For Undergraduate Students: Finding Your GIS Calling
Geographic Information Science—what a wonderfully complex world it is. As students in the field, we are surrounded by brilliant GIS professionals, whether it be our professors or our coworkers.
While this experience is of course beneficial, sometimes it feels as though everyone else is so established in geography, while we don’t know where to start. As I became a student in the field, I most often felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of knowledge around me.
Just a couple of years later, however, I found my academic home and have embarked on my own GIS journey. My name is Gina, and I’d like to share with you my story, and how you, too, can find your calling in the world of GIS.
- My Story
- How To Find Your Own Calling
- 1) Participate in Undergraduate Research
- 2) Join College Clubs and Academic Organizations
- 3)Foster a Relationship with Your Academic Advisor and Professors
- 4) Gain Real-World Professional GIS Experience
- 5) Get Connected with GIS Networks
- In conclusion
My Story
When I began my bachelor’s of geography at Virginia Tech, I felt this strong, contradicting sense of opportunity and confusion. I saw the amazing work my professors engaged in, and I knew I wanted to eventually reach their level of knowledge and excellence, but I didn’t know where to start.
I discovered a love for paleoclimatology via a physical geography class and decided to email my professor about any research openings. Despite my limited knowledge and experience, she took me in and cultivated my interests and career goals.
I took more GIS classes and saw my interest in it grow, leading to a second research position with a fellowship to create my very own project. Later, I was able to have a third research project, which just got accepted at a journal and will be my first publication.
It wasn’t all work and no play, though. I entered college in 2020, during the midst of Covid, where all classes were online, and clubs were dying from the inability to meet. The following year, I and a few other students worked together to revive the Geography Club.
After a couple of months, our geography cohort went from being an unattached major to a more tightknit community. I met people I that never would have before because of our vastly different academic paths within the major, and it was here that I found my community, my home.
Later, I worked with Virginia Tech’s chapter sponsor of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the International Geographical Honor Society, to create a more active chapter. These experiences solidified my passion for geography, inspiring me to pursue a master’s degree in climatology.
After graduation, I interned with Esri as a Product Engineer on the Map Viewer Analysis team. I discovered so many uses for GIS, and from there, I was hooked; I wanted to explore every capability of GIS there was.
Through talking to colleagues and attending weekly intern meetings curated for GIS students entering the workforce, I felt like I had a new home strictly in GIS. As I transitioned into grad school, I realized that I wanted a program that was more GIS-centric. Eventually, I found an MS program in GIS and decided to apply.
Having just been accepted in February, I’m overrun with excitement and so thankful for my internship with Esri to ignite this newfound curiosity in me to pursue GIS more in depth than I ever thought I would be able to before—I think I’m finally on my way to being that geography expert that freshman-year me longed for so badly. And now that I’ve experienced multiple different callings in geography, I want to make sure other students can do that, too.
How To Find Your Own Calling
1) Participate in Undergraduate Research
Research is a great way to explore different subfields to see what you prefer, all while gaining hands-on experience that regular coursework can’t always teach. This can include skills such as science communication and technical writing, field work, lab work, and niche coding and analysis.
Colleges that focus on research (“R1’s”) will have ample funding for students, but sometimes it’s not advertised. Asking faculty members and searching for funding opportunities on your school’s website often leads to a stipend for performing your research, a budget for materials, and paid travel to conferences. The more funding you have on your resume, the more competitive you are when applying for graduate programs that are thesis-based.
You can also do research at nonlocal places through an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates). These positions are listed on school’s websites, so a simple Google search of “GIS REUs” will bring up many results. You can also look on the NSF’s (National Science Foundation) website to see all universities offering REUs by category.
2) Join College Clubs and Academic Organizations
There may also be more specific clubs, like a biogeography club. Your school will have a website listing all student organizations where you can search for what piques your interest. Alternatively, your academic advisor will be able to recommend clubs related to your studies.
Every good geography club should be backed by an honor society, specifically, Gamma Theta Upsilon. GTU provides scholarships, newsletters, awards, and many other supportive opportunities for its members and chapters. Most importantly, it gives students a space to network and learn more about the professional geography community they’re about to enter.
3) Foster a Relationship with Your Academic Advisor and Professors
By participating in research and academic organizations, you also can become close with your professors and academic advisor. Maintaining high relationships with them allows you to have references for REUs, internships, full time jobs, and higher education applications.
The more faculty members know about your preferences and passions, the more likely they will reach out to you with any opportunities they think you would enjoy. These experiences suggested by faculty members are opportunities to explore different facets of the geography and GIS field to see what you like and what you don’t.
For example, I learned that I really enjoy teaching by being a guest lecturer, but I don’t enjoy measuring the amount of carbon in soil samples. From there, I realized I probably won’t like a job with tons of lab work but might like being an instructor (which is now my career goal).
4) Gain Real-World Professional GIS Experience
Having a balance of school experience and professional experience gives you a breadth of knowledge and skills that makes you an extremely competitive applicant, and also gives you unique opportunities to be a part of more GIS communities.
Career fairs. Most colleges host career fairs and networking events, as well as have a department dedicated to student success. Be sure to check your school email often and keep in touch with your academic advisor to learn when career fairs will take place. Esri has a list of recruiting events on their website.
Find internships. Career fairs, however, are not the only places to find internships. Job sites such as Indeed have filters for location, experience level, and job type. USAJobs is the official website for federal government employment and has many different GIS positions. Additionally, you can search for student career opportunities on individual companies’ websites. Esri, for example, has each year at multiple times throughout the year.
College part-time jobs. Your college may also have a job board with internship listings from these websites and individual companies. Furthermore, there may be internships or part time jobs available at your college. University libraries, for example, often hire students to digitize historic maps they have.
Find a mentor. You can also get set up with a GIS mentor through URISA’s Mentor Network. Apply to be assigned to a mentor where you both come up with goals and address strengths, weaknesses, needs, and interests.
All of these paths to add more professional experience under your belt are great ways to talk to experts in subfields you’re interested in and directly try out things that would be expected of you in a full-time job. From there, you can decide if that is the road you want to go down, and meet some pretty cool people along the way.
My Esri HQ internship cohort posing with Jack Dangermond.
5) Get Connected with GIS Networks
Esri Community. If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance that you found it through Esri YPN Community—a place for all young GIS professionals (in terms of experience, not age) to gather virtually and regionally. In here, you find a network of people who have the same GIS interests as yourself, get guidance from more experienced professionals, give guidance yourself, and contribute to multiple other forums.
American Association of Geographers. There are other GIS networks and communities. One of note is the American Association of Geographers (AAG). The AAG not only hosts various geography communities and conferences, but also has a specific community just for GIS.
Esri Young Professionals Network. If you are not already a member, consider joining Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN) to get plugged into local networking events, webinars, and professional development opportunities.
Associations for students. There are many other professional geographic organizations to choose from, some of which offer reduced membership fees for students and young professionals.
These networks allow you to interact with geography professionals globally and learn about a part of geography you may have never heard of before. It’s a great place to ask for advice and discover what could be your geography calling.
In conclusion
You are already making strides towards finding the right GIS/geography path for you by reading this blog, and now, equipped with many resources to explore the wide field, you’re ready to get out there and start your trek.
The great thing about geography is that everything is interrelated. Switching focuses within geography as an undergrad can be easier than other fields, and because of that, there are so many amazing things to discover.
Put yourself out there, get engaged with your local geography community, and you’ll be on your way to finding your calling in no time.