Launch Your GIS Career
A collection of resources for new and aspiring GIS professionals
How can I grow my network?
Congratulations on choosing a career in GIS!
There are over 675,000 of us GIS professionals in the world, and we're still growing. We're happy to have you!
As you begin your GIS journey, you should make it a goal to attend the Esri International User Conference as soon as possible. There you can connect with over 18,000 GIS peers from over 130 countries!
User groups and associations
If you're looking for more ways to grow your network, you should consider joining one or more geographic organizations such as the AAG , GITA , and URISA (can you tell we like acronyms?). Here's another one: NSGIC - that's the National State Geographic Information Council. They have a list of state reps available on their website. You can also join associations like Women in GIS and Edge Geospatial to support and advocate for a fair and equitable geospatial industry. Looking locally, there are many regional GIS organizations. Use the map below to learn about some of the many state-level GIS groups. ⬇
Map of state GIS organizations
Some states even have hubs for emerging professionals, like Minnesota's GeoPEPS porta l. Don't feel like you need to join all of these. Just do some research and pick one (or a few) that line up best with your current career goals.
How can I prove I know GIS?
Beyond conferences and professional organizations, proving you know how to use GIS is essential to making yourself stand out. Two great ways to do that are an online work portfolio and technical and professional certifications.
Make your portfolio ✨POP✨
GIS is a visual tool, so what better way to prove you know GIS than with an online portfolio full of personal and work samples? Hiring managers who know GIS will be impressed because they'll appreciate the amount of hard work you put into it, and hiring managers who don't know GIS will simply be blown away by the visual impact of your portfolio. Need some inspiration? Kate Berg (aka Pokateo) has created an amazing resource of GIS portfolio examples . Make sure to check out her URISA presentation too on why you should build a GIS portfolio.
The legendary Kate Berg's work portfolio ( www.pokateomaps.com )
GIS Certifications
The are several certifications you can pursue as part of a GIS career. Two of the most common are the GISP and Esri Technical Certification.
The GISP
The GIS Professional (GISP) certification is a comprehensive program run by the GIS Certification Institute . As of January 2024, there were over 5,700 active GISPs worldwide. 5,300 (93%) of those active GISP holders live in the United States. Explore a map of active GISPs below ⬇
Active GISPs as of Jan 2024
To earn your GISP, you must document that you have a combined amount of work experience, education, and contributions to the field. There's also an exam you must pass to prove your geospatial knowledge. The GISP is a great certification to get if you want to demonstrate that you've been in the GIS field long enough to become an overall expert. Full disclosure: I have a GISP, so naturally I value it and am going to suggest you get certified too. 😊
Esri Technical Certification
Esri provides a variety of certification types and levels . While the scope of these certifications is less broad than the GISP, technical certifications can be valuable if you want to be a consultant or to prove that you know how to use ArcGIS apps and platforms.
Should you get certified?
Juliana Mapper shares her advice on GIS certifications ( www.tabulaespatial.com )
So, is GIS certification worth it? Overall, the general answer is that it depends . They don't show up regularly on job requirements, so their value to hiring managers might be limited if they've never heard of them before. However, being certified can potentially differentiate you from another, equally qualified job candidate who doesn't list any certifications. My two cents: getting certified might not help you, but it also won't hurt you! It's a nice resume addition, and it can help to prove that you know what you're talking about when it comes to GIS.
Note: if you're going to pursue certification, ask your employer to pay for it. A lot of companies will cover these costs because certification is a great complement to a career or professional development plan.
What kinds of GIS roles are there?
GIS job titles are notoriously inconsistent from company to company. With that disclaimer, here are some very loose guidelines to what each job name can mean.
GIS Intern
Typical experience needed: entry-level An internship is the most common way people break into a GIS career. Job duties will completely depend on the company, but you will need at least some GIS education and/or work experience using GIS. It's not uncommon to complete more than one internship before stepping into a permanent role. The good news: unlike some other industries, GIS internships are almost always paid!
GIS Technician
Typical experience needed: 6 months to 3 years A GIS Technician role is a common next step after completing an internship. Job duties are focused on core GIS skills such as data creation and management, cartography, and some spatial analysis. Some people will stay in a Technician role for many years, while others will move up to a higher role after a few years.
