<p>I love telling my kids about interesting jobs they’ve never heard of before, and about interesting things people in the X profession do that you’d never ever think of. Today’s LA Times had a great article on how geographers are not just doing fusty mapmaking work. </p>
<p>I had absolutely no idea that geographers did anything like this. Anyone else got some sort of surprising/different type of work that people in X profession or Y major do?</p>
<p>I read about this one. I think it’d be something if rather than the military, the CIA, the NSA, etc. finding Bin Laden it ends up to be a college geography professor who nails his location.</p>
<p>I hope they checked the town for him before they published the article.</p>
<p>My husband works in GIS (Geographic Information Systems), and it is definitely a high-demand field. Many cities and most larger utility companies need GIS specialists as they convert their old paper maps to a usable computer format. Engineering firms and stand alone GIS firms also use mapping professionals. </p>
<p>These aren’t just dumb maps, but interactive maps linked to all the pertinent data needed to manage their infrastructure: when was the line installed, what diameter is the pipe, how many schools are within a mile of the line, etc. While some people came into this field through Geology, many others came in through Geography majors, even GIS majors.</p>
<p>My youngest is a geography major. When we first started researching (you want to study what???:eek:), we were very surprised at how versatile the major can be. This degree can take you in a lot of directions, mapping is just one.</p>
<p>I’m going to send him the link to the Bin Laden story, thanks for posting it.</p>
<p>S graduated last year with a major in geography and yes there are plenty of opportunities for graduates, but most positions require experience as well as the degree. BTW can someone change the title of this post so that it says Geography, not Geology. Part of the problem may be people are more aware of the geology rather than the geography major - two entirely different animals.</p>
<p>My son also has a Geography/GIS degree. Intro level jobs can be hard to come by because they can also be filled by community college or in-house trained people who learn to use the basic software. Many jobs want Auto_CAD experience which many university degrees don’t give you, considering it more of a CC skill. There is a lot of potential with a little experience or a good deal of hard work getting internships with companies or various governmental agencies. The jobs range from marketing to mapping oil well sites to urban planning.</p>
This degree can take you in a lot of directions, mapping is just one.</p>