- So, what do you need to focus on as a geoscience student? Well, there are some basic things that everyone needs to focus on, no matter what field you're in. This domain knowledge is always essential. You can't get away from that. It is the core of what you need to know. There will always be a need for geologists and geophysics, because we need to check the answers from the computers that they are realistic. And yes, get the grades. They often matter quite a bit for your first job, and maybe not so much after that. There are some recent essential courses that I highly recommend for all geoscience students. Coding, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. They have become essential in the field of geoscience. And this is of course because we all work with lots of data from different sources, different qualities, different vintages, density, etcetera. Make sure you become familiar with these topics. Extra-curricular activities enhance your studies in many different ways. Take advantage of those that are available to you. Field courses are not just fun, but give you a true appreciation for instrumentation and how to collect data. It's also great team building experience. Internships are getting harder to find these days, but if you find one, if one is offered to you, take it. It will give you a good field for what the certain job entails. And it also helps you build up your professional network. Do get involved in a local geoscience student chapter if that's available to you. It can give you a leadership experience and it will show future employers that you've been productive beyond your schoolwork. And if you have an opportunity to attend conferences, workshops, or webinars, do so. Right now, all meetings and conferences are virtual, so it's even easier than before to participate. It's also cheaper. And I recommend to of course pick the ones that are related to your fields. But I also encourage you to pick some that you're not familiar with to broaden your base and to see if there's something else that interests you. Soft skills. They're truly important and will gain importance throughout your career. Communication is at the top of my list. The ability to clearly make people understand what you need is critical. Take advantage of opportunities to present while you're at school. You will be presenting all your career. It's really good to get practice. Agility and adaptability are becoming increasingly important. Things are changing rapidly due to the energy transition, and you might need to be open to transferring your skills to slightly different application. So you have to be open and flexible. And be a team player. Make sure it's not always about you, but you help the team to get where the team needs to be. And I strongly encourage you to be inclusive and embrace diversity. It's been proven over and over again, that teams that are diverse perform much better than those that are not diverse. I think all scientists are curious, which is why we go into science in the first place. But keep that curiosity alive, raise your hand and ask questions, volunteer for things that you don't know much about. So say you're lucky enough to land that first job in the field you wanted. What do you do then? Well first, figure out what you're expected to do and get up to speed quickly and do it well. Do your job well. Be a team player. Everyone appreciate someone that's willing to help out. I also advise you to get a mentor here. Could be the same mentor that you had during graduate school or during school, or it could be someone else. Good mentor is someone that understands your field, knows a bit about you, and is willing to give you an input and feedback when you have questions. They don't necessarily need to look like you, but you need to be able to relate to each other. In my case, all my mentors were men until very recently. It would have been nice to have a female mentor early on, but they just weren't available. Again, you can always try the mentoring 365 program if you don't have a mentor around you. Expanding your network will be key throughout your career. Join the local SEG chapter or geophysical society. Keep in touch with those you worked with during school. And as you know, today's networking tools make this pretty easy, so don't ignore it. You never know when someone can help you get an introduction or vice versa. Communicate your aspirations. I have been surprised many times in my career, how my supervisor assumed that they knew what I wanted. For example, one supervisor assumed that I didn't want to travel internationally because I was a woman. Well, nothing could have been further from the truth. Another one assumed that I was not interested in more responsibility because I was a mom. It's not that they were mean. In fact, they thought they were being kind. If they didn't ask me, I didn't have to say no. So it's important to have discussions about your aspirations with your supervisor. Telling them if you can or cannot travel if you want or don't want to travel. If you consider a transfer, and let them know if you want more responsibility. Also encourage you to talk about where you'd like to see yourself in a few years and what steps you should take to get there. So in your early to mid career, you basically continue to do what you're already doing. You do your own job well, you're a team player, you help out where you can, use your mentor network and hone your soft skills. But now there are other things that you need to do. I recommend looking for a sponsor. And a sponsor is different from a mentor. Sponsor is usually someone that's several levels higher than you in the organization. Someone that believes in you, speaks for you and ensures that your name is included when opportunities that you qualified for come up. This can be a particular importance if you're in a large company where not everyone knows you. But now you'd like to know if you want to stay on the technical path or go the management route. In either case you need additional training. If you're on the technical path, you should add technical courses. And if you're on the management path, look for things like team leadership and negotiations. Larger companies often have established training programs. If you work for a small company, you might have be proactive to find additional training, or you might have to find it yourself. You already know that I'm a big fan of dual careers. They are fun. You can have, it just means a lot of different benefits. Always have interesting things to talk about. You learn from each other. And it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off before you deliver them to your supervisor or your team. There are some things that you should think about that can help you make it work. You need to discuss what's important to each of you in your careers. And ideally you do this very early in your relationship. When I was young, the husband usually had the dominant career and I needed my husband to know that my career was just as important as his was. In truth, I would not have married Dan if I didn't think he understood this. You definitely have to think as a team, what's best for us, not just what's best for me or would be most exciting for me. If you want to really truly excel as a team, you have to live it, but it's not that difficult. It comes quite naturally and you you'll benefit from it. However, there are trade-offs. Both Dan and I have turned down many opportunities that were very exciting just because it didn't fit for us as a family. And there have been times when we relocated, it was great opportunity for one of us, but not such a great opportunity for the other. For example, when I was pregnant and our kids were small, we took advantage of Dan's job opportunities. And then when our youngest was two years old, I gone off to go to the Texaco research lab in Houston and Dan followed me there. It can be a challenge to juggle busy schedules. So set some rules. Dan and I had one rule that one of us always had to be home at night. We had a calendar on the refrigerator and whoever wrote down a business trip first got to go. And the other one had to tell his or her boss that sorry, my spouse is away. Another piece of advice is to get help where you can. To make sure that life at home is sort of stay stable and doesn't completely fall apart. So get the cleaning lady, if you can afford it and accept help when offered.