GIS Analyst
Typical experience needed: 2 to 5 years An Analyst can be the next step after being a Technician or, less commonly, after completing multiple internships. Job duties include everything a Technician does plus more advanced spatial and data analysis. An Analyst role can include some programming work in Python or custom web mapping. Some Analyst role include numbers after them to specify how advanced they are.
GIS Specialist
Typical experience needed: 1 to 3 years A GIS Specialist is a more generic title that can range in responsibilities anywhere between a Technician and an Analyst. While this job title will be seen in private sector roles, it seems to be more common in the public sector. Specialists may work on a team of GIS people or be the sole GIS staff member at an organization.
GIS Coordinator / Manager / Supervisor
Typical experience needed: 3 to 10 years This role is often in charge of all or part of a GIS program at an organization. Job duties usually include everything a Technician and Analyst does plus managing enterprise-wide GIS data models, big picture planning, and project management. Sometimes the role involves managing other GIS staff, too.
GIS Consultant
Typical experience needed: 3 to 10 years This job title is most typically seen in the private sector (whereas Coordinator is a more common title in the public sector). Job duties are similar to an Analyst, but there may be a higher expectation for independent project management, tracking billable hours, and other things that come with a private sector job.
GIS Developer / Administrator
Typical experience needed: 5 to 10 years Developers and Administrators tend to have the most technical GIS experience, with a heavier emphasis on programming and coding skills. Job duties can include everything from other positions, but the focus is more on building custom applications from scratch using GIS and other programming languages.
Note: not every GIS job has the word GIS in it! There are all kinds of roles that on paper may not put GIS in the forefront, even when using that technology can be a major part of the work. When you're searching for jobs, make sure you're using a keyword search, not a job title search.
Can I make a living doing GIS work?
The short answer: yes, absolutely!
The type of GIS job you have is the biggest factor in determining your GIS salary expectations . In general, the more advanced work you do, and the longer you do it, the more money you'll make.
image recreated from gisgeography.com
Some states, like Minnesota , conduct salary surveys. It's definitely worth your time to do some Googling and read these surveys, especially for your geographic and work areas. Don't forget to adjust for inflation if the survey is older!
Where can I get more advice?
Launching (or switching) a career can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, GIS people are pretty outgoing. There are tons of career resources available online. Here are just a few.
These are all excellent tips! Speaking of finding a job, a couple of larger, GIS job sites to check out are the GIS Jobs Clearinghouse and GISJobs . If you're looking for local openings, some regional GIS groups have their own job sites, too. Otherwise, just like any other specialty, seek out a job board and resources for the industry and/or sector you're interested in.
This is a great resource both for your own reference and for the next time a friend or relative asks you, "So, like, what is GIS?" It's a great primer to get you thinking outside of the box for how you can apply your GIS education across virtually every industry. GIS is a truly pervasive business tool!
The programming languages in this article are all valuable for a GIS professional, but it can be a lot to try to learn in your free time. If you're not sure where to start, then my advice is to prioritize building your skills in Python, SQL, and HTML5, in that order. Specific to ArcGIS, Arcade is another excellent language to learn.
Keep up with the times
The GIS world is constantly changing, which is exciting, but also hard to keep up with sometimes. Wherever you are in your career, it's important to stay tuned in to industry trends by reading GIS blogs. A couple of my favorites are the ArcGIS Blog and GeoAwesomeness . For ArcGIS tools and trends, there are tons of special interest groups you can connect with on the Esri Community .
Good luck in your GIS career!
I hope these resources are helpful to you. There's a lot that goes into making a GIS career (or any career for that matter) successful. But the good news for us GIS pros is that demand for our line of work continues to grow. As long as you continue to grow with it, you're working in a field with excellent job security.
If you have any questions or want to talk more about GIS, feel free to reach out to me. I'm certainly not an expert in everything GIS can do (who is?), but I'm always happy to help people break into our awesome industry. After all, you'll be teaching your predecessors all the amazing new GIS tricks before you know it!