Advice on Future-Proofing Your GIS Career
Esri Young Professionals Network (Esri YPN) recently hosted the webinar Future-Proofing Your GIS Career: Essential Skills and Training for Success where panelists discussed skills and strategies needed to thrive in your GIS career now and in the future.
The webinar panel was made up of diverse GIS professionals:
- Moderator: Christian Wells, Senior Operational Readiness Manager, Esri
- Panelist: Katie Smith, Principal Marketing Communications Specialist, Esri
- Panelist: Margot Bordne, Recruiter, Esri
- Panelist: Jordan Carmona, Senior Geospatial Development Engineer, GISP, H-E-B
- Panelist: Kylie Tokar, Freelance Geographer & Entrepreneur
They discussed what it means to be a GIS professional of the future and I personally was inspired by the content discussed and was compelled to recap it in this blog post.
So, what does it mean to be a GIS professional of the future? This is a valid question as the world of GIS is ever-evolving. As GIS moves towards being web-based, the skills needed to be a marketable GIS professional are changing too.
Here's how you can future-proof your GIS career.
1) Continue To Grow Your Skills Even After You’ve Graduated
Growing your skills can be done in a variety of ways and formats. It’s certainly not limited to only taking courses or gaining a certificate or degree. You can learn from your peers or community groups. Here are ways you can grow you skills.
Get Involved in GIS Communities
Connect with community groups or networks such as Esri YPN, local user groups, associations like URISA, AAG, Women in GIS, and USGIF.
LinkedIn in an excellent platform to stay engaged. You can follow industry experts and learn from the content they create. Start with joining the YPN LinkedIn Group.
Esri Community is one of the largest online GIS communities and is a place to read blogs, ask technical questions, connect with users of GIS technology, submit ideas, and set up RSS feeds. Many Esri products, services, and groups have their own Esri Community space and blog.
Attend Conferences
Conference-going is a big way to grow your skills and network through attending presentations and workshops to learn about the latest technology trends. Many times, you will be introduced to a new concept or idea while at a conference to take back to your organization that could potentially results in a successful campaign or initiative. The contacts you make at conferences can be leveraged as a resource for future collaborations, troubleshooting, mentors, and potential colleagues.
Take the opportunity to meet as many people as possible through networking at conferences. Think of it as building your professional support system. Have a curious and open mindset and treat those interactions as an informational interview. If you meet someone who does a job you’re interested in, ask them about their job and the skills needed to be successful. Document a plan of action in gaining those skills.
We know conferences come with expenses. Esri YPN members can attend Esri hosted conferences at a discounted rate such as Esri User Conference, Esri Federal GIS Conference, Esri Developer Summit, and more. Consider justifying your attendance to your employer by explaining the ROI as a result of your attendance.
2) Equip Yourself to Overcome Challenges
There will be a time where you have a lack of confidence in learning something new when you begin your career. It happens to all and the best of us! Here are ways to approach challenges or a lack of confidence when learning something new.
First, remind yourself, “everyone has been new at something once.”
Next, ask questions. It’s best to ask questions at the beginning to show you’re engaged and you’re thinking about the problem. If you feel nervous or confused about something that you might not have the skills to accomplish, know that asking questions is not considered a weakness.
It’s okay to say, “I don’t know”. Have the mindset to say, “I don’t know but I will figure it out” because chances are the resources are out there for you. When asking quality questions, you demonstrate a sincere thoughtfulness and a willingness to go deeper. That, in itself, is worth so much in your careers and will take you very far.
Last, don’t underestimate the knowledge that you do have. It’s important to sometimes take a step back to acknowledge how far you have come in GIS and learning ArcGIS. Imposter Syndrome is a real thing and can be easy to get caught up in. What you can do to build your confidence is mentor others. No matter how junior you are in your career, there’s always someone more junior than you so take that opportunity to be a mentor to them. The best way of learning is to teach someone else.
3) Leverage Resources to Grow Your GIS Skills
There are a plethora of resources, both formal and informal, to help keep your GIS skills sharp.
Here’s are the resources that were suggested by the webinar panel:
- Set up an RSS feed to get Esri Community content delivered to you. It can even integrate with Microsoft Team directly into a channel!
- Join the r/gis Reddit community
- Join the GIS channel on Discord: https://discord.gg/n8Aa3DShfM
- Go to conferences! See how other people and industries are leveraging the latest and greatest GIS technology. Consider presenting at a conference by submitting abstracts when your conference of interest is doing a “call for papers.” Check out Esri conference.
- Listen to the MapScaping Podcast which is described as “a podcast for the geospatial community.”
- Watch John Nelson’s YouTube videos and LinkedIn on resources for cartography.
- Browse through ArcGIS Tutorials. They’re quick and you can fit them into your schedule.
- Esri Academy is a must-have resource for anyone at any stage of their GIS journey. They offer
- Over 500+ resources (most free)
- MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)
- Instructor-Led Courses (1-3 days long on a variety of topics. In person and online)
- Web Courses (self-paced web courses)
- Live Training Seminars (free 1 hour training)
- ArcGIS Labs
- Learning Plans
4) Validate or Demonstrate Your GIS Skills
Showcase and validate your skills through the Esri Technical Certification Program. Achieving a certificate in this program can elevate your professional standing and open doors to various career opportunities.
There are 12 different examples to which all come with an information guide. There is a cost associated with taking the exam and are proctored online allowing you to take it at home or in your office.
Some exams include:
- GIS Fundamentals Foundation (great entry level certification)
- ArcGIS Pro | 3 Levels
- Foundation
- Associate
- Professional
- Enterprise, Developer, Python, Utility Network, ArcGIS Online Administration
You’ll receive your results right away and if you passed you can add it to your resume, LinkedIn profile, GIS portfolio.
5) Keep Up with Where GIS is Heading
What’s on the cutting edge of GIS and what should you be paying attention to?
Web GIS is the future. Web-based application and configurable application in GIS is what you need to have in your GIS toolkit. Understand web GIS as a services-oriented architecture and understand how cloud and IT principles are now supporting these massive GIS systems that go far beyond just learning ArcGIS Pro.
Some Esri products you may want to have experience using are ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Field Maps, ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Experience Builder, and ArcGIS StoryMaps. “The whole web GIS ecosystem is the future of GIS so having an understanding of the full system of Esri is important to have in your toolbox,” said Margot Bordne, Recruiter at Esri and webinar panelist.
To be valuable for the future of GIS you just need to be someone who can solve problems. That’s where the value of GIS lies is in delivering useful results.
“The majority of clients coming to me are asking for web apps. Whether that means a little bit of custom coding or building something using ArcGIS Experience Builder, that is what’s answering a lot of the questions that people are asking now,” said Kylie Tokar, Freelance Geographer, and webinar panelist.
Knowing the most common of coding languages used in ArcGIS is good to stay on top of. Recommendations for coding in ArcGIS is Python for automations, JavaScript for web apps, and the Arcade expression language for replicating database triggers. If you’re building a native application like installing it on the phone or build an add-in into ArcGIS Pro then look at native SDKs.
Imagery is having a resurgence and is worth paying attention to. The ubiquity of drones and the ease of access to them makes them makes image capture much more attainable for many groups. If you’re interested in drones and reality capture, pay attention to what’s going on in that space because it’s growing significantly in the future.
You can watch the full recording of the webinar Future-Proofing Your GIS Career: Essential Skills and Training for Success.
