5 Great benefits to a career in Online GIS Certificates

A high paying tech job

If you are looking for a high paying tech job, a career in GIS could be a good choice. Based on the latest ZipRecruciter data, the California average GIS salary is about $76K/yr. Even in areas like California which offer many tech jobs with high salaries, GIS salaries are still much higher than the average state salary. Besides, salaries for GIS professionals have upward movement as they develop professional experience in business development and administration.

Normally, the average salary for from entry-level GIS analysts to senior-level can rise about 85% and can even reach over $100K/yr. Here are some average GIS salaries in California:

• GIS technician: $73K/yr
• GIS developer: $102K/yr
• GIS specialist: $75K/yr
• GIS manager: $81K/yr

All of these GIS salaries are much higher than the national average.

A meaningful job with great missions

A career in GIS gives you a sense of accomplishment and meaning since lots of GIS projects are influential. For example, with the support from Esri, a famous GIS mapping software, JHU published the COVID map and visualized COVID infection data for the whole world. Also, since GIS technology often applies in far-reaching projects, your job may benefit future generations and change the world, such as smart city planning. Therefore, job satisfaction runs high for people who work in this industry.

A job in demand

The overall market size of Geospatial Analytics is expected to increase by $9.76B in the next three years. This signals a huge demand for professional talent in GIS. Based on the GIS Job Report, there are over 20,000 jobs in GIS available. These include all kinds of industries. In the public sector, GIS can be applied in urban planning, transportation management, and other kinds of common resources development for the public. On the other hand, business sectors also need GIS support, such as real estate, logistics, and education. This variety of applications allows many people with education in business, environmental, and engineering to upskill their portfolios to become technical GIS analysts.

Remote job opportunities

Due to the pandemic, remote working is becoming a popular job situation. A career in GIS provides you with lots of remote job opportunities. Based on Indeed.com, there are over 1500 available remote GIS jobs around the U.S. You will definitely find more opportunities without having to worry about your location. Likewise, you may build up some equity as a trusted office employee and then be given the flexibility to move or work from home. Remote work is available for all these types of positions: GIS web developers, GIS analysts, and GIS solution engineers.

Future career growth in GIS

Is your future career growth restricted only to the GIS field? Definitely Not! A career in GIS enables you to work in different parts of the IT field. There are various technologies and tools that you will use:  Python, cloud architecture, UAVs, system integration, and Esri ArcGIS. Also, people with GIS technologies can address different kinds of problems.  For instance, environmental scientists can collect, analyze and visualize the data for water resource, climate change, and urban planning.

Learn GIS from a variety of platforms

There are a few key learning platforms to learn GIS online. Esri offers its Esri Academy to learn their industry leading software. Besides, some universities offer an online Master’s program like Penn State.  Or you can learn industry specific workflows through a GIS certificate with Bootcamp GIS. With these educational backgrounds and some do it yourself networking, a career in GIS is within your reach in a short amount of time.