Preparing Yourself for the Evolving STEM World

Preparing Yourself For
The Evolving STEM
World
By: Cyhana L. Williams
GIS Technician
&
Co-Founder of African Women in GIS
Cyhana Williams @cycy_williams @CyhanaLena

Content Overview
 My GIS Story
 Skills to Acquire Before and After School
 Personal Branding 101
 Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Career Paths( GIS & Technology)
 General Advice
Copyright © 2020 Cyhana L. Williams
2

My GIS Story
3

What is GIS ?
A geographic information system (GIS) is a framework for
gathering, managing, and analyzing data. It analyzes
spatial location and organizes layers of information into
visualizations using maps and 3D scenes. With this unique
capability, GIS reveals deeper insights into data, such as
patterns, relationships, and situations—helping users make
smarter decisions. – ESRI .
Basically, the technology aspect of Geography.
4

My GIS Story - Before University
 My first inspiration came from my
brother’s High school geography
textbook and exam questions in primary
school.
 Became more interested in the
geography aspect of social studies in
junior high .
 My decision to offer geography in high
school was not very welcoming to my
mum who wanted me to offer core
science.
 I wanted science with geography but that
option was not available at my school
choice so I had to choose and I chose
geography.
My
University
Decision
Primary
School
Junior High
High
School
5

My GIS Story - University
 All my previous discoveries led me to further and graduate with a
Bachelors of Arts Degree in Geography and Resource Development
with Psychology at the University of Ghana.
 I found out about Geographic Information System and Remote
Sensing during my 3rd year as I was researching about the elective
courses.
 I took up GIS Internship at a GIS and Software Development Company –
Henson Geodata Technologies to learn more about the industry.
 That changed my views about Geography and I finally found my ideal
career choice as well as a GIS “geng”.
Geography with a whole lot of Technology.
6

Life After School
 I offered my National Service (NSS) at the same GIS and
Software Development Company .
 Found out about a coding boot camp and decided to register
and learn coding from Developers in Vogue.
 After, I became very Interested in Technology and personal
branding.
 This led me to attend more events, volunteer with tech
outreaches, learn new skills and online courses, become a
growing speaker, a LinkedIn coach and a Women in STEM
and GIS advocate.
 Got a job as a GIS Mapping Specialist after NSS.
 Co-Founded an online community for African Women in GIS
with Chidimma Umeogu from Nigeria.
 Got featured in the Women in GIS Volume 2 book by ESRI.
7

Skills to Acquire Before and After School
Skillset Time Acquisition
There is never a fixed time to acquire New Skills.
Skills should be acquired when available.
Do not procrastinate.
8

Skills to Acquire Before and After School –
General Skills
Technical Skills
 Research
 Qualitative Research
 Quantitative Research
 Technology
 Digital Marketing Skills – Social Media
 Digital Tools Utilization
 Coding Skills
 New Technologies ( Drones, A.I , M.L ,
Mixed Reality etc)
Soft Skills
 Communication
 Networking
 Public Speaking
 Collaboration
 Team work
 Leadership skills
 Project Management Skills
 Ability to
 learn
 Unlearn
 RelearnCopyright © 2020 Cyhana L. Williams
9

Skills to Acquire Before and After School –
Personal Skills
Self Development
 Self- Evaluation
 Strength
 Weaknesses
 Personal Management
 Time Management
 Plans & Goal Setting
 Creativity & Innovation
*Think outside the box*
 Personal Branding
 Social Media Branding
 Profession Branding
Business Literacy
 Financial Literacy
 Personal Finance Management
 Legal Business Knowledge
 Digital Tools for Marketing
 Secondary Income (“Side Hustle
Business”) development
10

Personal Branding 101
LinkedIn Branding
11

What is LinkedIn? & Why must we use it?
LinkedIn Statistics Site : https://www.oberlo.com/blog/linkedin-statistics
12

Ways to Improve your LinkedIn Branding
Profile
 General & Contact information :
Profile Picture, Background Image, Headline, About , email,
profile url, location &Industry
 Background Information:
Experience , Education and Volunteer
 Skills , Endorsements, Recommendations
 Accomplishments:
Courses, Projects, Awards& Honors, Language & Publication
 Media and Articles
 Interests
Presence & Activity
 Status Posts (Professional and themed)
 Connections
 Comments and Post Reactions
 Group membership and contributions
 Notifications
 Media & Articles
13

