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What's Really Stopping You From Starting an Ocean Career · How To Protect The Ocean

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  What if the biggest thing that's holding
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  you back isn't your experience?
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  It's the fact that you're waiting for
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  someone to teach you, to build skills,
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  to build some type of
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  experience that you need to get,
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  you think you need to get to get a job.
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  But here's the truth for most people.
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  A lot of people working in ocean
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  conservation right now didn't wait until
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  they were quote unquote
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  ready. They just started.
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  This is the How to
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  Protect the Ocean podcast,
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  your weekly ocean news
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  and career insight podcast.
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  If you care about building an career that
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  actually helps the ocean, hit
• 0:34
  that follow button right now.
• 0:35
  So you don't miss any episodes we're
• 0:36
  doing this week. That
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  was yesterday's episode.
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  Today's tomorrow's
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  Thursday's and Friday's today.
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  We're talking about something that
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  quietly stops more
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  careers than anything else.
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  Waiting for permission.
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  There's this belief that's been baked
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  into science careers and ocean
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  conservation for decades.
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  You need the degree first, then the job,
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  then the experience.
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  But that's not how it actually works
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  anymore because employers, especially in
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  conservation, are not
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  just looking for credentials.
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  They're looking for proof.
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  Can you communicate science?
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  Can you analyze science?
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  And can you tell a
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  story people care about?
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  Because a degree tells
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  someone what you've learned.
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  But your work shows
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  what you can actually do.
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  And those are not the same thing.
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  I've seen people with advanced degrees
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  struggle to get traction.
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  And I've seen people with no formal
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  training build entire platforms,
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  projects, and even careers.
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  Because they showed up
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  and created something real.
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  Let's be honest here.
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  There is a shift in how ocean
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  conservation is being done.
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  Whether it's science
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  or even conservation.
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  We are seeing that a lot of agencies, a
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  lot of nonprofit organizations, even
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  government departments and governments,
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  they can't afford to pay everybody who
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  wants to get into ocean conservation.
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  Funding is limited and
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  competition is getting real.
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  It always has been, but it gets more and
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  more every year as more people are
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  getting degrees or more people are trying
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  to get into ocean conservation.
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  Now there have been a shift in how people
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  are doing ocean conservation.
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  Whether they're doing it on their own
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  voluntarily, whether they get their own
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  fundings through revenue generation or
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  through grants or something else.
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  They may have a degree, but they may not
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  have a job like a 9 to 5 where they go
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  with an organization or a government
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  department or even a private consultant.
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  They may just do it on their own and
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  build their own thing.
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  So when we talk about what skills matter
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  or what actually matters, it's not just
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  the title on your degree or your diploma.
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  It's the skill set that you have.
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  How can you contribute to a team or how
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  can you contribute with your skills to
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  science, to conservation?
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  Things like communication can take
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  complex ocean science
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  and make people care.
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  Data literacy. Can you work with
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  information and draw insights? GIS and
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  mapping, storytelling, which honestly is
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  one of the most
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  underrated skills in conservation.
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  And understanding policy, how
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  decisions actually get made.
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  If you look at your own career or even
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  mine, none of it came from just sitting
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  in the classroom. For me, podcasts became
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  the skill that open everything for me.
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  Not because someone gave me permission,
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  but because I kept showing up and I kept
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  doing it. This is my 19th, 100th and
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  third episode. Imagine that.
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  19 hundred and three episodes and I am
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  still moving strong. I did that and
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  through that I was able to craft my
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  message. I was able to
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  look in how to communicate.
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  I was able to build a network. I was able
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  to have people understand how much work
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  I've put into this. And on Friday, you're
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  going to hear what podcasting has
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  actually been able to
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  let me do things. Right.
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  And change the way I view my life from a
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  work perspective or even from a like a
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  personal growth perspective.
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  Now here's where it gets interesting. You
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  don't need to wait for a program to teach
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  you the skills anymore. Everything is
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  accessible. Now look, I know you're
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  probably thinking like,
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  we need a degree to be a marine
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  biologist. Absolutely. You may even need
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  a degree to be a communication person or
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  like a certification at least. But
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  everything is accessible these days.
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  You've got online courses, YouTube
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  tutorials, open data sets from
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  organizations around the world, free
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  tools for mapping analysis and
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  communication. And one of the smartest
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  things you could do, reverse engineer job
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  descriptions. So go look at the jobs you
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  want. Don't apply yet. Just study them.
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  What skills keep showing up? What tools
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  do they mention? That's your roadmap, not
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  a degree, a roadmap. You get your degree
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  through your schooling. That's how it
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  works. Like you have to get your degree
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  for some jobs. But all the other skills
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  you can get while you're studying for
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  that degree, even before your degree or
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  during your degree and after your degree,
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  you can always like you can always
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  increase your skill set by
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  doing what you want to do.
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  You don't have to wait for permission
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  from your work. You don't have to wait
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  for permission from your parents. You can
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  just go ahead and do what you think is
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  necessary to get what you want. Right?
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  That's what you really have to do. You
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  know, when I want to get like
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  communication experience, I couldn't find
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  a job that would give me communication
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  experience because I didn't have any
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  communication experience of my own. So I
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  built my own communication experience. I
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  blogged, I vlogged and I even started a
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  podcast. And that's what stuck for me. And it's gotten me to be able to do that.
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  My group rock had me and it's gotten me
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  job offers, it's gotten me projects, it's
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  gotten me to a lot of places and you'll
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  hear what happens on Friday with what
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  it's gotten me recently when it's gotten
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  here. Now, this is where
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  people hesitate most, right?
