What percent of your work is outside vs. inside?
Ask A Biologist Monday 3/8/21
I personally manage all the species within a specific area. During the spring, summer, and fall I spend about 70% of my time outside and 30% inside. During the winter it shifts to about 80% inside and 20% outside. Tip: The further you get into your Wildlife career, the more time you will spend indoors. Most of the hands-on work is done by technicians. Consider this before getting a Master’s and/or PhD.
Answers from Biologists:
October-April, 80% indoors. Only to help other projects with surveys
Summer: almost 100% outdoors (sans admin duties). Winter is for data analysis indoors (Fisheries Biologist)
100% outdoors (Seasonal Fisheries Biologist)
99% outdoors (technician for the CA department of Fish and Wildlife)
70% office in normal times. 100% office with Covid restrictions (Public Lands Specialist)
30% outdoors, but it can go in waves throughout the year (Partner Biologist with American Bird Conservancy and NRCS)
0.5% outdoors-this is what a PhD looks like for a lot of Wildlife Biologists!
30% outdoors, though Covid has changed this (Refuge Specialist for USFWS)
20% outdoors, 80% indoors (Master’s student)
I get out maybe 1-2 days/month (Consultant Ecologist)
100% inside online. Post Covid: maybe 5% outside (Bio Planner for USFWS)
99.9% inside. Sometimes I miss the field but I volunteer on other’s projects and I spent more than 10 years working tech jobs so I’m okay with the desk job and stability (T&E nerd)
80% fieldwork, 20% data entry and reporting (invasive weeds ranger in NZ)
100% inside (applications manager for hunting applications and make hunting maps)
30% outside, 70% inside (Forest Service Ecologist)
70-80% outside, 20-30% inside depending on the season (Wildlife Biologist-Environmental Consulting-CA)
100% inside, but I volunteer on other projects (Permit Coordinator)
20% outside, 80% inside (Environmental Scientist)
30% outside, 70% inside (Wildlife Rehabilitator)
90% outside summer, 80% inside fall/winter (Part-time bird researcher)
10% outside when collecting data. Now 100% inside (Master’s student)
