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Erin Wyrick - Episode 65
68 Plays7 years ago
Profiles in CRM features short interviews with CRM professionals from all experience levels and educational levels. I ask a standard list of questions and see how each person answers them based on their experience.
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Transcript
00:00:00
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You
Sponsor Introduction
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are listening to the archaeology podcast network. The archaeology podcast network is sponsored by Codify, a California benefit corporation. Visit codify at www.codifi.com.
Show Introduction: 'Profiles in CRM'
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Hey, this is Erin Weierk and you're listening to Profiles in CRM.
00:00:21
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Welcome to Profiles in CRM, Episode 65. I'm your host, Chris Webster. Profiles in CRM asks CRM professionals nine simple questions. The answers vary wildly depending on their experience and education.
Anonymity in CRM
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Because of the nature of contract archaeology and how small this field really is, some people choose not to reveal their name or the company they work for. Stay to the end of the show to hear how you can have a chance to answer these same questions. Okay, we're here on Profiles and here's the first question. What is your name and who do you work for?
Introducing Erin Weyrich
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Hi, my name is Erin Weyrich and I am an archaeological monitor for Cogstone cultural resource management. Awesome. And what's the highest degree you've earned? I have a bachelor's in anthropology concentration on archaeology from San Jose State University. And currently I am working towards being eligible to go to San Francisco State for a master's in anthropology. Awesome. Well, good luck with that. Thank you.
Erin's Professional Journey
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Okay. So how long have you been working in CRM?
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I've been doing CRM for about five years in a professional sense academically Since 2008 so nearly nine years. Okay, and where have you worked? What states have you worked in?
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Mainly I've worked in California, but my field school I worked in Selah, Washington Where I helped excavate a mammoth actually that Colombian mammoth is featured in a documentary by the History Channel before 10,000 BC Nice. I'm pretty sure I've heard about that. That's pretty cool. Nice. Yeah, I'm not in that episode documentary but my professor from the class talks about the whole thing and
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That's pretty cool. All right. Okay. So what position do you usually have on CRM crews and what is the highest position you've ever held?
Roles and Experience in Archaeology
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Um, most of the time I am a C, um, an archeological technician, if not a, um, geospatial or, um, GIS technician. Um, the highest position I've had, I was the city archeologist for the city of San Jose, as it was recovering from the rim fire.
00:02:26
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The city itself was not in the fire, but its family camp was. And being a former camp counselor and having a degree in this, I volunteered my services to help watch the progress as the tents were being replaced in various sensitive areas. Okay, awesome. All right, now the slightly more entertaining questions. What is the best thing that's happened to you that's related to being an archaeologist, and this can be personal or professional?
Fieldwork Stories and Networking
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Sure, actually I gotta say it's gotta be some of the stories I get whenever I tell people about what I've seen in the field and everything. I was just telling a construction worker today about my field school work where I was working on the mammoth. I mean, that's probably the biggest and best story I can tell people, but I mean, I found various things on various sites and I love to talk about them when I'm legally able to.
00:03:27
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Oftentimes I have to say it's also the people I meet too. I get to talk to various higher echelons and construction companies. And I get to talk to construction workers about their lives and some of the things that they find on the sites. And it's amazing to hear what they've worked with and what they get to do. Awesome. Okay.
Challenges in CRM Archaeology
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What's the biggest thing that you would change that would make being a CRM archeologist better?
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Um, I'm probably, um, it's probably very common that you'll hear this curse, but it's going to have to be, um, a steady job and, um, you know, livable wages. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, besides this job, I do, um, one, or I worked retail off and on while working archeology. Um, and I've also had to work for the city of San Jose and other capacities other than archeology.
00:04:21
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So it's pretty hard, especially living in San Francisco, in the San Francisco Bay Area, how to get anything done, if not put mules on the table. Well, you're doing it right for this industry anyway. As of recording here at the beginning of March, we released a CRM archaeology podcast episode all about the side hustle and the things we have to do to make CRM work.
00:04:48
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Yes, and I listened to that and I read the article. I have to say working for a retail job that is related to archaeology, the challenging to find is actually worthwhile because you're learning skills at the same time as you are honing them for the job that you might not be doing every six months. Right, absolutely. Okay, what is your career goal in CRM?
Career Aspirations in CRM
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So where do you see yourself in 10, 20 years or however far you want to project?
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Well, I'm hoping to someday get a position as a more permanent archaeologist or principal archaeologist on a CRM firm, hopefully in California, if not in somewhere in the United States, wherever life takes me. But basically, I just want to be able to say, hey, I've got a job and I don't have to pay or have more than one job to take care of it.
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Right. Absolutely. All right. Final question. If you could give an undergrad thinking about a career in CRM one piece of advice, what would it be?
Advice for Aspiring Archaeologists
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Gosh, I got several. Everybody usually does. Yeah. No, whenever I'm volunteering at Yosemite, I'm talking to undergrads all the time. But what I have to say is, like I said, volunteer. If you see anything like, for example, Yosemite facelift, they were looking for volunteers as of last year.
00:06:10
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to talk to people about what is archaeology and to help pick out trash from the area. Or another place I volunteered at was the Mission Santa Cruz State Park. We were looking at artifacts from Santa Clara Mission, trying to identify what was metal, what was animal bone, what was all kinds of other stuff. This is a great, in volunteering, you don't need to agree. I was working with seniors and children.
00:06:40
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So, I mean, for undergrads, I really have to tell them, you know, if you see a volunteer program, even if it's not an internship, go for it, because you'll get the experience you need to put on that resume and say, I have done work in CRM.
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Show notes for this and all episodes can be found on the Archaeology Podcast Network website at www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/.
Audience Engagement
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At that page you'll also find a form that you can fill out so you can be interviewed on the show. Interviews take less than 30 minutes and you don't need any special equipment. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the field.
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The show is produced by Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle and was edited by Chris Webster. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com