FlightWay / Careers / Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers

Engineering & Science

Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers

Study the composition, structure, and other physical aspects of the Earth.

Sector: Engineering & Science
Preparation: Zone 5 — extensive preparation needed
O*NET code: 19-2042.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Getting Information

central to the job — rated 92/100 for importance.
Analyzing Data or Information

central to the job — rated 92/100 for importance.
Working with Computers

central to the job — rated 86/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 85/100 for importance.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

a major part of the work — rated 85/100 for importance.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge

a major part of the work — rated 84/100 for importance.

Study the composition, structure, and other physical aspects of the Earth. May use geological, physics, and mathematics knowledge in exploration for oil, gas, minerals, or underground water; or in waste disposal, land reclamation, or other environmental problems. May study the Earth's internal composition, atmospheres, and oceans, and its magnetic, electrical, and gravitational forces. Includes mineralogists, paleontologists, stratigraphers, geodesists, and seismologists.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Reading Comprehension

Needed at a high level (70/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Science

Needed at a high level (66/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Speaking

Needed at a high level (63/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a high level (61/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Writing

Needed at a high level (66/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Geography

Needed at expert level (83/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Mathematics

Needed at a high level (69/100), and rated 71/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 71/100 for importance.
Chemistry

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 70/100 for importance.

Abilities

Written Comprehension

Needed at a high level (71/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Inductive Reasoning

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a high level (73/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Oral Expression

Needed at a high level (71/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 5 — extensive preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

Graduate school — a master's, a PhD, an MD or a JD, depending on the field.

Experience

More than five years of related experience is common before the title is yours.

Training

This is a long runway. Start the prerequisites early or the timeline slips a year at a time.

What it pays

These are typical science compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

Pfizer · Nat"l Labs · MIT

$110k – $200k

Biotech & Pharma Mid

$90k – $160k

Startups & Academia

$65k – $110k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

Most of the day happens at a screen.From “Working with Computers”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
There is real room to invent — the answer is not in a manual.From “Thinking Creatively”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Engineering & Science

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See your fit for Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.