Geographic Information Systems. Anyone Involved?

I graduated with a major in bus. mgmt. and minor in GIS. Recently, I've become interested in pursuing a masters degree or Certification in GIS. I would learn towards the business aspects of it, since that is what I enjoy.

Anyone involved in this industry? Any advice you can offer is appreciated.

 

Well... I had sent an email to a girl I graduated with asking her about it, since she majored in it, and this was her reply...


"How are you?

... I really like GIS and it's great to have on your resume, but unless you double major in GIS and Computer Science, it's really hard to A. be freelance and B. find a job just doing GIS because everyone wants you to know programming as well. There are some basic GIS jobs open, but the pay's just not as good. Also, the other problem with your own business is the cost of the GIS layers-it's really hard to find data for a decent price. I only get it all because I work for the county.

I think it might be a good idea to get a certificate in GIS, but I wouldn't waste the time getting your master's in it. I think it's great to have as an extra asset, but not good on its own. So, if you can use it to get a job in what you really majored in, great, but I don't think it would be a great idea to try to totally get away from your field and go into GIS full time. If you're interested in planning at all, getting your master's in planning while getting your certification in GIS would be a good idea.

I hope this helps some-if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me or if you want to get together sometime to talk about it, I'd be more than willing.}

There goes that idea. I'm not a computer person and certainly not going to attempt to get a degree in something i have 0 interest in.