Any GIS people here?

Anyone here work in GIS (Goegraphical Information Systems)?

Thinking of getting into this as a career change but I'm trying to sort out whether it is a job that is boring or not.

hmm i'd like to hear as well, i'm currently very intested too.

Wow... no replies yet...

I know that for ME GIS is boring. I'm an engineering student but have been using GIS and a good deal of queries at a summer job 2 years running. The data techs I've had contact with (access to programs I don't have) seem bored with their job but content enough not to leave.

Talk to a couple people at the city (at least 'round here you'd have no problem getting an informational interview) and in private sector. Pick up the phone, call some places you know will have GIS people. The market for people with GIS skills is HUGE and there's a LOT of missing information out there. You WILL be looking at a lot of poorly put together asbuilts and charged with entering the information therein. You WILL be expected to generate professional looking maps on a moments notice. You WILL have times where you genuinely don't have a thing to do. You WILL have challenges in locating "lost" information.

Hope that give insight. Keep in mind that I'm NOT a GIS guy, just someone who's spouting his read on the situation that knows it would be the wrong position for him.

I just took a cultural geography class at the University... The prof was a GIS guy for a local utility company. He showed us this GIS system that was pretty cool.

That said, GIS is a pretty specialized field. Jobs are sometimes hard to get.

I'm a lead GIS guy in my company. I coordinate all the GIS activities out of my office and 3 others. Been doing this for about 12 years and it can be interesting depending on your data you work with and what you like. I find the different methods of data analysis more interesting than the graphic portion of GIS. Probably because my data doesnt change much and I need to change things up once in a while to keep productivity up. Most people who use it find it interesting at first until it becomes the largest portion of their job, then its just work. For non-GIS people, it seems to be really cool when they find out how versatile it can be.

I like where I live, and like my family to eat. So it has worked well for me.

Probably doesnt help much but if you like manipulating data in ways that make you the envy of every man and lusted after by swedish super models.... then try it! It hasnt worked out like that for me yet but tomorrow is a new day!

Noleafclover said:

I just took a cultural geography class at the University... The prof was a GIS guy for a local utility company. He showed us this GIS system that was pretty cool.

That said, GIS is a pretty specialized field. Jobs are sometimes hard to get.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say GIS is specialized at all nor are jobs hard to come by. The fed and defense companies use GIS in ways you can't imagine. However, GIS is a field that is best in conjunction with experience in another specialty.

For example - here is a job description with 10 open reqs... 10 JOBS with the major requirements being you have some leadership skill, can work independently, are a US citizen, and can pass a polygraph.

JOB SUMMARY:

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the World Leader in Geospatial Intelligence.

Imagine being able to identify anything on, above, or beneath the Earth's surface and display that information visually to provide a meaningful foundation for decision-making to ensure the safety of the world. That's the job of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

We analyze imagery and data from many sources and incorporate it into visual displays of essential information for use in national defense, homeland security, and safety of navigation.

Central to the success of our mission are the extraordinary talents and skills of our teams of analysts and other professionals. We need the best minds to provide the information edge, continuing NGA's role as the premier provider of Geospatial Intelligence worldwide.

I do a good part of the GIS at my work
i think its fun but then we build the base maps at the 911 center
drawing in all the roads and assigning all the street ranges and addresses.

the maps we built and mantain
is what the phone companys uses with us to make 911 work. we make it freely avalabe
from there other gis people use that data for all sorts of marketing and statisti.

I started in GIS back in summer of 94, and worked in GIS as an analyst/programmer until I graduated college in 96.

I never thought it was boring at all, in fact I enjoyed it quite a bit.

It doesn't pay as well as other IT work though, which is why I moved on to other things but I really enjoyed doing it.

I developed forestry management applications for Georgia Paper and I did quite a bit of borderline GIS related work for the phone company.

I have a CIS diploma from years back. I'm a bit rusty but that program was pretty database intensive.

The problem I'm having is figuring out what all the possible types of GIS jobs are. I know there's database maintenance and tool development. I was shown around the GIS office at the local city planning department. That stuff looked pretty boring. Mostly adding new buildings to existing maps all day.

I like the idea of solving problems using datasets and geographics. Not so keen on data maintenance or anything repetitive.