Jobs for Geographers Who Don't Know GIS

By: Joe Francica
(Sep 03, 2004

I received the following letter this week that I thought I would share with readers. Perhaps some of you have the same question:

I would like to see an article about how Geographers and others outside of the GIS field can successfully find employment in the field with little training. Other than simply stating that course work or certification needs to be required, which is obvious, what companies and/or government organizations in the field are even willing to discuss even entry level job opportunities with individuals that are not currently in the field, but are geographically oriented, tech savvy, and have a base understanding of what GIS is, how it benefits society, etc. What skills is the field looking for in it's work force other than software programmers and engineers?

Having been in this field for over 23 years, let me take this apart and give my advice on each question:

How do I find employment in GIS when I have little training, even though I'm a geographer by training and have an understanding of the technology?

MY ADVICE: Get into sales. If you are "tech savvy" as you say, then you can pick up the nomenclature of products and build on that. Obviously, you need to have the mindset for sales, but without technical training in GIS, other positions are not open to you. Sales allows you to use your understanding of the potential use of the technology for applications in which you were trained as a geographer.

What skills is the field looking for in it's work force other than software programmers and engineers?

MY ADVICE: Many software companies are looking for project managers. As they transition from pure product sales to consultative project implementation, companies are looking for professionals with excellent management skills who can multitask and interface with clients. Again, it will require the employee to get a very good understanding of the products as well as the skill set of the project staff, budgets, and client expectations.

Other than simply stating that course work or certification needs to be required, what are companies and/or government organizations willing to discuss even for an entry level job opportunity with individuals that are not currently in the field?

MY ADVICE: Entry level GIS analyst positions will require a fundamental knowledge of some desktop mapping/GIS system. You can do it on your own or take courses. You can attend conferences as well as take college courses to work toward certification, but eventually you will need hands-on experience with a GIS software system. Today, geography graduates with a B.A. degree are going to be required to take courses where GIS fundamentals are taught. If you've graduated some years ago and were not exposed to the technology, you're at a major disadvantage for an entry level position. And if that's the case, you need to evaluate your strengths. Ask yourself: "In what areas of geography am I experienced?"

Demography - Look for a job with a demographic data company that is compiling estimate and projections of census data.
Land Use Planning - Look for a job with a company that is selling a solution for spatial visualization, urban development or site selection.
Cultural/Ethnic/Political - Look for a job with a government agency or non-governmental organization (NGO, such as the United Nations) that is training GIS professionals in what to types of analysis should be conducted in a broader, land development project.
Cartography - Map making is an art in many ways; but now, GIS is the painter's palette. Get to know map publishing software capabilities and learn the new tools of this trade.
Environmental & Natural Resources - You need to know how to think spatially in order to transfer your skills about environmental planning and the impact of development on the biosphere to GIS technology. This should be a skill that only grows as you become more familiar with GIS.

Still, the bottom line is that it helps to know GIS technology because more and more disciplines are using it...not just geographers.

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Jobs for Geographers who don't know GIS (#1) by Graham A. Wilkes,
Date: September 3, 2004 15:37 PM

From my experience of 6-8 years within the GIS field in government and
academia, the majority of those holding undergraduate degrees in Geography
with little to no technical expertise in GIS usually obtain technical skills
through voluntary work or self education. It is really up to College
graduates to build their own technical skills in GPS/GIS/RS during their
studies or during summer employment, which is not always easy.

Further, I think people get confused about the purpose of a College
(Diploma) versus University (Degree) education. Understanding the principles
(data types, organization, methods of display and analysis) on which a GIS
is built is what should be taught in University. The principles taught
should transcend all platforms of GIS and should not change drastically
unless new methods of analysis, display, storage et cetera are developed via
science and scientific method. However, in College (those studying for a
Diploma), individuals are taught the technical details of coding and
structure of GIS with little understanding of limitations related to
accuracy, both spatial and model.

I have seen many instances where technicians of GIS have analysed spatial
phenomena and come to false conclusions with little understanding of the
accuracy of their input data nor understanding of the projection on which
the analysis was applied. I have also seen errors in well known and widely
used GIS software packages designed mainly by computer science graduates
with minimal understanding of spatial sciences and the erroneous assumptions
made when calculating distance and/or direction. The best advice I can give
to this student is not to be fooled by the hype and misconception that the
only expertise you need to get a job in GIS is programming and technical
application experience. As well, 'high tech' does not necessarily equate to
'high knowledge'. Much of what we refer to as 'high tech' as seen in media
is based on scientific discoveries made decades ago. I guess I am getting a
little off topic here, but, the topic is definitely controversial. I see
much of the technology sector jumping on the rollercoaster of GIS with
little understanding of its originating use and or application in Canada by
Tomlinson.

To quote Sawada and Wilson (2001), "understanding basic geodesy is essential
for maintaining the positional accuracy of our spatial data and the accuracy
and reliability of any information derived via analysis and synthesis." Too
many technicians of GIS fail to recognize the importance of a well developed
knowledge of geodesy and focus much of their time on learning programming
languages that die in months or in years (The marketing and selling of
programming languages is now big business, just ask Mr. Gates). So much
focus is put on learning how to code in new languages (which I myself have
considerable experience in doing) that we are placing little focus on
improving the way we visualise, analyse and assess error in model outputs,
which are essentially the products of any GIS.

