For most people, folding maps is difficult enough, let alone interpreting them or even creating them. But geospatial engineers are not most people. They can take geographic data collected from GIS or GPS technologies and not only turn it into maps but interpret that knowledge to fulfill their employer's specific goal.
A geospatial engineer can work in many different fields, wherever people need to know about the lay of the land. They can work for construction or civil engineering firms and help pick out potential sites for building projects. They can also work on disaster relief operations and help plan rescues. Many geospatial engineers even work for the army and help prepare top-secret military operations.
No matter where they work, geospatial engineers need to know a lot about geography, including how to use advanced software like GIS mapping. While some geospatial engineers attend a university to learn these skills, just as many learn them on the job.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a geospatial engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $30.99 an hour? That's $64,452 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Geospatial Engineer Do
There are certain skills that many geospatial engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, creativity and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a geospatial engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.6% of geospatial engineers included geographic information systems, while 12.5% of resumes included disaster relief, and 12.0% of resumes included intelligence analysis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the geospatial engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most geospatial engineers actually find jobs in the technology and finance industries.
How To Become a Geospatial Engineer
If you're interested in becoming a geospatial engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 39.0% of geospatial engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.7% of geospatial engineers have master's degrees. Even though some geospatial engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a geospatial engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a geospatial engineer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on geospatial engineer resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a geospatial engineer. In fact, many geospatial engineer jobs require experience in a role such as geospatial analyst. Meanwhile, many geospatial engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or sales associate.