Career Realities of an Operational Meteorologist

The field of meteorology is a unique one, with many career paths and opportunities. The majority of these opportunities involve some level of shift work or “nontraditional” hours, even when in management positions. This type of work, especially when performed on a long term (career) basis, can have a significant impact on an individual - mentally, physically and emotionally, and does have negative as well as positive implications.

As someone that has worked in the field of meteorology in both the Air Force for 6 years and now the National Weather Service for 22 years, there are a lot of lessons learned on how to navigate a career in operational meteorology as well as attempt to balance a personal and professional life. While I don’t have all the answers, I will share some experiences that I went through during difficult periods in my career, such as starting a family, navigating daycare and being the only caregiver, etc and how I navigated them as well as what I learned from others along the way.

These challenges do not end when someone enters a management position and transitions to more “normal” hours. Meteorologists who move into roles that require more skills in human relations, finance, and project management (all things we do not learn when obtaining a meteorology degree), suddenly find different types of challenges. Imposter syndrome is something that many people in this profession struggle with when moving into a leadership or management role. How do we support each other, and what types of exploration, experiences and training are helpful in mitigating some of these concerns, are all topics for discussion in this session.