What Type of Job?

[reptiguy123]

I was talking to my friend's son, and he was wondering what he wanted to be when he grew up. I told him not to go into specifics because he can worry about that when he gets older and he has to focus on the present for now. But then he said that he knows what he wants to do, just not what job it is.

He told me that he wanted to travel around to Africa, South America, Asia, Austrailia, etc. and study reptiles (looks like I have some influence around here ). I told him that the job he wanted was a herpetologist's job. Then he told me that he also wanted to stay in a certain place (Africa for example) and live with a primative tribe and study the tribe as well as the nature.

Now I recall that a while back, someone told me that his college professor went to new guniea for two years. He learned the native language and lived with a tribe that was very primitave and had never seen a white man.

This interested the kid and he asked me what job that would be. This is where I'm stumped. He doesn't want to be a professor, so he couldn't be sponsered by a university. The closest thing I could think of was the expeditions in my old Audubon magazine. However, those are ads, so they would be more of a hobby than a job.

Any ideas?

[spidergecko]

Sounds like he wants to be a research scientist (yes, a professor) in zoology. University profs usually don't like the teaching aspect of the job but that's what they have to do.

[Invictus]

The study of other cultures is Anthropology. It's an arts degree at most colleges and universities.

[reptiguy123]

So what we're looking at is a herpetologist/anthropologist who later becomes a reluctant professor. This kid is going to have an interesting life!

[Artemis]

I agree with Ken. Anthropolgy major, biology minor. Ding ding ding!

And hey, college professor is not a job to sneeze at. Decent benefits, and once you get sick of traveling and want to settle down with a family, you will have a lot to share with your classes!

[rwg]

The problem with being a research scientist is that it's not a job unless somebody is paying you, and the easiest way to get payed for doing research in most fields is to be a professor. Keep in mind this requires a PhD. 4 years undergrad, 2 years Masters, and probably another 4 in the PhD program, all the while shelling out big bucks for the opportunity. It's a little different in some fields (like pharmaceutical chem, or geology) since there are private companies doing research in these areas.

[rwg]

Oh, stumbled onto this...might be interesting reading:

http://www.cas.ohiou.edu/SocAnth/anthjobs.htm

[reptiguy123]

Thanks guys!