Unless you’re on the West Coast this spring has been one of the warmest in US history. Check it out:
NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Climate Services and Monitoring Division, published online June 2012, retrieved on June 23, 2012 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/maps.php.
One of the things in our culture that makes me sick to my stomach is the celebrity worship. Everyone knows all the personal details and career history of all the top actors, actresses, musicians, models, athletes, and other performers. But, no one knows the top minds in mathematics, science, engineering, medicine, law, the humanities, etc. Same is true of key leaders and thinkers working in government, non-profit and industry. People worship entertainers and ignore the “real” people who are responsible for building the society that facilitates entertainment. To try to do my part to remedy this situation, I’m going to experiment with a series of posts that recognize a few of the greatest minds in Geography. We’ll see how it goes. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment or contact me via Twitter @justinholman.
For my inaugural Geographer Hall of Fame inductee I’ve decided to recognize one of my all-time favorite geographers, Waldo R. Tobler. Dr. Tobler is probably best known for coining what’s known as the First Law of Geography: “Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other”. To me, he’s the godfather of analytical cartography, a pioneer in computational geography and a leading contributor in the field of quantitative spatial analysis. I think Tobler’s real genius lies in his creative approach to visualizing spatial data. He’s produced some of the coolest maps of all time (see map of Swiss migration patterns below) using computer hardware and software that were barely up to the task. I can’t imagine what Dr. Tobler might have done with Flash or SVG or Adobe Illustrator if he would have had modern computing tools at his disposal during the peak of his career.
If you’re interested in geography and/or GIS you should learn something about Waldo Tobler and his contribution to the field. If you were a baseball player you would take time to learn something about Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, right? Well, why not do the same in your own field?
Here are a couple of links where you can learn more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_R._Tobler
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~tobler/
Want to nominate the next Geographer for Hall of Fame induction? Leave a comment below or send me your suggestion via Twitter.
In Part 1, I posted a line of questioning I received from a soon-to-graduate geography major. My response is in 3 parts: (1) summer suggestions, (2) hitting the job market next year, and (3) long-term (3-5 years) career positioning. In Part 2 I provided suggestions for what to do this summer and in today’s post I’ll cover hitting the job market. You’ll want to go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven’t already.
The beginning of your career campaign after finishing college is brutal. Unless you are going into a family business or have great connections that will plug you into a paying job, there’s really no way around the pain of trying to land that first career-oriented job. Here’s my 4-step plan for getting off the ground.
Step 1. Take any job you can get so you can pay rent. Unless you have better offers to choose from please don’t turn up your nose and refuse to take a job that doesn’t require a college degree. Waiting for the perfect gig may be the worst thing you can do; the fastest way to downgrade your resume is to create a large gap of time where you don’t have anything to show for it. Even worse is to have no money for rent, groceries, or entertainment. If you can get a GIS/geography job, great! If not, do what you can to pay your bills and avoid monster debt. My favorite option for this first job is to become a waiter or bartender. The reason I like these jobs is that they’re typically easy to find, the pay is decent if you work at the right type of place and they teach sales skills. If you’re a waiter and your income relies on tips you’ll soon figure out that getting customers to buy a bottle of wine or opt for dessert can increase your tip substantially. Eventually, you’ll figure out that if you offer value – by providing helpful ordering suggestions (not just recommending the most expensive) and going the extra mile to provide excellent service – you’ll earn more money. Becoming a “trusted advisor” is exactly what you need to do whether you’re selling corned beef and cognac or consulting services. If you can’t find *anything* then spend $50 to setup an LLC and start marketing your services. Contact local businesses and ask them if there’s anything they need done. Offer to do it for free and gain experience. If you do a good job you should be able to start charging an hourly rate or a fixed fee per project. Keep your prices low and then raise your rates gradually once you’re busy. By the way, this is the time in your life when you are best equipped to weather the financial strains of entrepreneurship. The problem is that you don’t have much experience. Technical know-how and creativity can be enough to overcome the experience gap but it’s not easy so you better be really good.
Step 2. Be a geographer even if you’re not paid to be a geographer. The other thing that’s good about restaurant or bar work is that you can work evenings and use your days to advance your career. Just because you’re not paid to be a geographer doesn’t mean you can’t behave like a geographer. Write about places, create maps, do research projects, conduct site selection studies – do something that sounds fun. Take advantage of your first chance to do a geography project that no professor has to approve or grade. If you’re interested in health/medical applications, go to the CDC website, cancer.gov, or some other NIH site; download data and find an interesting story; explore and share what you learn. Make a map. Write a blog post. Over time, build a portfolio that you can use to demonstrate your interests and skills. This will be a huge help in landing that first career-advancing position. Use this time to explore! Find out what really gets you excited. You need that excitement to fuel your campaign to career success.
Step 3. Keep an eye out for a position that would allow you to pursue your passions. Set up a search in something like SimplyHired for geospatial jobs with the key words that work for your interests. Check it regularly and take the time to write a custom cover letter when submitting resumes. Think of each job application as a consulting proposal. You need to stand out so create a customized proposal and sell yourself! Also, establish a full-fledged LinkedIn profile. Join LinkedIn groups and interact with people who are in your field. You might also check out 1 or more conferences each year where you can meet, in person, the top dogs in the field. Identify people you want to meet (perhaps use LinkedIn) and then find them and introduce yourself at the conference. Make a business card, just your name and contact info is fine, and ask to exchange with them. Once you have an email and/or phone numbers, reach out once or twice with reminders about what interests you, where you want to go and what kind of position you are looking for and send a link to your portfolio. Connect with them on LinkedIn. Don’t be too much of a pest and don’t be discouraged if they don’t respond. They’re busy and may not be able to help. Go to local tech meetups or community business events. Make yourself presentable and ask if there are any intern or volunteer opportunities.
Step 4. Take action. As I said at the outset, getting started in a career after college is very challenging….especially in this economic environment. Be patient but don’t sit around and complain. No one will listen and it won’t get you anywhere. You have to take action. Try something, anything. Aim to fail frequently by trying new things. Maybe they’ll lead to something good, maybe not. You won’t know unless you try. The worst strategy is to apply to every job in the universe by sending your resume and waiting around for the job offers to come in. It just doesn’t work like that. You have to make things happen through your action. You’re not in a waiting room at the doctor’s office hoping for a quick cure; instead, you’re in the gym trying to get yourself in shape. Start moving!
I’ll be giving a talk tomorrow to the Automotive Aftermarket Supplier Association’s (AASA) Marketing Executives Council (MEC) June meeting. The talk is entitled, “Inventory Optimization with Experian VIO, Mosaic and Simmons”.
It will be very similar to the talk I presented to the AASA Technology Executives Council in March, describing how demographic data can supplement vehicle registration and replacement rate data to enhance demand forecasting and inventory optimization. You can download the presentation here.
If you’re near the Detroit Metro Airport Sheraton tomorrow stop by and say hello!
In Part 1, I posted a line of questioning I received from a soon-to-graduate geography major. You’ll want to go back and read Part 1 if you haven’t already because otherwise my response may not make sense. My response is in 3 parts: (1) summer suggestions, (2) hitting the job market next year, and (3) long-term (3-5 years) career positioning. In today’s post I’ll cover summer suggestions.
Job title: Database Developer
Date posted: 06/12/2012
Job type: Full-time
Job Description
The successful candidate will work with an entrepreneurial team of software developers to deliver cutting edge web-based geospatial visualization applications, allowing large business enterprises to leverage data investments and identify opportunities for improved operational efficiency.
The position is responsible for analyzing, designing, implementing and administering complex relational databases and working with software developers to deliver sophisticated web applications.
Responsibilities:
-Develop and work with relational databases
-Optimize existing database queries and tables
-Create efficient database table structures
-Document and improve development processes
-Debug code; ensure integrity of database programs
-Assist with data pre-processing as required
-Build SQL query modules, stored procedures, triggers, views and reports
-Develop and modify SQL stored procedures
-Communicate effectively with team members
-Prioritize work tasks and meet deadlines
-Perform intermediate DBA tasks including database security, performance tuning, backup and recovery
Job Requirements
The position requires cross-functional abilities in the development and administration, programming and testing, troubleshooting/reengineering, and maintenance of large-scale, complex databases. Knowledge of MySQL, SQL Server, and/or PostgreSQL is required, along with experience designing processes to ensure data integrity. Ability to work from a home office with occasional travel required.
Preferred candidate will possess:
• Experience with MySQL/SQL databases powering live interactive web or mobile applications
• Knowledge of complex SQL queries, methodologies, and design
• Working knowledge of PHP, Javascript, HTML or equivalent
• Experience in API design/documentation
• Experience working with geospatial data and/or GIS applications a plus
• Experience with rich internet application tools, e.g., Flash, Silverlight, HTML5, a plus
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
Job location
Location flexible within the US, Oregon (Willamette Valley) or Colorado (Front Range) preferred.
US Citizenship required.
To be considered for this position, please send resume and cover letter to [email protected].
No phone calls. No 3rd party agencies.
I didn’t receive as many survey responses as I’d hoped but as the academic year comes to an end it feels like an appropriate time to post the Top Geography Department survey results. If you’re interested in participating, the survey is still available.
As noted in the preliminary survey results post, there are significant differences between the survey results and the NRC rankings. At some point I may produce my own ranking with a combination of NRC and survey results. But, I want to give the methodology some more thought and, hopefully, gather more survey responses. In the meantime, here are your Top 20 Geography Departments:
In addition, I’ve compiled a list of programs that received a number of votes but didn’t make the top 20. Honorable mention departments include:
Oregon State, Utah, South Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan State, Iowa, Syracuse, Texas State, Illinois, and USC.
I’m hoping to get more input from the academic community in subsequent surveys. And I’ve received several suggestions that I hope to incorporate in my next installment.
Thank you to those who participated in the survey!
I recently received the following email from a student nearing graduation with a bachelor’s degree and seeking geospatial career advice.
Mr. Holman,
You’re obviously a busy guy, so I’ll try not to make this too protracted. I just wanted to say “thank you” for writing your blog.The perspective you have as someone versed in both academic geography and business is not something we students get access to everyday–it has proved extremely helpful and left me extremely hopeful that academia isn’t the only option for us geographers.
I’m a soon-to-be-graduating senior geography student. Though I have a formal concentration in GIS, undergrad students here are required to take a wide range of classes (both physical and human geography) in addition to this concentration. This is fine with me–a varied perspective’s sort of necessary to navigate life–but it’s left me as a jack of all trades and master of none. The only really *specific* thing I have going for me is independent research experience. This, I feel, has really improved some of my so-called “soft skills,” even if it hasn’t been particularly valuable in other ways.
My main concern is over how to spend this summer. I have to take just a single geography course in order to graduate, but I want to take a few others to gain some additional skills (and maybe accumulate a little knowledge in the process…).
My main interests are in cartography, statistics, and data visualization–much of this rolls over from my original major, graphic design and illustration. I’m hopelessly addicted to beautiful graphics and the information they can tell us.
So as an either/or proposition, would you recommend an independent study in database management–to help organize all those spatial datasets– or a (possibly unpaid) internship stitching together shapefiles? While this internship would perhaps be a little dull, it does constitute real-world experience using GIS. Alternately, I could register for independent study to learn how to program in R.
In conjunction with one of these “courses” I plan to take trigonometry to set the foundation for calculus. Calculus, at a minimum, seems to be required for almost every graduate program in computer science or statistics, and would certainly be helpful for those in geography.
Thank you for your time. I understand if you’re not able to answer these questions in depth; I’m just looking for a little perspective.
In response, I asked the following question: if you could do anything, anything at all, what would it be and where would it take you in the next 5 years? Focus on what you would be doing day-to-day rather than on job titles, organizations, etc.
Hmmm. That’s a tough question. I’ve thought about it before, but never gave myself a really solid response.
After much deliberation:
Starting something and then growing it into something substantial is something that’s really been on my mind, whether it be a business, a non-profit, a school, a website, etc. I like the idea of making something from nothing, and I relish working hard. Bonus points for the autonomy and flexibility that seem to be inherent to this approach. However, while I think I’ve taken a relatively entrepreneurial approach to my education, I haven’t exactly broken new ground in the “real world.”
Specifically on a day-to-day basis though, I’d like to spend time communicating with people. It doesn’t have to be in the traditional, face-to-face sense either. One of my strengths is finding and synthesizing a lot of information, and then writing about it as I understand it. On the flipside, I really enjoy doing the same thing with graphics–condensing a lot of data into a very small, detailed blurb of information.
Hope that helps.
This is great. Now, any subject areas of particular interest? You mentioned climate. Are you big into climate change? Is there a topic for you that generates the most enthusiasm?
For college students or recent graduates who are reading my blog posts on Spatial Careers and trying to figure out how to use their summer months productively, I would recommend reading the advice below from James Altucher. This is quoted from a recent blog post with several different questions that he received during his regular Thursday afternoon Twitter Q&A session. This is terrific stuff, even if you aren’t young and/or broke, and his blog is definitely worth checking out for a refreshing perspective on a variety of topics.
So, with full credit to James Altucher, here’s a great way to spend your summer vacation.
IDEAS FOR SOMEONE BROKE
Question: Cool summer ideas for a broke 22 y/o who just graduated?
ANSWER:
Broke, 22 years old, just graduated.
Man, you are watching the sun rise right now. It’s got every color in the spectrum and a few others that, as you get older, you will no longer be able to see.
Let’s summarize what you’ve just finished. From the age of 6 to 22, for 16 years, you’ve been chained to desks. You’ve listened to 6 hour a day of boring lectures. You’ve had to work hard every night at work that might’ve seemed meaningless to you. You’ve had to take tests that made you feel either better or worse about your self-worth. You’ve had all your hormones erupt all at the same time in every direction, an explosion, a frenzy of adulthood that burst you open and sliced through your heart.
You survived.
Now you’re 22. You’re broke. But you’re rich. Because for the first time you can taste a little freedom. You won’t be force fed the words and mythologies of our ancestors who passed those words down through our decaying standardized school system. You’re free.
You’re watching the sun rise. And you’ve got all the colors at your disposal.
Devote every day this summer to art. To ART. I don’t necessarily mean painting, or writing, or sculpting. I mean ART.
Wake up and say, “i’m going to create today.” What is creation? Who knows?
Do something you never did before. Explore somewhere you’ve never been. Take a camera and photograph. Take a pad and draw. Take a journal and write. Make a crank call and splice it with a popular song. Write a letter to the President. Make a time capsule to your grandchildren.
Ignite the fire.
The fire that has been stifled while you’ve been chained to the desk for 16 year.
Meet people you never would’ve dreamed of meeting.
But make every day a day of Art. Say it: “I’m going to create art today.”
How do you ignite so that art flows through you, so that value flows through you and creation flows through you. So that it becomes a reflex instead of a hard-to-use out of shape muscle? You exercise it. You stay health. Use tdp.me to track your practice (pre-release, but the site created to track The Daily Practice).
Use it to track you as your transform your life from static and standard to a flowing work of Art.
Please, please, please paint with the colors that I’m too old to see. And then show me.
This is my sixth post in the Spatial Career series. In previous posts I’ve written about how to prepare for a career as a GIS Software Developer, as a Geospatial Analyst, as a Cartography/Visualization Specialist, a Geographic Information Scientist and a Spatial Statistician. In this post I will describe how to prepare for a career as a Geospatial database administrator (often abbreviated to DBA). This career path is similar to the GIScience and Spatial Statistician paths in that you have to be interested in database admin work in general, not just the spatial data component, because you may have to start your career in a “non-spatial” position to gain experience.
Pursuing a career as a Geospatial database administrator would be an excellent option for someone who has a degree in Geography/GIS and technical aptitude but isn’t having good luck finding a job as a GIS analyst or technician. If you add a few specific technical skills (not GIS related) you may just find yourself in much higher demand. Go do a quick search on Monster or Dice or some other job board and you’ll find hundreds of high-paying SQL Server or Oracle DBA jobs. I found a SQL Server expert who tried to charge me $350 per hour for his consulting services. I told him I wouldn’t pay that kind of fancy lawyer rate and he basically stuck to his guns, saying that was his standard rate. He seemed like a bright guy but at $350 per hour he better be able to do brain surgery and IP litigation while writing stored procedures. This makes me believe that there’s a supply and demand imbalance in the database admin world. So, I think the timing is good if this path interests you. And, this can be a great way to get your foot in the door of an organization and learn how a business works and then learn additional skills to move into software or data analysis or management – whatever you prefer. Having these core computing skills at your disposal will be an advantage regardless.
So, here are 4 steps that should put you in good position for a career as a GIS database administrator.
Step 1. Don’t go to grad school. Unless you’ll be paid to work on spatial database stuff with tuition benefits and a stipend – that would qualify as a paying job. A bachelor’s is enough for this path and just some college coursework would suffice. If you already have a graduate degree that’s okay too. It probably won’t hurt you and may open up opportunities at Universities and/or government labs where you can gain good experience.
Step 2. Read everything you can about databases, spatial databases, etc. Cover all the key database technologies including SQL Server, mySQL, Oracle, PostGRES, etc. Just head over to the local Barnes & Noble, grab a coffee and read everything on the shelf that has SQL or DBA in the title. Look for books published by O’Reilly or Wrox for good applied material. After you have familiarity with a topic then dig deeper by searching for good blogs. Find out who the gurus are and follow them on Twitter, read what they recommend and tap into a community of practitioners.
Step 3. Build your own database with a simple interface to access the data. Ideally, this would be a real project that someone will actually use but take whatever you can get and just make something up if necessary. You need to be able to point to a successful “live” project that someone can evaluate first hand. You don’t need to be good at web development or interface design – focus on the database design and keep the interface simple. Maybe find someone who is good at interface design and collaborate on the project for mutual benefit. Be able to describe how you put the database together, the technologies used, the challenges faced, etc.
Step 4. Get certified. And I don’t mean acquire a GISP certificate. Instead, get a Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle certification or something similar (check job advertisements to see what’s hot). This would likely open doors at medium and large companies who have enormous data volumes that require maintenance. Maybe consider an A+ certificate or a similar sort of credential so that you can provide general IT support and work with networks/servers as well. You might be able to find this kind of thing at your local community college or via on-line course-ware. If you can work effectively with back-end IT infrastructure and databases you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a decent job to launch your career.
Again, the DBA path can be a great way to go and earning potential is excellent. Once you’re drawing a good paycheck learn everything you can about the organization you’re working for and keep your eyes open for opportunities to get deeper into geospatial data handling. You will have to engage in a fair bit of self-study and the coursework and materials may feel pricey, especially if you just finished an expensive undergraduate degree, but it should provide a pretty good bang for your buck. A good DBA with a few years of solid experience can reasonably expect to make $50k+ and, if you become a guru, you can earn over $100k in some markets.