I started in GIS more by accident.  In 1998 as a fresh faced engineer was right on the time that utilities were converting away from paper / CAD to a variety of desktop GIS packages.  For our company, we worked in Mapinfo for our network analysis and planning reports, which in hindsight was actually a blessing as Mapinfo exposes GIS concepts, and functions more like a “true” GIS system than something like the frankenstein that ArcInfo/ArcGIS is.  Eg. Mapinfo used many of the SQL functions that eventually became an OGC standardised version of what we know and love today versus ESRI that just kept doing their own thing.

The senior engineers at the time writing reports just used to see GIS as a way of producing “nice looking maps” and as the junior I got thrown into the deep end to learn how to make these “nice” maps, and I got pretty good at it in turning around our engineering reports to clients.  Mapinfo Workspaces are behind the scenes just a series of Mapbasic Script commands and you can “read” the steps it follows to render a map, and this then lead to me starting to automate basic, repetitive things with Mapbasic like symbology and page layouts etc.  Mapinfo was also interesting in being very easy to embed a live portal to a Map within a Microsoft Office form and have a fully functional Mapinfo running behind the scenes behind an Eg. Microsoft Access application.   So yeah, a highly underrated GIS application that IMO, a beginner learns the “right” GIS concepts first up rather than how ArcGIS could otherwise scramble your brains!

Eventually after a couple of years of also coincidentally learning/building MS Access applications on facility condition assessment projects and learning core database concepts and the power of relational data structures, indices and SQL, it dawned on me the whole point of GIS was not for maps, it was a spatial database with spatial, rather than logical relationships (In 1998 we were not permitted to access the external internet from work PCs so this was an era where you very much had to figure new software and technology yourself through a combination of hacking and trial-and-error, so we had to “discover” core concepts and new ways of applying GIS that we now today regard as somewhat universally understood), and this combined with developing programming skills lead me further into automation where I wrote Mapbasic Topology extracting scripts to describe what we now today call “Network Graphs” and complemented this with iterative buffering analysis to associate property demand loads on these networks (this was before GIS software had natively implemented nearest neighbour or Voronoi polygon type tools), and this greatly reduced the amount of time that engineers were spending visually reading maps/drawings and hand entering the data into the first generation of Windows based water and sewer network hydraulic modelling applications, and this was complemented with scripts to hack open the backend databases behind these modelling applications and insert the network data directly into the model files.

Another interesting footnote on how I “started” in GIS.  A hidden knowledge item is that Mapinfo users were unknowingly very early FME users!  A powerful tool essential in early GIS days was Mapinfo’s Universal Translator Tool (UT.exe).  With the huge amount of proprietary formats used, this was necessary for ingesting and exporting data from all the different CAD / GIS formats.  Now, Universal Translator was literally just a Window Dialog that in the backend ran a command line version of FME with a limited library of formats supported and was essentially a version of what we now know as FME Quick Translator.  So I was an FME user when started in GIS in 1998 even if did not initially realise it.

I’ve always had an interest in maps, which my parents and grandparents encouraged. When it was time to pick my high school subjects, I was around 15 I guess, my school organised a special guidance session to help us make the choice. It consisted of a test and a meeting with a career councillor, to talk about what you like to do, what you’re good at, hobbies and so on.

During that meeting I mentioned I liked maps and he says: “you know, I think you can study that”. So I look it up, go to an open house and when I walk in to a big room with maps everywhere I’m like: “these are my people”.

In the 4 years of college, studying Geo-Informatics, we got some surveying, photogrammetry, cartography and GIS. I mainly focused on the cartography side, but through chance and internships got in touch with FME and Safe (this was around 1997) so made my career doing both.

Started working as a surveyor back in 1994, after studying geodesy. After a couple years rolled into working as a consultant for GIS software manufacturers. So never did anything outside of the geo-information field, to be honest.

Same here, actually. When my parents took me to bookshops when I was a kid (and since my parents were voracious readers, just like me now, that happened more often than you’d think), you could usually find me in the section with maps and books about (or full of) maps. Especially if it was a second-hand bookshop with a vintage (and sometimes antique) map section, you couldn’t drag me out of there with a big horse…

After college, it was important for me to go as far as possible from my parents house. So, when I was looking at which universities I wanted to go (my main goal was to be far away) I randomly decided to pick GIS. And I was not disappointed! I’m working in that area since then. And I eventually came back in my parents city many years later, on and off.

