Essential skills Every Geoscientist Should Have

I recently was on Facebook and saw a post from the Amazing Geologist's page sharing an article from Geology IN titled "What kind of Skills are Essential to Be a Geologist." You can find the article at the following link: http://www.geologyin.com/2016/05/what-kind-of-skills-are-essential-to-be.html.

The author of this article lists the following skills as essential to a geologist: observation, analysis, equipment, and applications. Although I agree that all of those skills are important to a geoscientist, I differ in opinion that those are essential skills. The reason the author may have listed these skills as essential could be based on the subdiscipline in geology they study.

I wanted to offer my opinion on the essential skills every geoscientist should have. I base these skills not only on my personal experiences but also on my interpretation of the definition of a geologist according to the United States Department of Labor. On their website (link), they define a geoscientist as scientists who "study the physical aspects of the Earth, such as its composition, structure, and processes, to learn about its past, present, and future."

The essential skills are as following:
1. Outdoor Enthusiast
2. Observation
3. Analysis
4. Communication

1. Outdoor Enthusiast: One part of the original article that I completely disagreed with, under the section titled equipment, the author wrote: "geology is a lab-oriented discipline." I believe that geology is an outdoor or field-oriented discipline, although, I don't disagree that geoscientists spend most their time in the lab. Ask any geoscientist, and I am confident 95% of them would prefer to be outside doing field work instead of working in the lab. The reason I believe geology is a field-oriented discipline is because hypotheses are formulated based on the observations of the natural world viewed in the field. If a hypothesis is formed in the lab, the results are often tested against what happens in the real world, which is observed in the field. Because hypotheses are formed based on field observations, a geoscientist should enjoy hiking, camping, and just, in general, having a basic understanding of outdoor safety.

2. Observation: This is a skill that I agree with the previous author, and I believe is important to all science disciplines. The more detail that one can observe, the better chance they have of being able to develop questions and hypotheses that explain that observation. It is not just being able to make detailed observations, it is also important for a scientist to be able to document these observations in a clear and organized manner so that the person, or more importantly future scientists can come and view and understand your observations.

3. Analysis: This is another skill that I agree with the previous author, and I believe is important to all science disciplines. Once observations are made, questions are asked, hypotheses are made, and a scientist needs to be able to analyze the data to answer the questions or provide an interpretation. One could argue that the more money a scientist has, the more equipment the scientist has access to, the better a scientist might be able to answer a question, emphasis on might. What I believe is important with analysis, however, is having a basic background knowledge of the question, and/or, knowing where and how to obtain the basic background knowledge to answer a question. A good scientist is never going to know everything about a subject.

4. Communication: Again, this another skill that I believe is important to all science disciplines. A scientist should be able to effectively communicate their research. This goes beyond just being able to publish in peer-reviewed journals. A scientist should be able to write effective grant proposals, which often means providing a succinct explanation of your research and the questions to be answered. A scientist should be able to present their research in both oral and poster presentations of varying lengths. For example, at professional meetings, oral presentation maybe 10 minutes long, whereas in an invited talk you may be asked to present for 50 minutes. Lastly, it also important for a scientist to be able to explain their research to the general public. A scientist may be asked to share their research with a general science magazine, a TV show, or a local newspaper. In all cases, the scientist should be able to explain the main points of their research and interpretations in layman terms.

I am sure as I continue with my geoscience career I will change and/or add essential skills.