I was doing a plastic sample run for a customer on Friday, which the guy that was heading the project from their side was a fellow from Pittsburg State University with the same degree that I had (Plastics Engineering). He graduated only a couple of years ago, I was about 14 years ago. We had this same exact conversation, then I saw this and almost chuckled. Must be a broader problem than just me and him. But somewhat just off the wall: we've hired a couple young engineers from PSU in the last 6 years. Both lasted about 10 to 12 months. The floor, which is most of the learning happens, was too much for them. They wanted desk jobs. So sometimes the mentality is that of they go to college to sit behind the desk. Heck I'm still waiting for my deskjob.
Foresters are the same way. Lots of them that graduate want a desk job and not get into the woods. There are many that want to be analytical number crunchers. I spend almost all my day in a truck or behind a desk. But it did not start that way I beat the bushes day in day out. Now I did move up fast but I also went to school for a masters degree, AFTER I was in the field about a year and a half. I proved that I would do the woods work before more school and I think it paid off for me. We hired a younger than me forester fresh out of grad school from one other place. He lasted about a year. Sharp as a knife. But he wanted to drive an adding machine and computer more than he wanted to drive a truck into the woods. That was the complaint from the guy who worked day in day out with him. He said he was a good forester and he had the computer down but that he would just wish he would spend more time in the field. What we do is hardly "field" work how somemay see it. It watching the loggers. Showing up getting paperwork. CChecking boundaries , their sort, ground conditions etc. No beating the bushes for hours with a data logger and tape. To me that is the fun part of the day. I hate the desk and paperwork !!!