At university for the internship program, I discovered FME when I was working for a private firm. That was the biggest game changer as a student.

I started university for Biology but took an Introduction to GIS course in my first year. I immediately decided to change my major to focus more on Geography. I ended up taking all of the GIS courses available.

I always liked geography (physical geography, mostly) and would have studied that. But then I saw in the prospectus for Swansea University, a picture of someone doing land surveying on a glacier. It was so cool, that I just had to apply for that.

After graduating, I worked in land survey for a while (fun, but not what I hoped) then my technical skills got me roped into running data capture projects for GIS, and the rest is history.

The funny thing is, I’ve never really used GIS much. My roles have always been about capturing data, transforming data, loading data, writing GIS software, training, project management etc. Lots and lots of work to do with GIS, but never actually using the end results myself!

I loved maps as a kid and would pour over my copy of the Jacaranda Junior School Atlas. I learnt how properly read a map in scouts, but never thought there was a job in it. Fast forward 30 and a bit years and after a career in telecommunications and IT, I needed a change. I enrolled in a Bachelor of Mariane Science and Management with a dream of working on the Great Barrier Reef but that turned out not to be an option as it would involve moving to the tropics (wife with curly hair mixed with humidity - well, it was not an option). Luckily my degree included one GIS subject and a remote sensing subject. I found my happy place. After graduating I signed up to every MOOC I could find to learn more about GIS. Using this knowledge, I managed to step sideways where I was working from IT to GIS where I first encountered FME and continued to learn. Now, eight years later I run the agriculture GIS team in Queensland Department of Primary Industries and am still learning.

Career Journey in Geospatial and Utility Mapping:

My journey stated in around 1998 with digitizing paper maps.

My career in the geospatial and utility mapping field began with a pivotal role in digitizing paper maps of sewerage lines for Asset Management and Facility Management (AM/FM) projects. This early experience allowed me to dive deep into the core of infrastructure management, transforming paper-based, manual maps into precise digital datasets. By converting these sewerage network maps into GIS formats, I was able to provide a foundation for asset tracking, maintenance planning, and resource management. This work, although foundational, played a key role in the transition from traditional manual systems to digital asset management systems.

As I progressed in my career, I expanded my skills into digitizing contours and topographical features. This involved working with elevation data, creating digital representations of terrain and natural features such as hills, valleys, rivers, and roads. These topographical maps were essential for a variety of projects, including urban planning, environmental analysis, and construction, where accurate terrain modeling was crucial for decision-making. Through this work, I gained experience in handling complex spatial data and learned to integrate topographic features with other infrastructure data to enhance spatial analysis.

Building on this experience, I began working with a wide range of utility networks including gas, electricity, and water. In this role, I handled geospatial data in several different formats, such as AutoCAD DWG, MicroStation DGN, ArcInfo coverages, File Geodatabases (FGDB), and SQL databases. Each of these formats presented its own challenges, requiring me to develop a versatile approach to translating, organizing, and managing utility data. I worked to ensure that data could be seamlessly integrated into GIS platforms for use in asset management, network planning, and operational optimization. The diverse data formats and technologies I encountered expanded my understanding of the utility sector's needs, allowing me to help improve service reliability, support maintenance efforts, and optimize network performance.

As technology advanced I got opportunity to work with LiDAR for 3D Modeling , so did the complexity of projects. Leveraging LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data enabled precise modeling of 3D infrastructure, including buildings and roads. These models enhance urban planning, disaster management, and smart city initiatives, reflecting a shift toward data-driven decision-making.

In my current role, I am focused on telecom network data translations, working with ESRI Utility Network and ArcFM. These advanced platforms are designed for managing and analyzing the complex, multi-layered infrastructure that powers modern telecommunications networks. My work involves translating various data sources into the Utility Network model, enabling telecom operators to efficiently manage their network assets, optimize service delivery, and support troubleshooting. This role requires a deep understanding of both geospatial technologies and telecom infrastructure, and the ability to model and visualize complex network systems.

