CAREERS IN GIS

Yes, it is true!  An eBook titled, Careers in GIS: an Unfiltered Guide to Finding a GIS Job, is here!  This new book has up to date information that has previously been touched upon by this blog but also includes tons (well, maybe not tons but hundreds of pounds) of new material to help you land a job in the GIS industry.  Better yet, this eBook is available for the bargain price of $4.99.  Less than $5 to get some insightful strategies on how to get a GIS job?  How can you go wrong?  Click here to purchase.

What about a list of chapters?  No problem…

1. GIS Job Hunting Requirements
2. Passion of the GIS
3. Should You Be a Big Fish in a Little GIS Pond?
4. Checking Up on the GIS Competition
5. Learn How to Make Damn Map!
6. GIS Gruntwork
7. Should I Get a GIS Certificate?
8. Finding the Best GIS Certificate Program
9. Your GIS Graduate Degree and You
10. Which Database Platform Is Best to Know for GIS?
11. GIS Programming: It’s Unavoidable
12. YouTube Your GIS Skillz
13. How to Search the Web for GIS Jobs
14. Employer’s Websites: The Best Kept GIS Secret
15. Free GIS E-Newsletters, Don’t Miss an Opportunity!
16. Watch the GIS blogs!
17. Social media and GIS
18. Congregate with Your Own GIS Kind
19. GIS Jobs in Developing Countries
20. GI$
21. Questions You Should Be Asking at the GIS Interview
22. Neogeographer: Become One…Or Don’t…
23. What Happened to the GIS Analyst?
24. Want a GIS Job? It’s Time to Get Political
25. The GIS Job Urban Myth…or Is It?
26. Create Some GIS Out of Nothing

The eBook, Careers in GIS: an Unfiltered Guide to Finding a GIS Job, can be purchased for the Amazon Kindle.  Now if you don’t own an actual Kindle, no need to worry.  You can just download the Kindle app for Windows, Mac, Android, Blackberry, or iOS and read the book on your desktop/laptop/phone/tablet device.  Or if you don’t own any of those, you can also read the book online through the Kindle Cloud reader.

Thanks so much for supporting Careers in GIS.  This book is the next chapter in its evolution (pun intended).  Any feedback is appreciated.

A good majority of GIS jobs exist in local government…state, province, county, parish, city, territory, village, etc.  This statement should not be something new to many of you.  If you are looking for a GIS job, local government is a very good starting point.  The problem is that you and every other qualified GIS professional knows this same information.  To complicate matters, whether you want to admit it or not, politics may enter into the mix as to whether you find out about a job or even get an interview.  Becoming friendly with those who may have political connections can never hurt your chances at getting your dream GIS job.

Now I am not suggesting that you compromise your ideals or make all sorts of political contributions to simply get considered for a job.  You just need to get acquainted with those who may carry some weight in your local government office.  Councilmen, aldermen, representatives, committee or board members…these are the individuals that you want to connect with.  Remember these individuals are locals (or should be).  They represent you and the interests of your community.  Why would they not want a qualified local person to receive a job opportunity instead of someone from outside the area they represent?  Their recommendation may not guarantee a job for you but it gives you an inside connection.

In true political fashion though, you need to get your face out there.  A cold email to these individuals simply saying that you live in the community may not get much of a response depending on the size of bureaucracy that you are trying enter.  Instead, go to public community meetings and introduce yourself before or after the meeting.  Be persistent but not pushy.  Getting in a handshake along with just a few minutes of explaining who you are, what you are qualified to do, or what you can offer can open all sorts of doors.

Why do you love GIS?  Do you love GIS?  Why did you choose to study it in school?  If you did not study about GIS in school, why are you interested in it now?  Would you incorporate GIS into your career or into your life even if it was not your primary concern or even if you were not being paid to deal with it?

These questions should answer where your passion lies.  I have seen too many people studying GIS or looking for a job involving GIS who simply have a look of apathy or hopelessness in their eyes.  If you happen to receive a job interview, do not be foolish enough to think that an interviewer will not notice this.  People can usually tell whether someone is excited about an opportunity.  I do not mean “excited” because they are desperate for a job but excited because they love what they do and they want you to know how much they love it.

The key is conveying your passion for GIS to an interviewer without embarrassing yourself.  Do not show up to an interview dressed as a globe or a GPS unit.  Also, as impressive as you may think it is, I would not advise putting the latitude and longitude of your home address on your resume in place of a normal street address.  (You would be surprised how many people in the GIS industry would not have a clue as to what those strange looking numbers may be.)

However, people have forgotten the power of a portfolio either to receive an interview or to present during an interview.  Maps you have produced, analyses you completed, websites you maintained or created, or computer code that you wrote.  All of these are things that can be simplified into a PDF or a web link for display/presentation purposes.

