#esri

I have graduated from college (wooo!) and wanted to share advice that helped me out. I hope you find it useful!

Volunteer to boost your resume or if you lack GIS work experience

When I first started my GIS major, I wanted to get work experience alongside my classes. The thing was I began my degree when Covid started, so landing a GIS internship when most organizations were laying off people was not realistic.

I knew I needed something on my resume so I decided volunteering was the best way to go.

I googled ‘GIS volunteer opportunities’, saw a listing through United Nation’s volunteer portal, and got something pretty quickly. It was an online position that I did on my own time for 6 months. It was very fun! I highly recommend any Geography student do some type of GIS volunteer work before you graduate.

As of writing this post, I checked the website and it looks like the UN doesn’t have any positions listed but there is a website dedicated to GIS volunteer positions:

https://www.giscorps.org/become-a-volunteer/

Also, every job interview I had has always asked me about this volunteer role lol.

Speaking of jobs….

Make a GIS Portfolio

Start a portfolio NOW. Add anything you created from your courses to it! A GIS portfolio makes you stand out from the competition when applying to internships/jobs, and may even be required for some job applications.

This is a VERY detailed video about what it should include (Yes it’s an hour long but the information is worth it!! ).

Network

You have heard it a MILLION times but network!! Connect with your local GIS organization and try to attend a conference. If you can’t for whatever reason, search for online GIS organizations and see if you can join their online zoom meetings.

Learn to Code

I have run into Python, R, Javascript, and HTML/CSS during my undergraduate work and various internships/jobs. Be ahead of the curve and learn it on your own. I would HIGHLY recommend Python if you want to start with a language and don’t have a course at your university. Just start with a basic ‘intro to python’ video and then complete python gis tutorials.

Make a separate account for GIS stuff

Just to keep things organized and in one place, I recommend you make a separate email for GIS. For some of my courses I was required to sign up for GIS software/sites and I wanted to have access long after graduation so I made a separate account for it.

Example email: [email protected]

Take Advantage of (Online) Communities

Being in GIS forums/groupchats/servers/etc has helped me so much! From feedback with assignments to how to market myself when looking for a job, joining groups is beneficial.

I LOVEEE the GIS Discord server and highly recommend you join.

(Link to server https://disboard.org/server/769917190182404127 )

Keep Learning!

This is the most important thing I want you to leave with. GIS is constantly evolving and in order to be on top, you need to be up to date on new technology and software updates etc.