topic Re: GIS career advice in Esri Young Professionals Network Networking

GIS career advice

KrishnaDaravath — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 23:02:50 GMT

1. Which GIS skills or tools are most in demand for career growth today?

2. How can I make my GIS resume and portfolio stand out to employers?

3. What projects best showcase practical GIS expertise for a portfolio?

Re: GIS career advice

RonBurnsGISP-E — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 07:39:35 GMT

Great questions. These come up a lot in the GIS circles I’m part of.

Lately, I’ve seen a strong demand for skills in ArcGIS Pro, Python (especially ArcPy), and SQL. If you’re comfortable with those, you’re already in a good spot. Web mapping tools like ArcGIS Online, Mapbox, or even Google Earth Engine are also gaining traction. Having some remote sensing or spatial analysis experience is also a plus.
For your resume and portfolio, focus on results. Show how your work made a difference. Did it save time, improve accuracy, or help with decision-making? A clean, easy-to-navigate portfolio with a mix of maps, workflows, and even code samples (GitHub is great for that) can really help you stand out.
When it comes to projects, anything that shows you can solve real-world problems is valuable. That might be a site selection model, a web map that visualizes community data, or a spatial analysis using public datasets. Projects you’ve done on your own or through volunteer work are also great to include.

Feel free to connect if you ever want to swap ideas or talk GIS. I’m always happy to chat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldgburns/

Re: GIS career advice

naramendia — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:35:51 GMT

Super helpful! I working on re-doing my portfolio this summer.

Re: GIS career advice

SilviaIlacqua — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:47:21 GMT

In my experience, I've learned that it's not as important to know or accumulate knowledge of countless algorithms. Instead, I've realized it's much more crucial to understand how the technology works "behind the scenes" :gear:, how it integrates with other systems, and its true potential. There's always a way to learn a workflow, but first, you have to be aware of the technology's great potential. 🚀
Regarding the portfolio, I generally suggest that you select your best work and maybe just include a text list of all your collaborations at the end of the portfolio. To create it, if you already have an Esri license, I recommend using ArcGIS StoryMaps. 📖✨
As for the portfolio content, I suggest including the best cases you've worked on, and varying your choices: personal projects, projects for individual professionals, projects about your home country, and even projects with geospatial data related to other countries. 🌎

I hope this was helpful! Good luck with everything! 🍀

Re: GIS career advice

deepthireddyy__ — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 10:51:55 GMT

From what I’ve seen, web GIS, Python for geospatial analysis, and cloud-based solutions like ArcGIS Online are highly in demand. For portfolios, I think real-world projects like interactive web maps or spatial analysis dashboards stand out. What do you think recruiters value more – technical certifications or demonstrated project experience?