The ESRI PUG conference is scheduled for February 23-25 in Houston, Texas.  If ESRI software is a part of your software toolbench, you may want to consider attending this event. 

http://www.esri.com/events/pug/index.html

Most companies have been working on 2009 budgets and this is always a good time for a GeoTech to help save a few bucks.  So, our data and software expenses pale in comparison to the other capital expenditures, that doesn't mean we can't assist with the bottom line.  When times are good, I think we tend to overlook some of the small items and spend, spend, spend as needed.  Now is the time to consolidate and really evaluate what is needed.

 Things to consider.

1. Evaluate your data purchases from the different vendors.  How many sources of raster images do you have?  Do you really need data from all the vendors?
2. Take a closer look at how many site or seat licenses you have purchased.  If you only have 3 Petra users, why do you have a 10 seat license?  It is also worth taking the time to look at the uses for all regions and consolidate the seat licenses if it will help save money.
3. Process automation.  Spending a couple days programming a way to automate a process will save time and money down the road.  This will also free you up to perform other tasks that might create better business decisions.
4. If you plan on purchasing some hardware next year, you might consider buying now.  Many vendors are slashing prices to get those end of the year quotas up.  You may be able to save some significant money on the new plotter, while keeping it on this years budget.

What tips or tricks do you have to share?

I'm a big believer in getting the most bang for your buck from software.  Why use $10,000 software packages when a couple $500 software packages will fit the bill.  Well, after months of trying to get a custom GIS solution to work with Manifold, I have finally thrown in the towel and embraced the ESRI.  Simply put, ESRI has better documentation, support, and tools in place for the developer.  While Manifold has a fine GIS application, it pales in comparison to the great end user programming documentation provided by ESRI.   So all the money I tried to save using Manifold, really didn't work out in the end.  I wish I could provide specifics of the project, but it is a custom upstream application that holds some tremendous potential for the organization. 

When buying lower cost software solutions, take a good look at the support options and see if it will work for your organization.  If you are use to on-demand support departments with extensive documentation, examples and other support avenues, you may be disappointed in the lower cost alternatives.

The past couple weeks have been pretty tough on the US and world economy.  Our industry seems to be especially hard hit with the price of oil dropping to nearly $70 and company stocks taking a nose dive.   While I remain optimistic that we will see a good rebound within the next year, the immediate question is can we all weather the storm?  I haven't seen this much gloom and despair among my co-workers.  Mostly from those who were working during the early 80's. 

While I don't want to worry about losing a job anytime soon, the fact is a GeoTech position may/may not be a critical position in your organization.  During downtimes, I think it is imperative to remain busy and focused.  Work hard and provide good value for the organization.  Keep your skills up-to-date and make sure your managers are aware that you are willing to go the extra mile to complete any and all projects. 

I wish everyone the best and a quick and speedy recovery!

The engineer in the office next to you walks in and hands you a printed map showing some lease positions from a competitor company.  He wants you to plot some contours, well locations, and other such items on top of the leases.  Your first impression might be, I can't do this in a reasonable amount of time.  Digitizing a complex map could take many days and requires a significant amount of effort.  This is time you cannot spend for such a quick project with relatively low priority.  So what is a GeoTech to do in this instance?

Well....  I say think RASTER.  Scan the map and use a tool, such as Didger, to georeference the image to a known projection that you use in your Petra, Geographix, or ArcGIS project.  As long as you can locate three known geographic coordinates, Didger can calibrate and warp the image.  Once warped, import the image into your application and add the other layers requested by the engineer, landmap, geologist, or administrative staff. 

Think solutions!

Every now and again, I'll chat with some poor GeoTech that works for a big company that has all the computers locked down.    For me this is basically a situation in which my job would be very difficult to perform.  Since I like to write my own small programs to do specific tasks, a locked down system would prohibit me from completing these tasks in an efficient fashion.  That being said, I do understand why IT locks down the computers and eliminates potential problems.

For efficiency, I firmly believe the GeoTech needs to have administrative rights to his/her computer.  We are involved in so many computing functions that require a more intimate relationship with the operating system, that a locked down system simply doesn't make sense.   I also believe that when interviewing for a new position, keep this in mind.  If I would have ended up taking my last job with Big Oil Company XXX, I would still be writing Microsoft Access 2000 VBA scripts, rather than full fledged C#, .NET 3.5 mini applications.  While this might not be a big deal to some users, this is a huge deal to me.  You should also consider this if you do quite a bit of work with ArcGIS and create some custom extensions.  It is nearly impossible to do these in a locked down environment.

 So enough of the Soapbox.  Have a great fall and I continue to appreciate any of you who read this blog.

I noticed a trend starting a few years back.  I was no longer using a digitizing tablet for most of my digitizing work.  With the great heads-up digitizing software on the market, the old hardware wasn't getting used all that often.  Well low and behold, we recently moved our digitizing tablet to a room that we seldom use.  That great old tablet has basically gone to the bone yard of old hardware equipment.  No, we have no intention of selling or dumping the tablet, but I doubt it will ever get used again.

Out with the old, in with the new.

If you've read this blog before, and I think I only have two readers right now, you know that I'm a big fan of Didger  from Golden Software.   Didger has been an indispensable tool for my digitizing needs.  While I do most of my log digitizing in Neuralog, another terrific product, I find Didger works much better for map based digitizing projects.

