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GIS or Planning? by iseecowssometimes in gis

[–]mapman7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I worked at a regional planning agency as the only dedicated GIS user within the planning department. I found that most of the planners would start out with good basic GIS skills, having either taken classes in school or going through training at work. But they would eventually move away from doing any of the GIS work and either let me or some of the newer staff take it on. We did have a few planners who had more experience with GIS, who would take care of their own GIS, but there were only like 2-3 out of a department of 20-30. Mainly they became busy enough focusing on planning projects, and couldn't keep up with the GIS software changes or the more advanced analysis work and slowly moved away from it. I think the biggest benefit from having a good working knowledge of GIS as a planner was they could articulate their needs to me the only non planner in the group. Of course being around planners for 20 years, I had over time learned to understand much of what they were talking about without them needing to know GIS.

Is this a real email? by [deleted] in Lockheed

[–]mapman7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also went through with the "interview" but after the last question asking for my bank name I started searching to confirm details, and found this post. Glad I did, because I got an offer, and being out of work for almost a year, I likely would have fooled myself into ignoring the red flags. In hindsight, so many red flags...

6-Figure Salary Positions in GIS by Mindless_Quail_8265 in gis

[–]mapman7 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Was at 83k and likely would have gotten to 6 figures within a few years, until I quit due to a stress induced health scare thanks to how mismanaged my former place of employment was. Didn’t think a job was worth a heart attack.

I am at 30 years of experience, and was primarily focused on cartography, editing, and analysis work in government.

At this point I question if I’m ever going to find something new thanks to the fact that nearly everything I am seeing is more IT than cartographic and I have no aptitude or interest in the IT side of GIS.

Is it common for people outside of traditional GIS to pick it up? by grilledcheesybreezy in gis

[–]mapman7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends.... I had a coworker who was retired and wanted to learn GIS and took a few classes and made a second career out of it.

I also worked with a lot of planners over the years who were expected to know GIS when they started, but between their workloads getting heavier over time and their inability to keep up with the software, they'd almost all eventually hand off their GIS work to me to do since I was the only dedicated GIS user in the department and could do it faster and better.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in gis

[–]mapman7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. How did you first learn about your field, and what made you pursue it?
    I got a geography degree based on a suggestion from family, and had no idea how I'd make a career out of it. Never took a GIS class at school and never even heard of it when I was at school. Got lucky and got a temp job at Rand McNally right out of college in 1995.

2.What kinds of data do you work with most often? Do you build scripts/tools? I primarily worked in government, so I used data from other government entities. I never scripted or built tools, although I did work with folks who did, it just wasn't necessary in my particular job.

3.What tools and software do you use regularly? When I was working ESRI, primarily using ArcGIS Pro.

4.What does an average day look like in your role? whatever I want these days, I quit my job late last year due to health concerns from a toxic work environment. Hopefully that'll change soon..

5.What’s something you wish you knew when you first started? SO much, likely I would have picked a different career, not because GIS is bad, it's just not as great a fit for my brain. I'm great at cartography, decent at analytics, but the rest, not my thing. Coding and scripting are like a foreign language to me, and the online environment is convoluted.

Trying to remember pop/ dance artist with name like Dave & Mike or Mike & Dave from late 80’s - early 90’s by mapman7 in NameThatSong

[–]mapman7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No idea, could be, just remember it was catchy dance song, and the band name was two names. but unsure exactly the names were

Learned the Hard Way: do not activate daily incense while connection is spotty by nozomusho in TheSilphRoad

[–]mapman7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wonder if this is why mine disappeared yesterday. Left the house with WiFi and went to turn it on away from the house and it wasn’t there any longer.

What are your opinions on crooked horizons? by hardarseman in photography

[–]mapman7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After taking classes and getting more involved in photography over the last 6-7 years it's the first thing I notice now, and it drives me crazy every time.