Education?

My career is going no where. I have contract after contract. Some of those contracts are in my field doing what I would love to be doing, however not all. I keep finding less and less jobs that I am even qualified for out there and I am starting to feel limited and frustrated.

I have only been out of school for three years now and I feel like there is less and less chance of me getting my dream job. Correction, my dream job actually no longer exists thanks to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and their extreme budget cuts. I changed university programs after first year from Kinesiology to Geography and Environmental studies because of my love of stewardship. At that point I had spent two summers working at the MNR and knew that it was my dream job. I then switched programs and spent another two summers working for the Ontario Stewardship Networks. These jobs provided once in a life time experiences and instilled in me a love and passion for nature. The job was the perfect mix of office work and field work. It involved working with the public and organizations, but also paperwork and applications. It fit what I was looking for to a tee and I knew that was my end destination.

So with the MNR funding cuts and the program no longer existing I know that I need to find another end goal. Right now I would love anything environmental. A job that I know I am making a difference, that I at least once in a while have a reason to go and plant a tree, walk through a forest or put chest waiters on a tramps through a wetland. Something, anything.

The past summer I had a job I loved. A job I love even more looking back on the job as I am stuck working with difficult clients and stuck in an office all day. The contrast has made me relise that I was designed to be alone (or with one or two other people) in nature. At the time when I thought of my job I thought of the countless bug bites, the near death experiences (kind of, I may have fallen down more hills then I would like to admit and there was one close call with a log and another with a naked man (but that is a story in and of itself).



But anyways, I have a general idea what I want to do with my life. The next step is making it happen. That is what brings up my current debate. Do I go back to school? Do I get more education? Do I need more education? Will having another certificate or degree aid me in my job search or will it just be a waste of a few years and end me up just further in debt and still unemployed. I debate this now as I have been about five months since my last job interview. I am starting to get discouraged and not entirely sure what lies ahead.

If I did go back to school I honestly do not even know what I would go for. I have found a certificate program at Fanshawe College in London which offers partial distance education classes in GIS. The downside I technically already have a certificate from McMaster University in GIS, so would a second from a college really help? I know this program looks fairly different from what I studied and I feel like it would challenge me and I would learn a lot, however I do not know if it is enough. The University of Guelph has a certificate in Environmental Conservation program that they offer via distance education as well, but again I do not know how much it would help. It wouldn't hurt though right? I would love to do a restoration program or something along those lines, however I feel like relocating for more school at the current moment is out of the question.

So those are my thoughts. Should I go back to school or shouldn't I? I am current in a crunch because program application dates have past and I need to apply ASAP if I want to start in September. But then the more that I think about it the more that I start to question things, such as is this what I want to do? If it is not then what should I be thinking about? Is there even anything else I would like to do? I have no idea, hence the rambling, hence the confusion and frustration. AHH.