I use the product all the time for scanning maps and graphics from reports and journal articles and import the geologic maps into Petra, Geographix, and ArcMap.  What was once thought too difficult to create, our department can now transform maps from a variety of different sources to accurate geologic data that has proven extremely useful in our exploration efforts. 

 Give the Didger demo a try at some point.  Scan a map from one of the journals and find out for yourself how easy it is to digitizing faults, geology, and other features and extract that data into your Geographix or Petra projects. 

A good friend and long time co-worker asked me an interesting question the other day.  I was talking about how I was known as the "Expert", in my company, with a particular piece of software.   He mumbled something and then asked me, why I was the expert with the software package and how does one define being an expert?  Well that was indeed a very good question. 

I honestly believe that the term, EXPERT, is relative.  In my organization, I am the expert by default since I have the most experience and knowledge with this piece of software.  When someone has questions or particular needs, they know to contact me regarding the use and implementation.  I continue to learn and use the software in new ways and feel very comfortable with the product.  That being said, I could find myself in a new company with some hot-shot users of the product and I may no longer be the expert. 

Despite the fact I think it is all relative, I think one must still have a core understanding and knowledge of a piece of software.  By virtue of having the software installed on your machine and the fact you can create something simple doesn't mean you are an expert.  One must be able to use the software for not only ordinary tasks, but perhaps a few complex operations. 

I would like to end this post with a few comments on what you should do to work towards being an expert.

• Set aside some time every week to explore the software and learn something new.  If this involves coming in early or staying late, by all means do it.
• Read the user guide or on-line help.  The old joke is RTFM, read the friggin manual.  Don't under estimate the resources you already have available.
• Work with the other GeoTech's and provide some tips and hints on how to improve workflow or solve a particular problem.  I like to do this in our organization in a very low key manner.
• Pick your poison.  What I mean is pick your favorite software to become an expert.  I don't know how many software packages I have on my computer, but I'm going to pick a few that I know will certainly improve my skill set in the long run and for the company.  Becoming an expert with Petra will certainly be more beneficial than becoming an expert with Outlook 2007.

As any GeoTech knows, every day can be a new adventure.  One great aspect about the job is the diversity of tasks and requirements on a daily basis.  Sure, making maps is normally one of our key responsibilities, but to make the job really interesting, I like to push the limits.  I would guess that most GeoTechs have minimal to no programming skills.  I would venture to say that most have never really had any need.  But what do you do when you need to process hundreds, if not thousands, of files for some specific purpose?  Sure, you can open up a text editor and spend the next three weeks editing data or you could fire up a little program and do the work automatically. 

So this all sounds well and good, but where do I start?  If you have no programming experience, I would suggest starting with Python.  Don't let the name alarm you.  Trust me the language will not bite!  Python is a great general purpose language that can be used for text file manipulation and even things like automating ESRI ArcMap products.  It is very versatile and easy to get going.

I would start with purchasing the book, Learning Python: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Python-3rd-Mark-Lutz/dp/0596513984/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218891657&sr=8-1  This is a great resource, with plenty of examples on how to use the language.    I also like Programming Python from the same author:  http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Python-Mark-Lutz/dp/0596009259/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218891657&sr=8-4

Otherwise, do a web search on Python and view the millions of sites available to learn more about the programming environment.  I really think this is a skill that can move your career forward and more importantly add value to your job and another tool on the belt.

I had a friend call this week and ask me how I managed to find such good jobs over the years.  I always kind of chuckle a bit, because he fails to consider the big differences in our computer skills, but that is another subject.  Even when I worked as a "Geologist", I was still the computer guy.  I developed my GIS skills in the off hours and tried to train and learn as much as possible.

So how do you find the perfect Geoscience Technician(GeoTech) roll? 

• Network.  When I was younger, I downplayed this as being important.  The older I now realize this is probably the largest factor available in the job hunt.  I highly recommend doing some networking and becoming friendly with people in a number of different industries and companies.  You never know when those contacts might pay off big time during your next job hunt.  Every 6 months or so, drop an e-mail or better yet a phone call.  Keep the conversation light and talk about the kids, travel, etc.  Stay connected.
• Internet Job Sites.  This requires a ton of work and persistence, but I did manage to make a number of connections during my last job hunt.
  • http://www.indeed.com/ - one of my favorites.  It is like Google for job hunting. 
  • http://www.miscojobs.com/ - Another site that grabs links from all over the web, even though they look like paid advertising.
  • http://www.infooil.com/ - Real hit or miss.
  • http://www.rigzone.com/ - Not bad, not great.
  • http://www.monster.com/ - Oddly enough, I ended up making a number of contacts on Monster.  Especially after I posted my resume.  I didn't hold out much hope, but the provided some great opportunities.
• Recruiters.  I'm a bit indifferent to the use of recruiters.  I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth from the last job hunt.  I get the impression that helping a GeoTech on a job hunt was above what they wanted to do.   Nonetheless, check out the following:
  • http://www.collarini.com/
  • http://www.dmlonline.com/
  • http://www.ksenergysearch.com/default.asp 
  • http://csirecruiting.com/default.asp
  • http://www.masonenergy.com/index.htm
• Company Websites.  Finally, spend days locating all the petroleum company websites and send resumes and resumes and resumes.  It may take a while to get a response, but you will get one in the end. 

Good luck and let me know how your next job hunt progresses.