If you plan to have a face-to-face interview with someone, put together a packet of information to present to the person at the time of the interview.  It will give you a chance to discuss things that you have done and/or things that you can do.  Unbelievably, interviewers get bored.  Give them something that sparks a conversation.  Not only will you show them your passion, it will definitely make you stick out in their mind from who knows how many others that may be applying for the same position.

International organizations can provide some assistance in developing countries when it comes to finding GIS jobs. Simply put: everyone needs maps. All organizations included on the list below have GIS/mapping needs to further their purposes (either currently or in the past few years) in various parts of the world. Having staff that not only know GIS but also know about local culture, environment, language, or politics provide a massive benefit. Possessing these skills allow the international organizations to move their plans forward with much greater speed. As a result, they’ll reach their goals of helping the environment or the people they’re trying to assist more quickly.

As with most employment opportunities around the world, networking is necessary. Acquiring a job with one of the organizations below is not easy in certain cases, but it’s still possible. Here are a few bits of advice when exploring the given options:

….To continue with this post and find the answers to these interesting questions along with tons of other related material, check out Careers in GIS: an Unfiltered Guide to Finding a GIS Job!

New data capture devices. New data sources. New media. New types of distribution. All of these have a foundation in the realm of GIS development and technology and will not go away anytime soon. There will always be something new around the corner that’ll require some sort of technical/computer programming know-how in relation to GIS.

However, what happened to the GIS analyst? Plenty of developers can create a mobile device application that collects geo-locations of people who bought coffee this morning and then display their locations on a map. So what? What good is that data? Will it improve society and tell us more about ourselves? Where is the analysis? Do not misunderstand. These new Web 2.0/NeoGeo data collection and display applications are awesome. They’ve driven the GIS industry to new and interesting places. But how can we have all these great new data and applications and no new analysts?

….To continue with this post and find the answers to these interesting questions along with tons of other related material, check out Careers in GIS: an Unfiltered Guide to Finding a GIS Job!

As you search around for jobs related to GIS analysis and especially GIS development, you may run across the terms “neogeographer”, “neogeography”, or “neogeo”.  Do not be afraid of these terms.  These terms grew out of the need to describe how people acquire knowledge or how they do their jobs relating to new ways of collecting, distributing, and viewing spatial data.

For those of you wondering what these terms mean or even if they apply to you, the best place to start is by first defining Neogeography.  Wikipedia is a simple first stop to get a decent definition.  In addition, O’Reilly Media actually published an entire textbook a few years back named Introduction to Neogeography.  Some other prominent GIS bloggers like Peter Batty and James Fee have also framed this subject.

So is a neogeographer a good thing to be?  This is usually a self-applied label with no real certificate or degree program associated with it yet.  Therefore, I would probably say that if you like the label, then go with it.  Or I can even do one better.  Go to the Ogle Earth NeoGeo jobs board and see if you are qualified for any of the jobs listed.  If you are, go ahead and proclaim yourself as a neogeographer.  However, you can just as easily label yourself a GIS Developer or GIS software engineer or GIS database guru and people will still likely understand what your speciality is.

Personally, I like to identify with a term coined by Don Meltz on his blog…“geoagnostic”.  Therefore, before you get nervous about whether or not you need to add one more description or label to your resume, I will encourage you to calm your fears.  Neogeographer is a cool, flashy title to associate with but only time will tell if it is here to stay.  My question with this type of label is what the next generation of neogeographers will call themselves…superneogeographers, perhaps?

Anyhow, if you deal with GIS or geography on a regular basis, you should already know that there are all types of applications and users out there.  There are GIS applications that are geared towards such things as criminology, archeology, real estate, or mining.  In the same vein, there are cartographers, biogeographers, cultural geographers, economic geographers, and medical geographers.  There are also software designers, media specialists, and database admins that deal with spatial applications.  The list goes on and on but in the end, we all love maps/space and how they relate to our particular interests, no matter what we call each other.

Unfortunately, no major magazine or online publication ranks GIS certificate programs the same way business schools, law schools, and undergraduate colleges receive ranks. Therefore, it’s up to you to decide. You shouldn’t necessarily look for the best GIS certificate program. You should look for the program that best fits your needs.

There are GIS Certificates offered at colleges and universities all over the world, but each of them have different curriculums, different instructors, and different requirements. Here is a list of GIS certificate programs maintained by the University Consortium on Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). The list is fairly comprehensive but I’ll let you be the judge.

PhDs.org is another measuring stick that you can use to judge a certificate program. But this site ranks the graduate school program, not the certificate program.  Do a search for Geography programs on the site and then choose the priorities that are most important to you.