14

LinkedIn Branding Resources & Tips
Summary
Profile Activity
https://www.ragan.com/9-steps-to-a-better-linkedin-profile-
in-2019/
Articles and Publications : Medium , LinkedIn Slide Share ,
LinkedIn Articles and other publication medium. Content
should be professional
https://www.thevectorimpact.com/linkedin-profile-tips/ Posts Reactions & Comment on other posts
https://www.inc.com/amy-george/elevate-your-2019-
linkedin-profile-in-10-easy-steps.html
Professional Status Updates: Post Events, Personal
Accomplishments, Projects , Motivational Quotes and posts
etc.
https://www.thejobnetwork.com/update-your-linkedin-
profile-for-2019/
Pictures & Videos – Professional and event or project related.
https://www.job-hunt.org/recruiters/linkedin-recruiters.shtml Make new connections related to your interest fields or
friends.
15

STEM Career Paths
Geographic
Information
Systems
(GIS) Career
Paths
Technology
Career Paths
16

STEM Career Paths
GIS
 GIS Surveyor
 Geomatic Engineer
 GIS Technician
 Urban Planner
 Geospatial Analyst
 GIS Machine Learning Specialist
 Location Intelligence Specialist
 Geobusiness Intelligence
 Remote Sensing Specialist
 GIS Project Manager
 Geoscience related research fields
Technology
 Front – end Software Developer
 Back – end Software Developer
 Full stack developer
 Program Manager
 Computer Engineer
 Network Administrator
 Machine Learning
 Artificial Intelligence
 Mixed Reality
 Game Developer
 Product Manager
 UI/ UX
17

Building your STEM Career
GIS
 Take up Internships
 Take part in Open source projects
 Research into industry trends and careers to know
which courses to pursue
 Take Online courses and learn related skills like drone
piloting and photogrammetry.
 Brand yourself on LinkedIn or Twitter
 Create personal side projects
 Learn software tools
 Attend tech and GIS related events
 Learn programming (Python, JavaScript etc)
 Join GIS related communities online or in your
country
 Post on LinkedIn or Twitter some personal private
projects you work on.
 Create and constantly update your portfolio and CV.
Technology
 Research into industry trends and careers to know which courses to
pursue
 Learn Coding
 Learn Github
 Create small coding projects to upload to Github
 Focus on one programming language before learning another.
 Take up online courses ( Udemy, Codecademy etc)
 Take up internships with startups
 Participate in bootcamps, hackathons and apprenticeship gigs etc.
 Attend tech events
 Network with other Developers and join tech groups
 Brand yourself on LinkedIn or Twitter
 Post some personal private projects on LinkedIn or Twitter.
 Create and constantly update your portfolio and CV.
18

STEM Career Resources
GIS
 https://gis.usc.edu/careers/
 https://www.gislounge.com/gis-career-
resources/
 https://www.gislounge.com/building-a-
career-in-gis/
 https://www.esri.com/training/mooc/
 https://sambusgeospatial.com/
 https://accugeospatial.com/
 https://www.copernicus.eu/en/opportuni
ties/education/copernicus-academy
 https://qgis.org/en/site/
Technology
 https://www.codecademy.com/
 https://www.w3schools.com/
 https://www.microsoft.com/africa/4afrika
/interns4afrika.aspx
 https://www.codeln.com/
 https://andela.com/
 https://careers.google.com/students/
 https://buildyourfuture.withgoogle.com/i
nternships/
 https://www.thebalancecareers.com/tech
-careers-4161774
19

STEM Organization interests
GIS Technology
 Start ups
20

General Advice
 Brand yourself with your most passionate/ best skill and interest .
 If you have a side skill apart from your day time job, get a secondary income stream ( “side hustle”) and build it .
You will need it after retirement or it might be your main job soon.
 Make plans and assess yourself constantly as you advance in life ( one plan a month to start small).
 When searching for a job, make sure you know your worth enough to negotiate a good salary.
 Always give salary ranges when negotiating salaries. (e.g GHC 1,500 – GHC 2,000)
 Learn a new skill outside your career space to complement your profession.
 Constantly update your self with skills to upgrade yourself enough to get a promotion or a new high paying job .
 If you want to start a business, do enough research, utilize digital tools and network.
 Get multiple streams of income and learn how to invest. Do not depend on only your day job if you can.
21

ThankYou
22

Preparing Yourself for the Evolving STEM World

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