The Top Five Skills Needed to Have a Successful GIS Career

From Adena Schutzberg, Directions Magazine

Adena Schutzberg of Directions Magazines lists the top 5 skills she believes an individual should possess in order to have a successful career in GIS technology 

Teach yourself new procedures/workflows/software: Even if the organization for which you work uses the same software year to year, it will change. You should be able to learn and take advantage of what's new. More likely, you will be asked to learn new tools to work alongside or replace existing ones. Be ready to learn those too! (Homework to work on this skill: Teach yourself to use an open source GIS product.)

Work in a team: GIS professionals rarely work alone. Even in a "one person" shop you will be working alongside clients and partners as a team. Be ready to use the skills of each team member to ensure everyone contributes. Sometimes the best contribution is simply getting coffee! (Homework: Volunteer to help with a local event like a running race or food drive.)

Act (research/read/learn/explore/contribute) based on your curiosity/responsibility:  If a topic or technology related to your current work is interesting, don't just say, "Oh, that's interesting!" Go learn more about it on your own, or if you are lucky, on the company's time. Then, give a lunchtime talk on what you learned. Keep an eye out for resources on the Web, at conferences and local presentations on what interests you. (Homework: Set up an automated search of the Web for topics in which you have an interest.)

Find a/several mentor(s): Part of your job is to continue learning about the field and how to be successful in it. Find individuals who can help you do this. They might be your peers, your supervisors or even other people's supervisors. They may even be people outside your organization. (Homework: Consider the people in the business world that you know and respect. Ask one to be your mentor and meet for coffee or on the phone four times a year to strategize how to be successful in your position or get to the next one.)

Confidently communicate orally, in writing, in graphic form, in front of an audience, on video, via Twitter, etc.: Our field (like many) relies on all kinds of communication. Hone your skills and get comfortable with the new technologies available to share your ideas. (Homework: From the content you found and explored in #3, offer to give a "brown bag" talk to your team or a class, or produce a YouTube video to share.)