GIS Portfolio

The final assignment in the GIS Certificate Program was to create a GIS Portfolio. It went as I expected. It is hard to write about yourself and even more tedious trying to decide the layout of information you would like to present and what order to present it in. I had my supervisor look it over, and she felt that it represented me, which was my goal. I wanted to showcase some of my favorite maps and techniques used, while also having my 'About Me' page reflect who I am as a person as someone looking in and not really knowing me from the start. I hope the goal was a success. Please enjoy my portfolio linked below:

Jenna's GIS Portfolio

GIS Day 2022!

My GIS Day was a bit lack of luster, but I tried to see what everyone else was doing. I asked my coworkers if they have ever participated and they said one year they went to a Esri conference in San Diego, but this year the workload overtook the opportunity to do anything but talk about it.

So, on my own, in my little peach colored office, I wanted to see what Esri would be up to, so I found their interactive map where people were posting the location and info for their GIS Day celebrations. I clicked all over the world and quickly became excited to see it in even the most unexpected places. Some people had links and noting their employer names, so I was able to look up various companies and see all the different ways people are using GIS in their lives. Missionary groups are using it, Egyptologists are using it, even locally I had 4. Some were even for children and that is awesome! My solo GIS Day evolved into dinner conversations with my mom telling her all the people and places I could remember that I saw on the map that interested me. Maybe next year, with hopefully some coworkers that are just as excited about GIS as I am I won't have to go solo and can do anything with them. My town is still recovering from the hurricane, so we have been busy, and we have had to produce data on the fly for fire zones, damage assessments, and there are always addressing needs in my ever-growing county. Here are all the GIS Day links that were posted this year.

Internship Blog Post #3

I chose to update you on my internship. It is going very well, and I am happy to report that I am learning a lot more than I expected. There is so much more going on depending where your internship is, and mine has opened insights into CAD, 911 Operations, Emergency Management, Survey123, and even ArcMap. While ArcMap may be going away one day, I am learning how to use it because that is what my office is using. It is different than Pro, but the same functionality exists. It's just not always in the same spot that we were taught in Pro. All good. I keep the ArcMap help website pinned on my computer just in case. My supervisor sits next to me and we are able to work on things together or separate. She has a few ongoing projects that she hopes we can get more into while I am there. One involves creating a Survey123 to collect data on mile markers down a desolate road, and another project is awaiting data from a local state park, so that we can enter it into 911 CAD, so if someone needs help out there they can find them fast. I have made a few maps already, and that has been fun to interact with the needs of the map and the data they have. I love going to the office there, and everyone is a delight to work with. Hoping good things continue and I learn as much as I can in the little time left.

Internship Blog Post #2

This week we were tasked to conduct our own GIS job search. By looking at openings, requirements and things I may need to learn in the future will only give me more tools for my toolbox. I started with Google and checked out Indeed and ZipRecruiter finds, but nothing seemed to fit me right away. I wanted to see if I could find a job posting a little more obscure that combined my archaeology degree, Navy knowledge from being active duty and of course GIS. In that effort I was able to find a company that was seeking Nautical Archaeologists and GIS Analysts, and they happen to do government contracts, so I would even understand some of the lingo there. Dream job material for sure, but location is a little too far from home. Similar companies must exist in Florida, but some key takeaways are to think beyond just searching for GIS Analyst, as there are other names that use ArcGIS Pro. Also timing. We are currently sitting right at the end of a fiscal year and another one beginning, so budgets and upcoming job listings are up in the air. End of year seems to be the word on the street to start seeing more listings. Overall, great assignment and gets our brains thinking ahead for when we will be looking for employment in GIS.

Internship Blog Post #1

The journey from a GIS Padawan to now has flown by. The journey to find an internship felt like an eternity of highs and lows. I only just signed paperwork to become an intern for my local county's GIS department. I still have orientation to attend (unknown date at this time), but hopefully I will have begun by the end of month. During the interview it was noted the Emergency Management office was hoping they had an intern to assist in the revamp of the 9-1-1 service in the county to an updated version. Then also helping in the GIS department with their daily tasks. It is a small room of 4 people, and they have even smaller offices with stacks of documents as high as their monitors on their desks. There is a big conference table in the middle of the room, which I will be seated at with a laptop and 2 large map printers shoved against the wall. I plan to earn credit by showing up, and working hard for them. I love to learn, so anything they can teach me I will soak in and I hope I can teach them things I know too. They are working with an older ArcGIS Desktop version, but none of them have any direct background in GIS college related courses such as the ones we have been taking the past year. I am thrilled at the opportunity and will not let it go to waste. Leave everything you touch better than you found it has been ingrained in me since I was a Girl Scout in primary school, so this chance should continue the tradition.

In the meantime this week, I joined a local GIS user group called Northeast Florida GIS User Group found at this link. They have a straight forward mission statement of to "provide an educational environment for Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) professionals and students, facilitate the advancement of geospatial initiatives, and the exchange of ideas". They accomplish this through a email mailing list and a LinkedIn account. I hope they provide some great information about this area I call home in the future.