Building a Career in GIS
The starting point in building a successful career in GIS is a solid education. This involves taking classes in cartography, GIS, database management and programming. There are a lot of GIS certificate courses emerging that help solve the confusion as to which classes to take, but any department offering GIS coursework is a great starting point. Start by taking a general “what is GIS” themed course. This is important because it is important to understand the general concepts in GIS before actually attempting some of the functionality. Taking a good cartography course is critical as well. Often overlooked by many seeking GIS knowledge, a comprehension of cartographic techniques is especially important for understanding mapmaking and for learning how to create maps that are effective in communicating geographic data. The end process of visualizing spatial analysis can be tricky. Understand the methods by which one can display data is essential to effectively communicating with maps.
Learning GIS Software Applications
The next step is to take coursework that applies the concepts of GIS and cartography. These courses are always software specific so it’s important to choose a class that teaches the software you will be using once employed. Currently, ESRI products dominate about 70% of the GIS software market with MapInfo the nearest competitor. If you are unsure which software to learn, I suggest learning about ESRI’s ArcGIS suite of software, as these are the software applications most often required by employers. You can also do a job search of companies and agencies in the area you want to work in to see what GIS software they are requiring for employment. Classes specific to a GIS software package can be taken at most Universities, through satellite courses from the software companies themselves or through online or distance learning. ESRI offers free modules online for many introductory courses to their products.
The Next Level
The current trend in GIS is customization and application. More and more GIS packages are being altered to serve a specific GIS purpose. This could range from an Emergency Response System to an application customized to allow a user to generate mailing lists based on a spatially selected area. Many of the software packages contain some ability for customization using programming languages. The type of language will be affected by the software application. There are two different areas of customization: desktop applications and browser based applications. For the browser based mapping applications, understanding the various web-based languages such as HTML, Javascript, ASP and so forth is critical.
Since GIS analysis is involves the integration of spatial and tabular data, some knowledge of relational database management (RDBMS) is a must. A lot of databases reside in Access, but others will use Informix or Oracle. Taking a class in SQL (structured query language) is important to mastering RDBMS.
Getting GIS Experience
As with all fields, nothing beats real-world experience. Internships are extremely popular in GIS as they allow the employer a cheap source of labor for lower level GIS tasks and, in turn, provide a valuable training experience for the intern. The only way to truly become proficient in GIS is to simply use it. The coursework will only serve to provide a base knowledge of the field and without some form of practical experience, most companies will not be interested in hiring. To find internships check with your school’s geography or urban planning department. Oftentimes companies and agencies looking for student help will advertise there. You can also directly inquire with places that you are interested in working for. Internships can lead to full-time positions.
Finding a Job
Once you’ve completed your coursework and gotten experience, where do you look for a job? There are quite a few job sites on the internet specializing exclusively in GIS employment opportunities. So write up a resume and cover letter and hit the internet. Aim for jobs that meet your education and experience level. In general, the hierarchy and required GIS experience for hands-on (i.e. non-managerial) positions is as follows:
Digitizer – little to no experience needed. This is the entry level position in the field. Most of the tasks will involve the digitization of scanned maps or aerials into a GIS-based dataset.
Technician – 1-2 years experience with GIS based software. If you first took an internship you should be able to aim for these types of jobs. Common tasks involve cartographic output (mapmaking) and data manipulation. A lot of positions are also starting to look for some basic programming experience.
Analyst – 2-3 years experience with GIS based software. At this level you should be performing more complex analyses and RDBMS. In addition, an analysts will also be primarily concerned with application development and should have a fair amount of programming experience. Supervisory responsibilities are also common with the Analyst supervising technicians and interns.
Coordinator or Manager - Depending on the company or agency, usually the manager has at least 5-6 years of experience in the field. The manager would also be required to have budgetary and project management experience. Depending on the size of the staff, this position may or may not also involved technical responsibilities. At the executive level, having a GIO, a Geographic Information Officer, is emerging as a new position in the GIS field. A GIO is a counterpart to the traditional CIO, Computer Information Officer.
As with all technical fields, GIS is a rapidly developing field. Keep yourself up-to-date by attending conferences and reading GIS based magazines. Ongoing GIS training is also important to keep up with advances in in this rapidly developing technical field.
Good Luck!
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