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May 2015
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
want to become a technical guru, or go after a more general
role such as project management, sales or leadership? In
some scenarios you may be able to hang on to both but that’s
tough – just ask any geospatial entrepreneur or freelancer.
Again, this requires conscious choices. Remember, after
you’ve left the technical track for a while it can be hard to
get back on it.
Learn ‘the business’
This may sound contradictory to some points above but OK,
life is full of contradictions. It’s not enough to have geospatial
knowledge, you also need to understand the industry vertical
in which you are applying it. Your data analysis skills may
be legendary but if you don’t understand what your clients
do for a living and the specific issues they face, you’ll only
scratch the surface with generic solutions and get nowhere.
Google for example has the best map in the world but they
have learned to leave market verticals alone – it’s a different
kind of expertise, and that is where you come in.
Embrace the full geospatial lifecycle
The geospatial data lifecycle is long and varied, and
people often get sucked into a particular area such as data
management, IT development, or surveying – and end up
staying there. Whatever you do, though, make sure you
gain exposure to the full lifecycle, not just your immediate
area of expertise. Understanding how data flows from data
capture to manipulation, analysis and visualisation is
critical. So from GPS to geostats, from GIS to JavaScript,
stay up-to-date and try to gain knowledge across the board,
even if all you can do is learn the basics. Also acquaint
yourself with the softer aspects of data including legal,
commercial and policy considerations. Whatever your role,
you cannot afford to ignore these things.
Go out into the field
Field experience will immensely boost your geospatial
understanding and professional credibility. Let’s face it, you
can’t solve the world’s problems from behind a computer.
Get out there and see for yourself what the real issues are.
I started off my career as a surveyor and geodesist, but
soon ended up in the office doing ‘GIS’ for a big oil company.
When, years later, I finally got the opportunity to spend a
couple of weeks with seismic survey crews in the Libyan
desert, it blew my mind. The sights, the smells, the sounds
– it all made sense. And it made me have slight regrets of
not having done it sooner, and for a longer period of time.
If you ever get the slightest chance to take on a field-based
role overseas or closer to home, grab it with both hands
while you can. The office can wait.
Travel and keep moving
In my opinion travel is still the best way of finding
inspiration and learning. If you can somehow combine
this with your career, even better. As a young student in
Luxembourg and Germany I suddenly saw my whole life
flash in front of me, and embarked on a drastic change.
I took out a big bank loan and enrolled at a renowned
university in Sydney, Australia to continue my geospatial
studies there. It was the best investment I ever made, and a
turning point in my life that completely changed everything
that followed. If you can’t travel or relocate physically, at
least consider ‘travelling’ between different industries or
working for different-sized organisations – you’ll be come
a more rounded professional as a result. Just make sure
your CV does not end up looking like you’re suffering from
chronically itchy feet. Don’t move on until your learning
curve goes flat, and remember that many organisations can
offer new roles and challenges internally.
Never stop learning, and look beyond geospatial
In my book, status quo equals decline. You can never afford
to rest on your laurels, especially not with the rate of
technological change we’re seeing. Having said that, don’t
waste your time following hysterical technology blogs that
proclaim “the next big thing” every 5 minutes. Unless you’re
the next Steve Jobs you’re much better off investing your
time in learning how to exploit the latest trends for your
own needs. Also, find out what you can learn from other,
unrelated fields. To me learning is not about collecting
badges, diplomas or even CPD points. Learning happens
everywhere – you just need to know what to look for. You
may learn something in an art museum that you can apply
to your cartography. You may learn something from your
kids’ Lego set that you can use in your geoprocessing
workflow. You may learn something from a philosophy
book that you can incorporate into your leadership style or
negotiation strategy. And most importantly, you can learn
a lot from other people.
Learning from people
With all their strengths and imperfections, every boss I
ever had taught me something valuable. When I was on
placement as a grad student, the chief surveyor showed me
the value of delegation by taking a risk and trusting me
to do a full building site survey on my own. Another one
taught me how to run a team and develop people. And so
on. But don’t just look to bosses as role models. You can
learn something from literally anybody: colleagues, friends,
family, children, random encounters. Mentors are obviously
useful too, but don’t overlook the opportunities that day-to-
day interactions bring. Nobody knows everything, but you
can piece together a lot by talking to different people and
collecting different viewpoints (and in return share with
them what you think). Learning from mistakes can also be
powerful, but again don’t just blindly follow the mantras
from fashionable business or technology blogs (“fail fast”
etc.). A product flop may well hold useful lessons but some
things, like building bridges or positioning oil rigs, are
best not done by trial and error. Be open minded, but don’t
switch off your critical functions.
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