Diamonds in the Rough

The secret (and wildly interesting) jobs perfect for any young man looking for skill and adventure

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Writing to you from Osaka, Japan

The Willamette Complex, 2024

A life similar to that of men like Louis L’Amour — a man skilled in a range of areas, very well traveled, and strong-willed — can be lived today. You might not work as an elephant handler, longshoreman, deck hand, cattle skinner, or caretaker of a mine as L’Amour did. The world has become much more limited and constricting since the early-mid 20th century. But, you can still find those diamonds in the rough — jobs that pay well, require you to travel to strange places, are packed with skill and physical work, and are in desperate need of young and able-bodied men of good character.

I’ve stumbled on 3 of these jobs and personally worked in 2 in the last 2.5 years. They are game changers when you take into account the boring, step-by-step nature of most modern jobs. These diamonds in the rough are dynamic, the environments are ever-changing, and the people you’ll meet are fundamentally different than most others.

Finding these jobs is the hardest part. I’m here to make it easier for you.

Tough Work in a Strange Place

Abandoned car and structure behind it just outside Gabbs, Nevada, 2025

Breakfast in that old bar in the town of Gabbs, Nevada (population: 132) always seemed too short. The food and coffee were great, traditional American style, but it was the brief moment of calm before a long and hot day that made it so good. Seated around me were three Mexican geologists and an old and wild French-Canadian geophysics crew leader that never parted with his pipe. These guys were men, true men, that had all spent a great portion of their lives in places and under conditions most will never meet. Sharing a table with them was an honor.

Abruptly, as always, breakfast ended. We had to load up the trucks and head out to the field.

We drove 30 minutes away to a spot the geologists had surveyed for us (as the geophysics crew) to conduct the induced polarization geophysics work. The geologists had found a few signs of potential precious metal deposits in an area full of old mines. They wanted us to go in and collect additional data for further confirmation of their findings.

The work, which we had been doing for several days now, entailed stringing several kilometers of wire across the desert along a very specific bearing. Typically, two lines are placed: one which is used to shoot out an electrical signal into the ground and another that receives the signal via copper “pots” placed at intervals along the wire to measure the resistivity/conductivity of potential precious metals underground.

We carried heavy spools of wire, dug holes for the copper “pots”, and shot several amps of electricity through the wires while one or two of us collected the data using a very old piece of tech.

Walking with a heavy spool of wire on my back, 2025

It was tough work…though I never imagined I’d do any work for an exploration mining company.

Wild things happened every day. A guy got heat exhaustion on the first day, we had a damaged truck transmission, a flat tire, lots of drama among the crew, equipment failure, wild horses breaking the electrical wire, and the same guy that got heat exhaustion happened to be touching the wire when the current was sent through. Less than one amp is enough to kill a person. There were usually about 4+ amps running through the wire. He touched it with his left hand which, luckily for him, meant that his wedding ring somehow redirected the current away from his heart. He walked away with only minor second-degree burns on his hands.

Everybody was aware that the job could be dangerous when we signed up. It became very real after that event. Within less than 2 weeks I was able to use my EMT skills twice on that crew. I can’t imagine how many more times I might have used it had I stuck around for a few more weeks. Of course, you never want to see anybody get hurt, but there’s nothing like having an uncommon skillset and actually being able to use it.

Anyway…

Day after day, the worst part of it all — the biggest thing that made the experience so much worse — was the crew. They were hired from a nearby town where they had previously been working in warehouses, stores, and restaurants. They were lazy, unskilled, disrespectful, and slow — the complete opposite of what I thought the crew would look like going into it. These people talked trash about the geophysics crew leader behind his back, disobey his orders (despite him having 30 years of experience), and even yelled and lied about him to his face. I respected the man and couldn’t stand it. I yelled at them and decided to leave the same day. In retrospect, my only regret is that I didn’t stay to help the leader of the crew for even just a few more days. I was the only one on the crew that he trusted.

But, let me backtrack a little bit.

Geophysics crews are almost always comprised of unskilled and often lazy people from the town nearest to the job site. As you’d suspect, this can turn out to be a very bad idea since the lowest rung of society (i.e. drug addicts, alcoholics, gamblers, lazy laborers) tend to sign up the most out of desperation for money.

There were lots of conversations about the quality of the crew during those few weeks. One of the geologists managed just about everything at the site, so all of the complaints went to him. When I told him that they have to hire more young, physically capable, and good men he told me something to the effect of, “That’s not possible because we don’t know where we could find people like that.” I objected to that statement and told him that the only problem was that nobody knows that jobs like this exist.

This is where your opportunity lies.

More exploration mining companies and induced polarization crews exist than you know. They are always operating in the long, draw-out, complex, expensive, and challenging race to locate porphyries of precious metals and build mines. The geophysics companies are always in need of workers. If you can competently do the work you could even learn how to operate the data-collecting receivers, which is an incredibly rare skill and immediately makes you 100x more valuable on a job site.

You could be paid anywhere from $170-$250/day while learning how to splice wire, communicate effectively, lead people, and operate interesting equipment — all while building your body and hiking around mostly untouched land. Plus, you’ll learn a little about geophysics and geology.

Not only that, but any well-meaning and hard working young man will be cherished in an environment that’s usually chock-full of incompetent, lazy people.

So, here’s what you should do if you’re a young and ambitious man of good character:

• Look for geophysics crews and exploration mining companies on the internet.

• Find a way to get in contact with them.

• Ask them if they are hiring or plan to hire in the near future.

• Tell them that you’ve heard about the work. Tell them how old you are, that you want to learn and work, and that you’re willing to fly out to their location at any time within a specific time frame.

• Make it clear that you want to learn how to do the job well.

