarks) 2012 (edit: It looks like they applied for McMurdo, not the South Pole). It was an odd one - the first question was what to do first when entering the server room. I'd actually read up on a few things, and the correct answer was to ground yourself to get rid of the ridiculous amounts of static electricity which builds up in a super-dry environment. Static discharge has killed a whole bunch of their equipment. Another question was what I'd do if one of my family members had a medical emergency and could only be saved by an organ donation by me. In case of bad timing there next flight out would be in almost a year, so there would be nothing I could do. That one … was a bit harder to answer.

steele 3y ago

She got the job by applying, being qualified, and interviewing well. The only real life hack for most things is a combination of luck, work, and having a safety net if you fail. Come on, she listed job postings at specific companies categorized by function and international research organizations; were you expecting a secret handshake?

tyingq 3y ago
I'm interested in, for example, how long she had to wait, if she "applied cold", or knew someone that helped with a referral, etc. Why the snark?
bmelton 3y ago
Considering it took 4.9 years from her first application to even hearing back, I'd wager that blindly guessing at it having been a straightforward process probably isn't as effective as it seems

ubermonkey 3y ago

A friend of mine just did two stints down there -- first at a coastal base, and then again at the actual pole station. She's a nurse practitioner and decided a couple years ago to make hay while the sun was shining so to speak, since she was single and had no kids, so she started doing travel gigs. One of them was waaay down at the tip of South America, doing health checks and COVID screening for folks headed to Antarctica. She got along well with everyone, and someone had to bow out of a posting at the coastal station, so she got asked. She did well there, and got the offer for the post at the south pole. The pictures she sent back were AMAZING.

tyingq 3y ago
Oh, that's an interesting way in...working almost in Antarctica (Tierra del Fuego?) and being an obvious person to fill in for someone that had to cancel.

vGPU 3y ago

There’s actually a great resource on Reddit about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/antarctica/wiki/index/employment#wiki_employment_links_and_faqs/#wiki_employment_links_and_faqs https://www.reddit.com/r/antarctica/wiki/index/employment#wi...