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  They think "I'll start at once, I know
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  enough!" Right? That's the trap because
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  the people who actually move forward
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  start before they're ready, you're never
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  ready to start a podcast.
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  podcast. You're never ready to do science
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  communication. You're never really ready
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  to start a project on your own to take
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  like ocean candidate, ocean networks,
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  candidate data that's available for free
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  and start processing it and making a
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  project out of it. You're never really
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  ready for it. You probably don't have the
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  time etched out for it that you really
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  realize you need. You may have some other
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  priorities, but if you really want to
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  build that skill set,
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  you'll get it, right?
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  You know, some of us like this, some of
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  them have started a blog. They've
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  launched a small social media account.
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  They analyze a data set and share them
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  where they will share what they find.
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  They break down a research paper in
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  simple terms. They don't wait to become
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  the expert or even a guide to being an
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  expert. They document the process of
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  becoming one, right? That's what they're
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  doing. That's the difference. Document
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  don't wait because every piece of content
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  you create is proof. Whether that's a
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  data set or data analysis or statistics.
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  Or that is, you know, communications or
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  anything else you can think of. At the
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  end of the day, a hiring manager has a
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  choice. Two candidates. One says, I'm
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  passionate about ocean conservation. The
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  other says, here's what I've done. I
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  blog, I project a series of posts, a
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  podcast, a data analysis. Who do you
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  think stands out? Your portfolio is
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  louder than your resume. Every single
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  time. One story that
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  always keeps coming up is the
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  first started podcasting. There was a
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  gentleman that that I knew a friend of
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  mine that that we didn't know each other
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  before this, but contact me. He said,
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  Hey, Andrew, I want to help you with your
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  podcast and I want to write your show
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  notes and you know, I want to write blogs
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  and stuff like that. Do you want me to
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  have? Do you need help? And I said, you
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  know what? That's great. Because I've
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  been thinking about going five days a
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  week from one day a week, doing some solo
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  episodes, but I can't do the show notes
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  at the same time. Because I have a job
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  and kids and all that kind of stuff. And
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  he was like, perfect. It's a perfect
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  opportunity to do that. So we've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We've been doing a lot of things. We
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  worked together for over a year. And when
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  it came time for him to
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  look for a job, he asked
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  if he can use me as a reference because
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  he's been working on this
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  project forever. Not only
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  did he write for me at, you know, every
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  Friday we had ocean talk
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  Friday and Nathan Johnson
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  was on the podcast where he would pick
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  like four or five
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  stories and we would talk about
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  those stories on a podcast. It was great.
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  It was wonderful. We
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  got to know each other.
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  We built a relationship. This was all
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  done over his job. We
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  both had jobs and we both
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  did it over his job, over our jobs. And
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  when he went for a new job,
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  he used me as a reference.
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  And that reference called me and said,
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  Hey, like, you know, why
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  would, why should we hire
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  Nathan essentially? And I said, you know
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  what? I was like, he's been
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  doing this apart from work.
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  This isn't part of his job description.
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  This is separate. He's
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  been doing it for free
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  just because he loves writing. He loves
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  communicating. He
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  loves the ocean. So if you
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  don't hire him for the passion, like if
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  you're not going to hire from skills,
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  hire from his passion
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  at the very least, because he's got the
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  passion, the dedication to do
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  the work. And now he's built
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  this entire skill set and they hired him.
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  You know, I know it was
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  partly due to the extra passion
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  that he had. So take on that extra
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  passion project, you know,
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  do that side hustle, whatever
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  that might be that has to do with the
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  ocean if you want a job in
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  ocean science and conservation.
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  So if you're going to take anything from
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  this episode, it's this.
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  Stop waiting for permission.
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  Pick one skill, just one and publish
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  something within this week,
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  right? Next, not next month,
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  not when you feel ready this week because
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  the people building
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  careers in ocean conservation
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  aren't waiting to be chosen. They're
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  making themselves visible.
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  And that's how you start.
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  There are so many cases where I've seen
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  people show up online, whether it be
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  social media or whether
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  it be through any other means, a blog or
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  anything like that, where
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  they've shown what they've been
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  able to do. And people look to them as a
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  resource. They look to them as someone
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  who's like, I see this
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  person would be good for this project or
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  that project or this
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  project, right? At the very least,
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  like I know some of my friends who've
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  gone on TV shows because
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  they post so much with their
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  ocean communication and sharing what the
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  work they're doing. And
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  that's how they get big. And
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  that's how they get on these ships and
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  these TV shows and all that kind of
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  stuff, right? There's
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  so many examples of this happening and
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  don't want to miss out. I'm not saying
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  that's going to happen
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  for everybody, but you don't want to miss
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  out because there's
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  always opportunities that comes
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  around the corner when you do this kind
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  of stuff and you put yourself
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  out there and you talk about
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  the ocean, you talk about your passion
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  and you just never know what's going to
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  come your way. I would never have thought
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  what I'm going to talk about Friday would
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  have happened unless I had this podcast.
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  So that's it for today's episode. If you
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  have a question or a comment and you want
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  to let me know if you want to talk to me,
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  this is the beginning of a conversation.
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  I'd love for you to continue it.
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  You can comment on Spotify or you can hit
• 10:38
  me up on speak up for blue dot com
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  forward slash feedback that speak up for
• 10:45
  blue dot com forward slash feedback. I'd
• 10:47
  love to hear from you. You can either
• 10:49
  leave a voicemail or you can write down
• 10:51
  something. But I'd love to hear from you.
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  And that's it for today's episode. And
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  this has been the how to protect the
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  ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew
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  Lewin. Have a great day. We'll talk to
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  you next time and happy conservation.