• Clarify pay, accommodations, conditions, and location of the job.

• Don’t stop contacting different companies if your first email or call gets rejected or ignored. There are companies that need workers.

This is a great way to make some money as part of the Work Cycle of The Preparation, pick up new skills, and go places most never go.

Fire

New start just south of the 2024 Falls fire in Oregon

I first heard about wildland firefighting when I was going through EMT school. Our instructor asked us what we all wanted to do after getting certified and one of the guys there brought up wildland fire. Out of all of the jobs available to an EMT, working in wildland fire seemed like the coolest thing you could do. Especially if you work out west, you’re surrounded by beautiful country as you’re doing dangerous and difficult work. It is a man’s profession.

Well, something entirely unexpected happened a couple months after EMT school…

Tyler Olson (paramedic, ex-military, entrepreneur, and one of the founders of Minuteman EMS) had heard about my progress within The Preparation and he wanted to give me a major opportunity. He asked if I wanted to deploy onto wildfires as an EMT with his company during the next wildfire season. I said yes. All that was required of me was that I take a few online classes, attend an in-person “field day”, and do a pack test — a physical endurance test where you have to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes with 45 pounds on your back.

On July 14th of 2024 I was deployed to the Falls fire in eastern Oregon. The fire had exploded to 50,000 acres within a few days and would burn over 150,000 acres before it died out.

My partner (a 21 y/o paramedic) and I had the #2 ambulance on the fire. The first few days were a shock to my system. Everything was different and entirely new to me. Smoke covered the entire campground as we arrived. We slept on the floor of the town’s only elementary school for several days…oh and we were sleeping during the day because we were put on night shift. I spent a total of 26 days on that fire and later spent another 15 days on a fire in western Oregon.

A picture of me in front of our ambulance, taken by my paramedic

Wild things happened all the time.

There was a plane crash on the fire one evening that resulted in the death of a 74 year old man. There were tons of accidents on the Falls fire — everything from rolled ankles, bee stings, poison oak, chainsaw cuts, and heat stroke. The second fire I was on (the Willamette Complex) brought some interesting moments as well. One night we — as in everybody in the camp — woke up to the sound of multiple gunshots, probably 8 or so. At another time one man was removed from the fire due to “behavioral issues”. And, another entirely separate event: a man came out of the woods and threatened a fire crew with a spear.

The whole saying about every day holding something new is not only true, but also amplified a thousandfold on some wildfires.

I’m not telling you this to dissuade you from working on wildfires. In fact, all of these wild events only added to the already interesting experience. Some fires are boring and some are wild, but being able to work and practice your skills in an environment like that cannot be compared to anything else. You make great friends very quickly, you get to do something that well under 0.1% of people ever do, and you make great money…depending upon the route you take.

If you work for a private contractor as an EMT you could make anywhere from $500-$650 a day. Yes, a day.

The wildland EMS community is very tight-knit. Usually EMTs and Paramedics that try wildland work once end up doing it again and again every season. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t space for new people to move in. Depending upon the fire season, some private contractors are in desperate need of new EMTs or paramedics to take the place of people who are leaving or resting for a few days.

And just like the geophysics crews, wildland EMS private contractors cherish young, physically fit people of good character.

So, here’s your blueprint for getting into wildland EMS:

• Complete EMT school and the NREMT exam (you should be doing this as your first cycle within The Preparation)

• Ideally, you should get a few months of experience working in 911 (I wish I had done this before diving headfirst into wildland)

• Complete the required training to become a Type 2 firefighter.

• Get in contact with private contractors. Tell them about your experience thus far, what you’re looking to do, and that you’d like to be on their crew or that you’re filling to fill in when members of the crew are leaving or are on R&R.

• Use The Journeyman App to easily find training courses, keep track of your certifications, and get in touch with wildland companies.

I highly recommend that you at least become an EMT and try wildland fire work once, especially if you’re young. It is some of the most interesting work you’ll ever do.

Now, it isn’t easy to get into wildland fire because there isn’t a clear step-by-step process. I was very unsure if I was doing all the right things during my first year. Nonetheless, the uncertainty was worth it.

Luckily though, the entire process is made a lot easier by The Journeyman, which was also founded by Brennan Holloway and Tyler Olson of Minuteman EMS. The app really does smooth out the entire process of getting certified, re-certified, getting in touch with wildland companies, and finding work. I’ll be using the app going into this fire season and I highly recommend you download it now if you plan on taking the wildland EMS route in the future.

Anyway, walking this path of becoming an EMT and using the skills to work on wildfires is a great way to complete 2 of the cycles from The Preparation: The Medic Cycle and the Work Cycle.

Walking a Unique Path

Those are just 2 of the “diamonds in the rough” that I’ve stumbled into over the last couple years. No doubt, there are many other gems like them waiting to be found.

But, going back to Louis L’Amour, he walked a very interesting path that was largely shaped by the various types of work he did. His experiences shaped him into the man he would become. His own life story and vast range of experiences, combined with travel and stories he had heard of other men, all led to the one thing he would become known for: being a fantastic writer. Although he’s no longer with us, more than 320 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide. You should read them if you haven’t already.

I’d start with his Sacketts Series.

Louis and many other great men like him lived amazing lives partially due to the unique forms of work they threw themselves into and became accustomed with.

Work allows you to take the skills you learn to directly and effectively apply them in the real world. That’s part of why the EMT to wildland fire path is so great — you’re put through several months of schooling and then deployed out to strange and beautiful places where your skills are put to the test. The geophysics crew work requires you to drop yourself into a place with zero prior experience, only learning as you go.

So, if you’re a young man with a few cycles of The Preparation under your belt and wanting to make some money, it’s worth pursuing one of these jobs.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith