What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require

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What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require?

by GeoCommunity Staff

A common question distributed to GIS discussion lists and asked of us

here at the GeoCommunity is the following... "what skills do
employers look for when hiring a qualified GIS Analyst?" I did a bit of
snooping around and asked for contributions from a number of
sources including the popular GISList discussion group. Here's what
TOPICS we found.
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Personally, I find that one of the most important requirements lies in
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developing an accurate position including a reasonable description of
Job Options expected duties. Within the GIS Community I believe there has
always been much confusion regarding this. How often do you see a
Resumes (Exp)
career posting for a Technician or other "junior" person and the
Resumes (Grads) requirements asking for a candidate with a Master's degree and 5
Premium Resume years of hands-on experience? To top it all off, the position pays $12
per hour! A key to matching up qualified people with the perfect job is
Consultant Listings to have both sides on the same page and the employee being aware
Prem. Consultants of what is expected of him/her in their duties.

Community If you are looking to hire a GIS Analyst or you want to find a position
Job Resources as a GIS Analyst, be sure that both employer and employee's
expectations and definition of an "analyst" are clear. A particularly
Discussions very useful response I received pointed out that in general, the reality
Email Lists of an "analyst" position is that there is a requirement for a solid
knowledge of computer based technology. I couldn't agree more!
Career Books

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What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require
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Upon conducting a search through a number of career postings, I
found a number positions advertized that essentially, has similar
requirements for applicants. What differed was the position title and
quite often, the salary. The following are just a few of the commonly
used Career Titles that are used by employers seeking what I would
consider a GIS Analyst:
● GIS Analyst
● GIS Technician
● GIS Data Specialist
● GIS Specialist
● GIS Mapping Technician
● Engineering Technician
● GIS Mapping Assistant
● GIS Application Specialist
● Engineering Aide
Please note, in the cases mentioned above, the salary offered ranged
from $25,000 - $60,000 per year! Job seekers, be sure to look around
as there exists much disparity in wages. Being open to relocation is a
big plus, however, don't expect exployers to always be open to
covering all of your expenses. Those of you considering International
relocation, be sure you understand what you are getting involved with
as there's much more to consider than you can imagine.
The following is a summary of what a number of potential employers
look for in their "ideal" candidate for a GIS Analyst position. For those
of you seeking employment, these would be some great areas to
emphasize on your application (hint!)
Technical Skills
● Strong GIS skills with two or more GIS packages
● Strong Macro / C / C++ / Visual Basic programming skills
● Understanding of and/or willing to learn math and statistical
analysis
● Strong Oracle or related RDBMS skills including development skills
● Excellent verbal / written communication skills
● Genuinely excited and enthusiastic about learning and pushing
For information
technical limits / finding new solutions regarding
● Good writing skills - for documentation, training, processes advertising rates
● Formal training (eg. Degree) or high level of experience with GIS. Click Here!
● "Hands-on" experience
What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require

● Good analytical / problem solving skills

● A basic understanding of the concepts behind data management in
a relational database
● Good IT technical skills
● The ability to think and solve problems

People Skills

● Do you like them? Could you be friends with them outside the
office?
● Ability to communicate with other humans - not just with email,
● Excellent co-worker, superior, subordinate work relationship skills
● good people skills
● Someone who is not scared to "break" the equipment - it's okay to
make mistakes
● Positive outlook on life, work, other people - don't bring your
baggage here
● Creative Regardless of their education and experience, they must
be committed to ongoing learning
● Honesty Ability to work within the budget limits of the organization
- we can't replace workstations annually, plotters are replaced every
5 years, etc.

In the interview:

● Exude confidence
● Don't be afraid to say that you don't know how to do something but
be sure to show eagerness to learn this new skill or software (The
ability to turn a negative into a positive!)

For Employers:

● Knowledge of Cartography /Geography is important (which way is

North? what does a map projection really mean?)
● one can often teach a non-spatial person the essentials of spatial
information, but it can often be frustrating to have geographers
learning programming and databases
● GIS Analysts need not come out of a geography program. Readers
have sent us rave reviews about GIS analysts having backgrounds in
geology, computer programming, political science, and even
astrophysics
● Good candidates have travelled outside of their own country, even
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What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require

better if they have worked outside their own country.

● Make them prove they can think outside of the box

One respondent told us of his company's excellent experience with

hiring graduates from technical colleges, such as the Centre of
Geographic Sciences, Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia. "The combination
of a university undergraduate degree coupled with advanced technical
training yields the optimal balance between knowledge and real world
skills."

Thanks to everyone in the GIS Community who contributed their

thoughts.

Have we missed something? Send your comments to

editor@geocomm.com

Feedback

● A reader from New Brunswick sent us some info on an

interesting initiative in Canada to define IT jobs and their
required skills. It is called the Occupational Skills Profile
Model (OSPM) developed by the Software Human
Resource Council (SHRC). Details at www.shrc.ca/ospm

● From a reader in San Antonio, TX: I am glad to see

someone is finally commenting on the large disparity that
exists in posting jobs fulfilling and or demanding high
level requirements in GIS Analyst jobs. Anyone with a
Master's Degree and five years of GIS experience will
unlikely accept or function in a position that pays the
average that is usually posted. Long overdue!
● From "Julie"... I have further input. If you want an
"Analyst", it implies that you want someone with a few
years of experience in the GIS field along with some sort
of specialty such as Environmental planning, or Remote
Sensing. A 'GIS technician' or "GIS operator" should
imply that this an entry-level position or a year or two of
experience with an associate's degree and/or a GIS
Certificate. If you want certain skills, place them in the
job description, don't have students waste several hours
preparing a resume and cover letter only to find out that
the employer wanted a Senior Analyst with five years of
experience and expert level programming skills on C++.

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What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require

And finally, if you want entry level, this means that the
potential employee is fresh out of school with absolutely
no experience, not a year or two years of experience.
Please employers state the exact skills you want, the
salary, a good description of what the position involves
and what the potential benefits or lack of benefits are
offered. Finding a job is difficult when I have to wade
through thousands companies of WebPages, newspaper
classified ads. With the Advent of the Internet, everyone
thinks it is much easier to find a job. I disagree. Most of
the jobs I have done were through the old methods of
cold calling, snail mail letter writing, and filing out
applications. The employers just expect more. Why? Time
for the unemployed is money too. If I have to waste time
researching a poorly constructed Company website to find
a particular job description, then be expected to tailor a
specific resume for each company, it will take at least an
hour per company. And if I know the company is really
good, it could take me all day. This effectively make it
possible to complete 10 to 30 applications send off each
week. When I should be able to do hundreds of job
applications if every company would have a national
standard for the job application. With Current GIS
database technology, we could create a tremendous
service for job hunters. I will let you on a little secret,
most students have thousands of dollars in loans to pay
off and some of us are willing to fly to Antarctica if you
offer us a decent salary, some job security (a five year
contract), and full medical benefits. A decent salary is
$17 dollars an hour, , and full medical and dental
coverage. Give us a livable wage and some hope. I
recently could not believe it when I asked for an
Internship position that was part of a requirement to
receive my GIS Certificate and the County administrator
suggest a requirement for me to work for free at 40
hours a week. Are you going to pay my rent and my
friends at Sallie Mae. An unpaid internship should be at
most 20 hours. Hello, not everyone was born with trust
funds. Our parents wanted us to go to college so we
could support ourselves. Please be reasonable and either
offer to pay the hundreds and thousands of dollars for
computer classes and you will get exactly what you want.
It does me no good to take an AutoCAD class when a
particular Municipal Government only uses ESRI products.
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What Skills Does A GIS Analyst Require

I will continue my cold calling and attend my industry

conferences to make contacts, I am just asking
employers to clearly define what you want in a specific
position or we the job hunters lose because we waste
time applying at your company and you get 100
unnecessary underqualifed job applicants.

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