As noted in my previous post, GIS Day 2005, I went to Ryerson University on Wednesday night to hear from some recent (and not-so-recent) graduates from the Applied Digital Geography and GIS Certificate program talk about their current careers in GIS.
There were about 40-45 people there, including the 4 speakers and Susan Laskin, who is the GIS Coordinator for the program at Ryerson.
I'm really glad that I went. I knew I would be inspired and I was! I love hearing about how other people are using their GIS skills, their education paths, and how they entered the field.
There was a woman who's currently working as a GIS Assistant at the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority who spoke about her career path and how she only took two courses in GIS and yet was able to find a contract in the field. Even though the job was a semi-entry level position, she was enjoying using her new GIS and geography skills in her position. It was interesting to hear how all the Conservation Authority is using GIS skills to better maintain, protect, promote, and improve Lake Simcoe and and its watershed.
Another speaker spoke about his duties for the City of Toronto in the GIS/Special Mapping Projects department. The City of Toronto is a big proponent of GIS and the speaker talked about how he was using his GIS skills in creating and analyzing maps for water, sewage, and drainage flows for the City. One of the other topics he mentioned was the front counter initiative whereby residents can request simple maps from the front counter personnel rather than waiting for the specialists to create uncomplicated maps of house plots and residential neighbourhoods. The department apparently developed an application whereby non-GIS front counter personnel could enter in plot coordinates and the most-common type of attribute data to be mapped and provide this simple map to the waiting customer.
Another interesting speaker talked about her experiences as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst with the City's Police Department. It's funny, because even though you see GIS being used on TV sometimes (as in such shows as Numbers, CSI, etc.), I never really thought how a Criminal Intelligence Analyst uses GIS skills to catch and track down the bad guys. There are so many opportunities to map criminal activities and look for location patterns by plotting the criminal activities and buffering around a suspect's home. The speaker talked about how they were able to plot known break-ins and the likelihood of where additional break-ins would be so as to aide the police monitoring those neighbourhoods. There were so many interesting anecdotes on how she was able to use GIS to track down criminals. It must be a very rewarding career, to help get criminals of the streets by using the skills you picked up in the GIS field. I asked the speaker if she had any background in police work or criminal intelligence and she said she hadn't, that she only had the skills gained in GIS Certificate program, saw the position advertised, applied for it and got the job.
The most interesting speaker (to me anyways) was a guy who talked about how he uses his GIS skills in his job to determine real estate leasing opportunities for businesses. He works in a major bank where, as part of their ABM selection process, they use GIS to analyze where to locate ABMs and branch offices. There is a lot of statistical analysis and modelling that goes into determining where to locate branches in order to attract the maximum number of customers to your location. Location, location, location, right? There is a lot of interest in this field and although it's currently a niche market, I see a lot of opportunity to combine business and GIS skills. He really inspired me to think how I can use my background in GIS, IT, business, and programming to transition into this niche market. This was the only speaker that night who came from the Masters in Spatial Analysis program jointly run by Ryerson University and the University of Toronto.
Now, I don't know what to do. I picked up my Certificate in Applied Digital Geography and GIS from Ryerson two weeks ago. It's already up on the wall, next to my GIS Applications Specialist Certificate from Sir Sandford Fleming College. Hearing that speaker talk about what he was doing so inspired me that I'm seriously thinking of applying for the Masters in Spatial Analysis graduate program. The problem is that it's taken me so long to get to where I am in my current IT career and the level of money is too good to pass up to go back to school to earn yet another piece of paper. Do I really need it? Earning a master's degree is one of my life's goals, but is now the time to do it? Maybe I'm too old to go back to school. I went back and received my diploma in computer programming when I was 27 and I felt so old then, especially by then I had already spent 4 years getting my Geography/GIS degree and another year getting my post-graduate certificate in GIS. I think that I have sacrificed a lot to get to where I am right now and I DO NOT want to go back to an entry-level wage.
I spoke to quite a few people that night about their current careers and GIS prospects. From that and from my research, it does not appear that GIS skills (although in demand in a variety of industries) pay very well. Some people were disgusted that after a great big list of GIS-related skills for a job description, the position only paid $15 /hr, or if it was an advanced position it would only pay somewhere between $30K - $45K per year. If the field is exploding so much and GIS skills are in such demand, how come the wages are so low? There were some people from that night who were very optimistic about finding a GIS position but were very unhappy with the salaries. I guess it's one thing to find a position, but another to find a GOOD paying position.
So, now I'm debating. Do I switch careers, take a MAJOR pay cut and start over in GIS at an entry-level position? Do I go back to school to obtain my Masters degree (which theoretically would allow me to skip over the entry-level positions into a higher-paying position)? Do I continue on my current lucrative career path and keep my GIS interest as a side-line/hobby?
Any advice from those in the GIS field? What would you do differently if you had to start over? Anyone interested in changing careers and moving into the GIS field? Has it been worth it?
Tags: GIS Ryerson
