One of the ways that the school teacher that you mentor might ask you to help is by talking to a class of students about your pathway into the spatial industry. This is a fantastic opportunity to share not only your pathway but also some tips for avoiding rabbit holes / pitfalls !
Things that you might like to cover are:
- What is your current role and how is geospatial used in that role?
- How did you get to be in your current role?
- If you studied at University, what did you study at University?
- Who influenced your choice of a spatial industry career?
- Who influenced the course of your career?
- What pitfalls have you encountered on your career pathway?
- If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Points to note:
- All the Universities in New Zealand offer GIS papers. Some institutions offer just undergraduate papers while others have a post graduate option as well. The students will need to do a search on University websites to find these papers. Each university offers their GIS papers through slightly different schools. In most cases these papers can be completed as part of a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts, but the students would need to check.
- Sometimes the topic of GIS is "hidden" in first year university papers in a generic introduction to broader topic for example in a Geography 101 paper.
- Some New Zealand polytechnics offer GIS papers as well or if not papers then micro credentials
- If a student is not so academically inclined it might be worth encouraging them to approach a local or central government organisation about a GIS cadet role, several of these organisations do offer them.
