Terpeast

Of course they don't NEED an IT degree along with a met degree, but they DO need marketable skills outside of what they learned in the met program. Could be engineering, risk management, finance, etc. However, I would say that IT should be pretty high on that list.

Read through this thread some more. I'm sorry, but here's the bitter truth: even if you get the perfect grades, graduate from a great met school, do internships, make connections, and do all the right things - it's STILL no guarantee that you'll get the job you want. The ONLY reason I have the job I have today is that IT degree (bachelors) listed on my resume. Plus dumb luck. If a met degree was all I had, I'd still be living with my parents. Guaranteed.

Those are good sites to look for met jobs. I found mine through the Penn State jobs site (forgot the link).

That doesn't surprise me. I actually started my PhD program before landing the job I have now. I did apply to intern NWS positions while I was a "PhD" student.

You were one of the few lucky ones. From what I gather, it only took you 5 months to get a job, and that's during the worst recession since 1930s. It took me 2 whole years to find a private sector job that pays well, and that was with a masters degree in met and a bachelors in IT... before the recession started. It's BRUTAL out there. Good grades and experience are not going to be enough. You're right on diversifying yourself - that will get you through the door if you have good computer skills, engineering skills, finance skills, or ______ skills that the company in question is looking for.

I can empathize with the poster because I've had two years of frustrating underemployment while looking for a NWS job through USAJOBS (horrible horrible system) and other weather related jobs throughout the country. I finally landed a job in the wind energy industry in Texas, so I'm happy and extremely grateful. If you want to work in the renewable energy industry, that could be a good way to go. Might want to consider environmental science if not meteorology, and take some engineering or computer programming classes as well.

One of the greatest storms I've experienced, the other being the blizzard of 1996. I changed my flight plans in the last minute and made it just in time for the storm.