Future Proofing Your GIS Career

[KaitlynEsman]

I recently attended a webinar that was not only informative but also encouraging. Some of the speakers on the panel had no prior experience in GIS, yet they had established successful careers in the field. As someone who also comes from a non-GIS background, I was happy to see that my degree in Applied Computer Science can still be an asset in pursuing a career in GIS without a formal education in the field. I have two years of on-the-job experience and am always looking for ways to improve my skills.  After today's webinar, I plan on redeveloping the coding skills that I learned in college and using them in my career.

[DominicOseiAfum]

Yeah, I also joined it too. The session was educative and inspiring as well🤩

[ChristianWells]

Thank you for joining and for the kind words, @KaitlynEsman! I'm glad to hear it was encouraging to keep learning and growing. That's the secret sauce to long-term success in your career: looking for opportunities through self-study and experimentation. I did another webinar for YPN last year that goes a bit deeper into this idea if you want to check it out: Finding your Career Path

On the technical front, if you are familiar with programming, I'd encourage you to check out ArcGIS Platform as there are some free services you can access natively inside your preferred programming language to get some exposure to geospatial services from Esri. There are also many different open source projects for GIS programming on GitHub from Esri and other groups, especially at the intersection of Python and spatial statistics. 

[KatieSmith]

Thanks so much for joining, @KaitlynEsman! I'm glad you enjoyed it. In addition to the resources @ChristianWells shared, here are some learning plans from Esri Academy that may be useful to you:

• ArcPy Essentials
• ArcGIS Arcade Fundamentals
• ArcGIS API for Python Fundamentals

Best of luck as you continue growing your coding skills! 😊

[KaitlynEsman]

Thank you.  I will take a look at these learning plans.  Python was my favorite coding language.  I'd like to get back to those roots.

[RosemaryBoone]

Hi @KaitlynEsman ! Thank you for posting this and being transparent. I also do not have a GIS background (I have a teaching and marketing background) and have been working at Esri for 5 years as a Senior Marketing Manager for the Education team and I am also on the Esri Young Professionals Network Advisory Board! I appreciate you being very active within the YPN community. Please email me at rboone@esri.com  as I see a really great opportunity for you to tell your story about coming from a non-GIS background and gaining on the job training after graduating. Looking forward to hearing from you!

[KaitlynEsman]

Thank you.  I have sent an email.