What attracts somebody to a career in forestry is exactly what pushes them away from coding.
The image of a developer sitting in a dark room in front of a flickering computer screen while line after line of cryptic nonsense scrolls by… usually doesn’t appeal.
And that’s a shame.
The same sort of analytical, systems oriented thinking that makes someone a great forester also sets them up for success with coding. Both areas require the same mindset for success: Understanding a network of overlapping processes and using those processes to achieve your objectives, all while working within the natural constraints of that same system.
Digital Forestry is Here
The complexity of forest management and the large amount of data that comes along with it, means that solving problems manually can be repetitive, tedious and time consuming. Foresters are required to meet more management demands than ever, and need to use all available tools to work through the data and make the best decisions.
Its a waste of your expertise to spend time doing something a computer can do faster.
And computers are getting better and better at doing things. While forestry has traditionally lagged behind other industries in terms of digitization, that trend is starting to reverse. New technologies are on the horizon or already here and will be changing the face of the industry.
Those that can adapt to this change will get access to new opportunities. The demand for skilled practitioners in both forestry and the digital space will only increase. If your skills don’t match this new reality, you may be left behind.
You won’t be replaced by technology, you’ll be replaced by somebody who understands the technology. ‘
So why not become that person?
Coding is the ultimate digital skill. It goes beyond learning any one piece of software. It allows you to be active in the technological transformation, rather than passive.
Transform the Work You Do
I know what it feels like to be buried in spreadsheets, shapefiles, documents and emails. Coding skills are one way out of this. You can automate repetitive tasks and instead focus on higher value work where your expertise is truly useful.
Understanding how to complete a few basic tasks using a high level programming language like R or Python can increase your productivity. The next step is moving into more complex data analysis. Maybe you automate some management decisions by writing a script or complete more complex analysis using the massive capabilities of these languages.
It doesn’t stop there. Why not pull in remote sensing data like satellite imagery or LIDAR? Soon you could be training an AI to find new insights in your data or building simple interfaces for other people in your organization to do their work better.
Imagine the change in your company and the work that you do. Imagine the change in the forests that you help manage. You can accomplish things you didn’t even know were possible.
The languages themselves and the tools you need to run them are available free of charge and supported by a massive and growing user base.
You only need to understand some basic concepts and you can quickly start chaining together programs. Whether you’re looking to automate a repetitive spreadsheet task, or analyze data the possibilities are almost endless.
I’ve landed jobs because I had coding skills on my resume and I’ve increased my value as an employee substantially. This is a great skill to get ahead in your career and will only become more important as time goes on. Companies and governments are going to increasingly value employees with digital skills.
Because this skill in such demand there’s no shortage of ways to learn it. You could spend years just searching through courses, lectures, videos and other material available online before you learn to accomplish anything. That’s what I did and it made the learning process take SO much longer.
Sawfly’s Python Foundations for Forestry professionals is the perfect place to start your coding journey. It is the only course online geared towards the specific needs of forestry professionals. Don’t spend hours learning things that aren’t useful to you.
This course starts you off with the basics but quickly moves into real world applications. The course is self-directed so you can complete it on your own schedule.
When you enroll you get lifetime access to the material and a 1 year guarantee. So why not give it a try?
Purchase Sawfly’s Python Foundations for Forestry Professionals today