Throughout my career, I’ve relied on a powerful toolkit to automate and streamline workflows, including Python, FME, and SQL. Python has been essential for automating repetitive tasks, writing custom scripts for data manipulation, and enhancing the functionality of GIS applications. FME has allowed me to efficiently translate and transform data across a variety of formats, ensuring that different utility and telecom data sources can be integrated into a unified system. SQL is an indispensable tool for querying large geospatial databases, managing data integrity, and performing complex spatial analysis. Together, these tools have allowed me to work more efficiently, improve data quality, and develop scalable solutions for the utility and telecom sectors.

From my early days digitizing maps to my current role in managing telecom networks, each stage of my career has provided me with a unique set of skills and experiences in geospatial data management. I am excited to continue applying these technologies to solve complex challenges in infrastructure management, asset optimization, and network management.

I have always been interested in maps. A regular atlas, a historical atlas, even a road atlas, I could spend many hours on each and every map.
When I could not immediately find work after graduating in 1992, I was given the opportunity to follow a GIS course, about processing and visualizing data with Arc/Info and other tools. A steep learning curve, but worth it. And I learned how to make maps myself!
After that I found work at the intersection of programming, data and maps, in a commercial role for the first 20 years, and since then at a municipality. And it's still fun!

Me too, although I was always more interested in the surveying part. The cartography we did was all hand-drawn. It was good to learn that way, but I’m glad that it’s all computerized now.

I stumbled into GIS as Biology grad student. I needed an elective course that would meet my scheduling needs, and Intro GIS was the first course I found which fit perfectly. With absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, I gave it my best shot, and turned out to be a natural with the software and concepts! I ended up pursuing more GIS courses after that, and have since continued my GIS adventure throughout my career! Thank goodness for serendipity!

I got into GIS in college. While hopping around to various majors (math > hospitality management > history), I took a core Earth Science class with another student that was already working in GIS, and they were so excited to talk about GIS all the time that I decided to look more into it. So I took intro Geography and GIS classes, and I saw that I would be able to learn about all the other fields/industries I was interested just in a specifically spatial way - a way my brain never really worked before. Being able to show the connectedness of everything was very exciting to me, and I was all in after that! “GIS evangelism” does have an effect!

It was quite by accident really. I didn’t really know that GIS was a thing I could study or do for work. I walked into the wrong class on the first day of classes at university and only realized I wasn’t in Philosophy when we got the syllabus handed out. I read through it and it looked interesting enough I dropped the other course and took the Introduction to GIS one instead. 

I think it was a perfect match though. As a kid, I had always been interested in geography, especially maps. It never occurred to me it was something I could focus in but I’m glad I did!

I heard about GIS when I was studying at university, so I applied for an introduction course. While waiting for the course to start I did some googling and read a little about reprojections, vectordata and coordinate systems. It seemed interesting so I looked forward to the course. In the end however, the course got cancelled at short notice. 

My journey started in the field, literally, as a rodman for a land surveying company back in 2000. For those unfamiliar, a rodman is responsible for handling equipment, marking points, and assisting the survey crew in the field. 

As time went on, I worked my way up to party chief, leading survey crews and managing projects on-site. I enjoyed the process of gathering data and seeing how it was applied to design and construction projects. The idea that this data could be better leveraged to create smarter workflows and more efficient processes really interested me. That’s when I began to explore the data side of surveying and GIS.

As I started working with GIS software, I was pointed in the direction of FME. This software opened my eyes to what was possible in terms of automating workflows, and I never looked back!

I used to love my "Bosatlas” as a kid but I was very very bad at any topography test so at first anything geography related was not on my radar as something I would like. During my last year of my bachelor in architecture everybody got had a mandatory half day workshop in GIS. It was absolute chaos and nobody knew what they were doing. My team were the last to hand in our results and because of that we had to present our results to 250 other students. It was hilarious and slightly embarrassing. The workshop did show me a whole new world and made me question why the whole student body including me had spent 3 years drawing urban analysis maps on paper. Anyway when it was time to choose a masters degree I switched to Geomatics which was kind of hard(I also started the second semester so I was missing a lot of the introduction courses) but so worth it.

Have loved reading all these stories (and mishaps!) Thanks everyone for sharing.

By accident, like any normal person.  I was working with engineering and architectural CAD systems as people moved away from paper, in the mid 1980s, our customers kept asking for software that could do a map, the database and the analytics - Arc/Info.  Purely coincidentally the minicomputer hardware we sold was a supported platform, and we picked up a second workstation line, the ownership got sick of telling people there was no demand for GIS and sold it to them.