I hope I provide some alternative insight into the issue.

Jobs for Geographers Who Don't Know GIS - Remark (#2) by Graham Wilkes, University of Ottawa
Date: September 3, 2004 16:01 PM

From my experience of 6-8 years within the GIS field, those possessing undergraduate degrees in Geography with little to no GIS technical expertise normally obtain these skills through voluntary work or self education. It is up to University graduates to build their own technical skills in GPS/GIS/RS during study or summer employment. This is not always easy but is possible if you possess initiative (almost all GIS software vendors provide trialware from 3 months to 1 yr).

Further, I think people get confused about the purpose of a College (Diploma) vs. a University (Degree) education. Understanding the principles on which GIS is built is primary in University. These principles should transcend all platforms of GIS. However, in College (Technicians) are taught the technical details of coding and structure of GIS with little understanding of limitations related to accuracy, both spatial and model. However, these conceptual lines are never easily drawn.

I have seen instances where technicians of GIS have analysed spatial phenomena and generated false conclusions with little understanding of the accuracy of their input data (temporal, spatial, conceptual). I have also seen errors in well known and widely used GIS software packages designed by computer science graduates with minimal understanding of the spatial sciences. Much of these errors have to do with distance and direction assumptions.

The best advice I can give to this student is not to be fooled by the hype and misconception that the only expertise you need to get a job in GIS is programming and technical application experience. As well, 'high tech' does not necessarily equate to 'high knowledge'. Much of what we refer to as 'high tech' as seen in media is based on scientific discoveries made decades ago. I see much of the technology sector jumping on the rollercoaster of GIS with little understanding of its originating use and/or application in Canada by Tomlinson. Much of the complication in GIS is inherent in the design for $ training $ and partially for control of the workforce, in my view.

To quote Sawada and Wilson (2001), "understanding basic geodesy is essential for maintaining the positional accuracy of our spatial data and the accuracy and reliability of any information derived via analysis and synthesis." So much focus is put on learning how to code in new languages that we are placing little focus on improving the way we visualise, analyse and assess error in model outputs, which are essentially the products of any GIS.

I hope I provide some alternative insight into this issue, or at a minimum, provide you with something to think about.

Cheers

Graham

Reference

Sawada, M. and Wilson, P.J. 2001. The geographers lament: Geoids, ellipsoids, map projections and coordinate systems. University of Ottawa, Ottawa.

Jobs for Geographers who don't know GIS (#3) by Dennis Lu,
Date: September 3, 2004 23:44 PM

Hi there, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be writing into you for a semi-reply to this article, but here goes.

How do I find employment in GIS when I have little training, even though I'm a geographer by training and have an understanding of the technology?
- I was in this situation, and talked to government agencies. I explained to them that I did not have much hands on experience and would like to get on some projects doing data entry and digitizing. If you are computer literate, and have an understanding of what a GIS can do, you can pick up the rest along the way.

What skills is the field looking for in it's work force other than software programmers and engineers?
- Too many times geographers get lumped into GIS category. We seemed to have moved out of the cartography category, but not that far. Geography, is such a massively encompassing field that realistically you can do anything in it. You just have to get over the fact that you are not a trained GIS analyst. I constantly struggle with the fact that I've only had 1 course in GIS in university (as I'm sure many people who went to university have) and that I'm not qualified for any 1 position. The bain of geographers coming out of school is that they know a little about everything, but chances are, haven't specialised in anything. Consulting is a great place to start as they can teach you a wide variety of all the things you've missed out in not going to a tech school. And you can apply the more theoretical things that you've learnt in university.

Other than simply stating that course work or certification needs to be required, what are companies and/or government organizations willing to discuss even for an entry level job opportunity with individuals that are not currently in the field?
- Prove to them that you're willing to do anything to get into the circuit. We call it "sweat-shop GIS" - digitize, data entry. There are many skills that you can apply without knowing the software at all. In the meantime, while you're in the company, you can always do other things that the company does.

Bottom line: If you want to do GIS, and TRULY do GIS, you'll have to take more schooling. There is so much to a GIS that cannot be explained by taking 1 course. HOWEVER, if you only want to utilize a GIS for some mapping and basic analysis, just jump on in there and do some bottom line stuff, you'll raise up quickly, because the fact of the matter is that if you understand the theory behind the technology, and you're that much further than the other people that just use GIS as a paint program.

GIS (#4) by Daylene Foch, Student at FIU
Date: February 23, 2006 17:48 PM

I am doing a project for school and I would like to know a social science group that doesn't use GIS today. If you know of any please send me the name of that group as soon a you can. Thank you.

Jobs for geographers (#5) by m smith, Graduate
Date: August 8, 2006 20:02 PM

I have recently graduated with a 2.1 in BA Geography and after looking at a million websites that tell you what a great degree geography is there seems to be little that tell you how to actually get a relevant job. From my experience job sites dont seem to have geography related jobs and those that do are in GIS. I have a keen interest in sustainabilty, redevelopment and many human geography related topics what would you recommend doing about finding a job in these areas?

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