How to turn my skills into some practical to put on my resume 🖥

I am really trying hard to become a true master of Python this summer, having read three books on it and spending a lot of time writing code and creating maps, graphs and analysis for my blog using PANDAS and Jupyter. Also trying to get better at formatting and documenting code, checking it into GitHub.

At the same time for years I’ve been trying to master the many different ways of Geographic Information Systems, especially open source programs like QGIS, ogr2ogr and gdal. I’ve gotten pretty good at manipulating data and plotting it on pretty maps – both for interactive web maps and traditional static PDF / jpeg maps for printing and web viewing.

Then I’ve been studying how to load, manipulate and analyze Census summary files in PANDAS and preforming interesting analysis like how many people reside within 10 miles of a business or park and what are there average demographics by averaging or summing census block groups or tabulation blocks via spatial unions and joins. I can see the real benefit of this kind of analysis professionally, especially as I refine my techniques.

I’ve also gotten really good at using the state’s geocoder, parcel data and tax maps. I’ve learned the ins and outs of the various ArcGIS REST Servers that local governments host to retrieve all kinds of GIS data for both my web maps and static maps. I know where to find many sources of data from state GIS and data repositories including many states like Pennsylvania’s PASDA, West Virginia GIS and Vermont Center for Geographic Information.

The problem I have is that have no formal education in this field – and my career is not real related to it. One idea I have is to create an online portfolio that showcases some of the best of my maps and analysis. I could also try to do more networking and learning from local GIS clubs and the state GIS association, although so much of that is oriented towards professionals already in the field and expensive, large commercial software not the open source tools that I work with.

It just seems like the whole field of GIS is mostly technocrats and professionals, not layman like myself who enjoy playing with maps and data. They don’t have any real books on GIS either at my local library or in the library system, and most of the stuff I read about online is oriented towards scientists and those who use GIS for technical things rather than just making useful, pretty looking maps and basic data analysis for every day use.