Jump-starting a career in GIS
The science of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is integral to the things we do at Soar. Having an understanding of maps, how to create them is essential whether you like maps as a hobby or because maps are part of your job. Soar interviewed Jessee Buyungo an up-and-coming map-guru who’s both ambitious and humble in his efforts to map out a career in GIS.
Hi, my name is Jesse Buyungo. I live in Kampala, Uganda, Africa. Since I have just finished my undergraduate studies (only 2 months ago). I currently work as a freelance Geospatial Analyst. My work involves collecting, processing and analysing different forms of geospatial data to drive decision making processes. I was introduced to GIS during My first year of undergraduate study at Makerere University through an introductory course, Principles of GIS & Remote Sensing. With the help of GIS software, I process, extract, manipulate and analyse information from satellite images. GIS software helps me to analyse, store, process, and create geo-visualizations from data collected from fieldwork surveys.
GIS Career Tip #1. Get noticed. We met Jesse through his YouTube channel, offered our SkyMap50 imagery for use in his videos, and now you’re reading his story!
In my 3rd year of Undergraduate Studies at Makerere University, I started a blog (Atom Geospatial Solutions) with an aim of sharing tricks, tutorials and information about the geospatial domain. After a year the content I had written had reached thousands of people all over the world. From the impact of my GIS blog, I decided to start sharing the same information via YouTube (Buyungo Jesse) with the aim of reaching, helping and impacting more in the geospatial domain worldwide. It has only been about 2 months since I started sharing GIS videos. To my surprise, within this short period of time, the channel has received close to 80 subscribers and has generated close to 1000 views!
GIS Career Tip #2. Exploit your skills & Experience. Though it’s early days for Jesse, he’s building an impressive portfolio online. HELLO EMPLOYERS — GIVE THIS YOUNG BLOKE A JOB!
I have constantly developed and acquired from a combination of various avenues i.e. my undergraduate studies, training, internships, short courses, class work and group projects. During my undergraduate studies at Makerere University (B.Sc. Land surveying and Geomatics, Nov 2020), I have been able to learn and excel highly with distinctions in understanding of geomatics and its applications in various fields such as remote sensing, geospatial data analysis, and land surveying. Furthermore, I was able to learn and develop skills in machine learning from the 2nd Nepal Winter school in AI (December 2019) that took place from Pokhara, Nepal.
GIS Career Tip #3. You’re in charge, especially at the beginning. Use this time to experiment, find out what you like, or are good at. Then when you have a focus, it’s easier to identify the right job/employer for your future.
One year ago, I developed Atom Geospatial Services in my third year of undergraduate studies. Since I was a student then my first objective was to extend such services to students in other faculties who needed geospatial information for their studies and projects. It is just two months since I finished university, however my goal is to have Atom Geospatial Solutions as a working GIS consulting firm In Uganda.
Since I have just gotten out of college I have only impacted on a few industries such as construction, water and environment, lands and urban development, disaster, risk management and education. My clients are using the maps to inform decision making processes. As an example, in the project that involved analysis of spatiotemporal urban land cover changes in Jinja Kampala Entebbe Highway Corridor, the client was interested in knowing the land cover that was present in the proposed design way for the road and how it was going affected by road construction.
GIS Career Tip #4. Know the market. Having a better understanding of the market’s demands means you can speak with familiarity about projects clients and employers are currently involved in.
Just as other developing countries, there is continued realization of the need for application of GIS in Uganda. This is both in the government organizations and the private sector. Such government organizations include Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda National Roads Authority, National Planning Authority, various ministries such as lands, water and others. Private sector includes GIS consultants such as Ramani Geosystems, GeoGecko, GeoMick and many others. Since GIS has not been applied in many industries in Uganda, I personally believe that we have only not explored GIS to its full capacity. I believe that there will be a steady ground for application of GIS in these various sectors in the coming years.
I have used GIS for mapping land parcels, drought risk, flood risk, land cover, and water quality modelling. This work has been done in various software such as Quantum GIS, ARCGIS, ENVI, ERDAS IMAGINE, KOBO Collect and Jupyter Notebooks. With my passion for the application of deep learning in remote sensing, I would like to work on project that involves use of the deep learning algorithms to automate work we do every day as geospatial analysts such as building footprint extraction, autonomous infrastructure management, and automatic object detection from imagery.
GIS Career Tip #5. Keep adding to your CV. Showing a diversity of skills and projects can only help you during interviews and landing new projects. Having a thorough list of project work gives interviewers topics on which to start conversations. Topics you’re already an expert on!
Jesse’s CV includes a comprehensive list of projects*: Estimation of Chlorophyll a Concentration, Lake Victoria using in situ Chlorophyll Data & Landsat 8 Imagery, Android App Development (6 apps published!), Innovative Approaches in Response Preparedness, Highlighting Illegal Waste Disposal in Kampala, Analysis of the Spatiotemporal Urban Land Cover Changes, Analysis of Landsat Imagery in Land Cover Mapping, Drought Risk Data Collection & Mapping, Sembabule, Uganda, Flood risk Data Collection & Mapping, Namuwongo, Kampala, & Community Flood Risk Mapping in Kalerwe and Bwaise Slums.
Jesse is a part of a new breed of young geospatial experts, ones who are adept with new mapping technologies and analysis techniques. Going beyond that, media sharing platforms have levelled the playing field to where it’s now possible to exhibit and share your skills, advancing your own chances of employment.
If you want to carve out a big niche in the mapping world, Soar provides free Landsat and Sentinel 2 images in addition to it’s free map sharing capabilities.
The Soar platform continues to provide geospatial products and services supporting news and media, construction, land management, resources, and many other critical industries. If you have a special technology use case challenge, the team at Soar is keen to assist and provide a solution. We monitor our social media feeds closely and are always quick to respond and reach out to our users and clients.
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