Landed at Esri in Support Services!

[LeoL96]

Hello YPN!

I've been a member-at-a-distance for a fair while now, but having interviewed in March and April, finally started working at esri this week. I'm an analyst in the support services department on the ArcGIS Online team, and am really looking forward to getting stuck in.

I finished my PhD in geography/public health at USC in April, which focussed on PPGIS, actor-network theory, and the role of expertise in health and social research. Ask me for the title!

Please reach out to connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-lerner-phd-b13a97106/ 

Hope everyone is having a mappy summer.

[RosemaryBoone]

Hi @LeoL96 - it's nice to meet you! My name is Rosemary Boone and I am on the Esri YPN Advisory Board and the Sr. Industry Marketing Manager on the Education team here at Esri. Also, welcome to Esri! Maybe you know fellow Esri YPN Board member @Zak Etem and YPN Social Media Ambassador @IvoR (Ivo Ruben) - they're also in Support Services! Are you based out of Redlands? If you are, you should join the YPN Redlands Chapter as we are planning a meetup at the Esri Café this Fall. The last one we had featured geography/GIS trivia and it was a BLAST!

That's amazing you just completed your PhD at USC! Congrats 🎉  

[LeoL96]

Thanks Rosemary, yes I'm in Redlands! Definitely looking forward to the meetup later this year. 🌎

[BR2]

Hello @LeoL96 , Congrats on completing your PhD and getting hired at Esri!! I am currently pursuing my PhD in Geosciences at UoArk. 

I am curious to know how your PhD experience has helped you in your role in the support services. Is it public health specific or overall all things GIS, and Esri?

[LeoL96]

Thanks! It was a busy start to the summer. 

What's your PhD focus? Mine was more broadly on the role of expertise in the spatial sciences and geography, looking specifically at public health. The great thing about public health as a discipline is that it's fantastically broad... which means that people can choose to go deeper into whichever area they choose... or stay "high level" and take a more overarching view. 

I used lots of different (at last count around 13-ish) Esri products throughout my degree, and got a good feeling of how different products are used for different purposes, albeit mostly within research contexts. I think PhDs have so many transferable skills, not least how I project-managed a 5-year research enterprise. I also loved teaching and working as part of larger research teams as a research assistant throughout my program, which both translate directly into the role in support services.