Who Works with GIS??? (consulting, jobs, career, companies)

[DrEarth]

I am curious about those working in this field. What is your background? IT, geography, or something unrelated? How is the job market, and what do you map?

Thanks.

[kodaka]

I know a few people who use it in in transportation and urban planning fields.

[tban]

I'm currently a GIS technician for a telecommunications company. I work in the records reconciliation group so I pretty much just update our client's database with updated engineering drawings and data.

I have a background in engineering so I really don't know if I'm doing much GIS work. It just seems like a lot of drawing and associating data with them.

I'm working here for now until I get my engineering job.

[3DogNight]

GIS here -- mapping city/ county/ state park maps, geographical features of the parks, identifying and locating rare species of plants, identifying possible natural resource encroachments...

it's a very widely used tool.

[eofelis]

I recently got a BS in geology with a minor in GIS. When I was a student I worked for a year as a GIS intern at the local BLM office.

The GIS is useful for geologic field work. I can gather GPS data and bring it into a GIS. I can also create geologic maps in a GIS.

I hope having the GIS minor will help me in my career as a geologist.

[DrEarth]

Thanks for the responses. I am familar with the program, but I am curious about the actual jobs companies are using GIS for.

I am starting a graduate certificate in GIS, but I don't have much real world computer experience at the moment. I have certificates in all of the MS Office programs, and a few others in web and desktop publishing, but have never had a job using computers. My background is geography.

[jimmyrocks]

Hey DrEarth,

I work in GIS, and am also doing a graduate certificate program. What school are you going through?
I started as a computer programmer / DBA, and stay mostly on the programming side of things. The job market is pretty good right now (relative to other fields at least) because of a lot of government spending. I work with electrical engineers and do systems automation, most of our maps are municipality sewer systems, as we mainly just install and monitor sensors.

[charolastra00]

I'm interested in getting more into the field. I graduate in May but am currently in a 2nd level graduate GIS class and absolutely love it. My educational background is sustainable development, international studies, Latin American studies, and environmental science but I'm looking into graduate programs focusing on GIS for development work.

I would like to get work experience first, but I do not know how likely that will be considering my limited experience.

How did everyone else fall into GIS?

[eofelis]

Originally Posted by eofelis

I recently got a BS in geology with a minor in GIS. When I was a student I worked for a year as a GIS intern at the local BLM office.

The GIS is useful for geologic field work. I can gather GPS data and bring it into a GIS. I can also create geologic maps in a GIS.

I hope having the GIS minor will help me in my career as a geologist.

Update: I just got hired as a GIS Specialist for an archaeological consulting company. A full time permament career position, with full benefits.

[ReturningWest]

Originally Posted by eofelis

Update: I just got hired as a GIS Specialist for an archaeological consulting company. A full time permament career position, with full benefits.

OHHH Congrats!!!!