I recommend using a select set of criteria to decide whether a certain GIS certificate program is for you…

….To continue with this post and find the answers to these interesting questions along with tons of other related material, check out Careers in GIS: an Unfiltered Guide to Finding a GIS Job!

There are many FREE GIS related newsletters and/or e-magazines out there that can you can feed to your email account on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  Many of these newsletters contain not only GIS industry information but also GIS job information.

Now it can get a bit annoying having all these feeds crowding your inbox along with information flowing in from GIS blogs.  However, here are the facts:  if you are not reading these, someone else is.  And guess what?  They are your competition!  If you really want to land that great job opportunity, you will need to spend 30-60 minutes per day doing research. The early bird does not get the worm anymore.  The bird who gets the worm is the one who never went to sleep in the first place.

Anyhow, below are the major email GIS newsletters/e-magazines that you can subscribe to for free.  They are in no particular order.

ESRI Publications

GISuser.com Newsletters

Directions Magazine

Geocommunity Spatial Newswire

GPS World and Geospatial Solutions (GPS World and Geospatial Solutions are separate but have been combined temporarily while site reconstruction occurs for Geospatial Solutions)

Geoplace.com’s GeoReport

GISCafe Daily Newsletter

GITA (Geospatial Information and Technology Association)Be Ready Bulletin

Point of Beginning eNewsletter

It should be noted that there are other more local GIS publications that you can subscribe to also.  Below are a few examples of what you may find.  There are hundreds of others.  Do a Google search on GIS groups/affiliations/associations in your region and you may find something similar.

City of Atlanta GIS Newsletter

Westchester County New York GIS Newsletter

Forth Valley UK GIS Newsletters

Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Newsletter

Databases are the backbone of any GIS system.  They are the “I” in GIS.  This means that a knowledge of databases (particularly the software used to manage them) should be somewhere in your repertoire.  By knowledge, I mean the basics of a database system…how to access a table, how to make a query, how to log in is even a basic skill.  When you finally get the job you have been looking for, you will likely either need to link map files on your desktop or from the Internet to records stored in a database or need to store all of your data records, including map files, in a database management system.

Unfortunately, knowing how to operate one database platform does not mean that you automatically are familiar with all.  Regardless, knowing even one DBMS gives you two advantages.  1) It shows an employer that you are familiar with the concepts of a DBMS and that 2) you can possibly learn how to work with different database platforms.

Now the important question is “Which database system should I become familiar with?”  The question that should be asked is “Which database system CAN I become familiar with?” The reason for this is that the most heavily used database platforms out there are too expensive for an ordinary person to afford and train themselves on.  For instance, if you are not already working in an job environment utilizing “the big three” DBMS’s like Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or IBM DB2, I doubt you will be able to afford the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars required to purchase a software license.  Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2 are usually only utilized in enterprise wide environments with numerous users.  Nevertheless, if you have the means and/or access, try to learn as much as possible.

Two other very popular database platforms that you may likely run into are MySQL and/or PostgreSQL.  What is nice about these two are that they are both open source database platforms.  Yes, free and open source!  All you need is access to a computer and the Internet in order to download and install either of these systems.  Teaching yourself is a different story.  Do a nice Google search on learning resources.  I am sure you will find plenty.

When looking to begin a new job or move on to a better job, you should consider whether you want to be a big fish in a little GIS pond or little fish in a big GIS pond.  This is very important because it may determine if you grow and mature as a GIS professional.

There are plenty of “assembly line” GIS positions out there.  These are positions where you will encounter the same 2-4 tasks repeatedly.  These positions are usually in organizations where you are the “little fish”.  GIS consulting firms, large local government offices, places where you have more than two or three GIS users are where you find many of these positions.  I hate to state it, but it is rare to find any encouragement of professional development in these environments.  No training on new software or new methods, no conference attendance, no challenges, no GIS stimulation.  Usually for budgetary reasons, that is left to your superiors who are more experienced.

Then how are you ever supposed to learn if never given the chance?  Personally, I believe in training those who have less experience to the point of where their knowledge is equal to mine.  It may be the educator in me, but my philosophy is that if I know that a colleague knows how to accomplish a difficult task, that frees my time to work on other projects without any worries.

Do not misunderstand, having a job in your field is definitely better than not have a job.  Do not turn down a job just because the environment is not perfect.  However, if you are looking to move on to a better job, you need to be happy.  If you do not gain exposure to new things, especially in the GIS industry, you will not advance.  I vote for being the “big GIS fish” Being the big fish in the little GIS pond is a blessing and a curse.  You may gain more opportunity to explore new techniques or new applications but you will have a lower salary.  On the other hand, GIS professionals that you can hopefully learn from or brainstorm with will not surround you.  But then again I have posted other material on how to expand your horizons that you can use to advance knowledge