I love geographic information systems (GIS)! The creativity and artistic nature of mapping, the science of spatial analytics, and the cross industry value is amazing.
I hope you feel the same way, but here are a few things you might not have considered.
You go to school, or learn on the job. You have mad GIS skills.
You actually have a lot of GIS skills that you will never use.
You also have a subset of GIS skills that you use all the time and are probably awesome at.
You will be building your education and the skills you use over the years.
Consider your education raw gold, and your skills the jewellery you make from that gold.
You always, always, ALWAYS need a strong education in GIS. As I have said in another post, your GIS education is essential.
Your skills, you need to pick carefully. I cover this in another blog post.
But how does anyone know you have a GIS education? How does anyone know you have GIS skills?
If no one knows about either your education or current skill set, you might as well be shouting into the void.
There is another component in this education and skill equation that you need to start thinking about.
This additional component is your network.
These are the people who know you. This could be interpersonal relationships, personal knowledge of, reputation, or perhaps even fame.
You can think of your network in relational database terms… One-to-One, One-to-Many, and Many-to-Many.
This is about what you are known for… good or bad.
One-to-one relationship is for people like your spouse, children, and close family. Very important, but not great for your career in this sense.
Then you have one-to-many networking, where you maintain several dozen professional relationships in your career.
This type of one-to-many is useful, old-school, and limited. This is your old-school network.
These people knew your education and skills. They know you in person. This is the way humans have networked for eons.
Enter the digital age of the internet where one-to-many changes meaning and many-to-many take over.
The New One-to-Many
Your digital network is now the most powerful tools you have at your disposal.
Every post, every LinkedIn addition, and every email that you create builds you up.
Your education and your skill sets are amplified in this one-to-many network.
Your education and skills increase by a factor of 10t 100 if you get this right.
(You can also get this wrong… but that is for another blog post)
YOU HAVE THIS ABILITY RIGHT NOW
Add a professional LinkedIn Pic
Add all your education details
Add all your work details
Post your current school work, post your achievements, and update your LinkedIn.
The next is for advanced users.
The New Many-to-Many.
This is not just for advanced GIS people. This is for GIS people willing to take a risk. This is is not for the lazy or the fearful.
The risk is to seriously put your skills out there.
This is where you combine your non-GIS skills and shout them to the world.
Videos, Graphics, Animations, Baking, Crafting, Lifting Heavy, All of these can open up HUGE possibilities for you.
The risk is getting on the internet and doing it.
Stay tuned for my eBook on how to get the New One-to-Many and New Many-to-Many working for you!
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Geographic Information Success 