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What kind of careers can I do with carnivorous plants?

Wolfn

Agent of Chaos
So, I'm in college right now and it's time for me to settle on a major and career. However, growing carnivorous plants is my passion in life, and people always say to find a career that you want to do.

So, what careers can I do with carnivorous plants?
 
Uhhh nursery, study Botany and then study CPs in specific? not sure what else...
 
Become famous, get rich, donate the money to save CP habitats.
 
You could become a Biologist, Chemist, Geneticist, or Engineer and help devise a way to harness the sun's energy by using plants, algae, or bacteria. That would not only help CP's but all life on the planet.

I took the cowards way out by going from hard to easier. I started as a pre-med major, switched to Chemistry, then computer science. I ended up with a degree in CS with a double minor in mathematics and biology.

The weirdest thing I learned... How similar DNA is to assembler language.
 
Botanists get hired by all sorts of people: fed gov, state gov, private organizations. I had a friend who worked for an environmental consulting firm. He would do a plant survey before the bulldozers rolled so the developers would know how much wetland to build to compensate for their dirty deeds. He saw fields and fields of pitchers in north Florida.

Barry Rice makes a good living as a professor and maybe a little from his books. I wouldn't count on following in his footsteps though. Don Schnell is a surgeon. I'm not sure what Peter Diamato did before he wrote Savage Garden but I don't think it was selling carnies.
 
Barry Rice makes a good living as a professor and maybe a little from his books. I wouldn't count on following in his footsteps though.

Rice is an astronomer teaching at a community college. College professors can make a good living but they normally do so primarily through publishing. The top 5% of college professors make over $500,000/yr--the highest remuneration of practically any profession. The bottom 5% make less than $15,000/yr. Success (like mileage) will vary.

-Hermes.
 
As mentioned, Barry Rice along with 400 others were laid off by the Nature Conservancy from his position at UC Davis and went back to teaching Astronomy.

Not to be rude but If you are serious you should learn how to write plant names properly. ;)
 
So, I'm in college right now and it's time for me to settle on a major and career. However, growing carnivorous plants is my passion in life, and people always say to find a career that you want to do.

So, what careers can I do with carnivorous plants?

I asked myself the same questions several times last year and decided that there would be no career in biology/botany that would ever satisfy me, despite my love of the subject.

Right now, my plan (which is pretty set) is to major in plant biology and graduate to fly in the Air Force... two completely different areas. Maybe you could do something similar, like (as other people have already suggested) major in some type of biology and then become a teacher. Or another option, major in something else that you have an interest in and minor in plant biology.
 
  • #10
When i grow up(only 13 right now) i hope to open a nursery/greenhouse. I would have some cps there too.
 
  • #11
This question (or ones similar) have come up fairly frequently. Here's one thread that came from a search on 'career'.

While the advice 'Follow your passion' is a good one in general, when your passion is the same as many others - be prepared for a tough time upon graduation (think - supply vs demand). In addition, do you really want to take something you enjoy now as a hobby and do it for 8-14 hours every day?
 
  • #12
Making a living from growing plants is a pretty tough row to hoe, it can be done of course. The orchid/Nep shop guy started with one small greenhouse in the 70s and now has one hell of an operation - but now it's almost 40 years later! If you continue to grow them in a hobby sense, while keeping a job that has a regular paycheck, then any money you make from sales can go back into the hobby for new and rare species to grow and propagate. And you won't have to try and scramble to pay the bills with every little plant you sell.


The top 5% of college professors make over $500,000/yr--the highest remuneration of practically any profession. The bottom 5% make less than $15,000/yr. Success (like mileage) will vary.
I was shocked to find out that my Civics teacher back in highschool made less than my mom who was a factory worker.
 
  • #13
You could grow up and be Stewart Mcpherson the 2nd (see redfernnaturalhistory.com). Have fun eating frogs and fruitbats deep in the heart of bornean jungles when you run out of food!
 
  • #14
The thing I tell everyone who is starting college is this:
Take a huge variety of courses your first year. If you think you're interested in something, make connections with professors in that particular field and find out what research they are doing. You never know what you are really interested in when you're fresh out of high school and/or barely beginning your college career.



I sometimes notice people that have certain hobbies attempt to incorporate them into their future as a career. Unfortunately, it sometimes comes down to: do you really want to do something you love, but barely earn a living? Sometimes hobbies are just that... hobbies.
 
  • #15
I am in the plant business and I can tell you as can just about anyone else, you just don't make enough from selling plants to make a good living. I make enough to put in my next order, lol, and occasionally to put gas in my car or pay for lunch. It is still basically a hobby not really a job.

You could become a scientist and study the chemical make up of CPs to see if something in them could cure some disease or make a new medication or something. As a matter of fact, I donated some nepenthes to someone who said they were doing that. Who knows, maybe they just conned me for some free neps.
 
  • #16
Do something you really love to do, make plenty of money, work only 40 hours a week..... pick any two. :jester:
 
  • #17
Whoa, hey Presto - long time no see!
I think you might be thinking about it from the wrong angle, Wolfn; carnivorous plant cultivation in and of itself isn't really a work skill, except in our own tiny little niche. As someone going into college, you should be looking for broad fields that you're interested in. If you want to involve your CP hobby into your career, pick a field that will enhance your specialty skills with CPs, but don't count on the work being there. If you specialize too much, you paint yourself into a corner. Do something with biotech, or landscaping, or wetland ecology. Those are all industries with reliable work and plenty of entry-level opportunities. If you want to go tromp around Indonesia looking for Neps, do field biology. It's academic work and the pay isn't always great, but there are lots of trips to exotic locales.
Once you're the boss, you can start looking for ways to parlay your knowledge of CPs into business projects, but you'll be hard-pressed to find mentors that will share your interest throughout your entire education. Not to mention working your way up the business ladder.
Otherwise, the best advice I can give you is to build a portfolio; grow some really nice looking plants and arrangements, get professional photographs and get as much exposure as possible. You'd probably be on the edge of landscaping and interior design - I think the most common work you'd find would basically be building living flower arrangements for people. (Except bloodthirsty plants instead of flowers.) You're going to have to sell your butt off to find jobs that way, but you never know when you'll find a windfall.
~Joe
 
  • #18
here here seedjar!

I like the approach :)

you need to find out WHY you like Cp's, its not the cp's themselves... ya know? its an interest in cultivating something difficult, or biology in general, the fact that plants eat bugs is cool ya know but I really doubt thats the sole reason you enjoy Cp's...

figure out WHY and abstract your career to cater to your natural interests.
 
  • #19
Whoa, hey Presto - long time no see!

Hehe! How's it going, Joe? I've been lurking a little but, yeah...turns out grad school takes up a lot of your time. Who knew? ???
 
  • #20
Something I feel people often don't realize is the difference between passion for a hobby and passion for a job. Many people have great passions for their hobbies, which is a great thing, but need to realize that often, a hobby is not a career. I have a passion for several of my hobbies, but became an accountant. Now, I can better fund my passion for CPs, and other things, make a living for myself, and have a career that I enjoy. Take a step back, and think, am I trying to feed a hobby? Or am I trying to feed a career, and look at the practicality of every option. Just because you aren't getting a degree in biology or botany, doesn't mean you cannot read and learn everything you want about your passion.
 
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