PDA

View Full Version : Has anyone taken the GIS program at SAIT?



mago0
04-08-2015, 11:16 PM
It definitely looks interesting. I tried the Student for a day, but I felt like I was a nuisance to the class, so I kept my questions short. I wanted to ask a few more questions but I unfortunately came on a day where major projects were due.

If anyone here has taken the course, or currently works in GIS, can you let me know what your day as a GIS tech looks like? Also, I'm starting to feel that programming is an important part of the career. Do I need to learn other languages besides Python?

NoPulp
04-08-2015, 11:38 PM
Not sure about the program. While job searching for my MET, I found a bunch of jobs for it though.

As for the student for a day, those are always awkward. I found the people that came to our class either came on a really bad day or had no intention of getting anything from it (playing on their phone). Good for you for at least trying to ask questions.

If you don't have any experience with SAIT, i would recommend it. I have 2 weeks left of my 2 year program and have enjoyed it. The teachers were top notch and I was much happier with the quality of education I received compared to UBC.


Hopefully some of that was useful?

Mibz
04-08-2015, 11:54 PM
My wife did it, uh, 6 years ago? She's employed, so she's got that going for her, which is nice. She makes good money and, usual female bitching about office politics aside, enjoys her job.

She says it's difficult to find work outside of Calgary, Texas and Alaska though. At least within North America. She'd likely have to change careers if we moved anywhere else.

As far as she's said, the programming she learned at SAIT has been useless to her in her career. If you already know basic logic and -a- language then you'll be ahead of the class. She went in there with zero programming knowledge, had one or two courses on C and did just fine.

As for a day in the life of, you can go into a handful of specializations straight out of school so you're gonna get different answers from everybody. I tell everybody that my wife connects the dots on maps all day. She gets mad when I say that, but she still can't explain to me what she does, so I keep saying it.

She has a Chandler job. Skip to 4:00.

oENQjvY96dM&t=4m

ExtraSlow
04-09-2015, 06:43 AM
My wife has been in the GIS field for 10 years now, and it's been very good for her. She didn't go to SAIT, she did the Degree ---> BCIT route. I know back in the day, BCIT's one-year program was very highly regarded, and you had to have a BSc to get into it. I have no idea how the different options stack up now.

ipeefreely
04-09-2015, 03:07 PM
Originally posted by mago0
If anyone here has taken the course, or currently works in GIS, can you let me know what your day as a GIS tech looks like? Also, I'm starting to feel that programming is an important part of the career. Do I need to learn other languages besides Python?
I took the course back in 2004. From what I’ve seen it’s improved a lot since I graduated (not that it was bad when I went).

I do a variety of things every day: Analysis, cartography, data management etc. We have contractors who do software development and maintenance.

I'm not good with code but I understand enough to modify other people's to made it work for me! :nut: There's a girl who likes to code in Python in my team so she does any Python work that needs to be done.

If you want to get into developing GIS software you will need to know Python other programing languages, understand relational databases, Oracle, SQL Server etc.


Originally posted by Mibz
She says it's difficult to find work outside of Calgary, Texas and Alaska though. At least within North America. She'd likely have to change careers if we moved anywhere else.

As far as she's said, the programming she learned at SAIT has been useless to her in her career. If you already know basic logic and -a- language then you'll be ahead of the class. She went in there with zero programming knowledge, had one or two courses on C and did just fine.
Unless she’s super specialized (pipelines maybe?) and doesn’t want to try anything else this isn’t true at all. :confused: There are tons of ways GIS can be used (natural resources, engineering, urban planning, mining etc…)

They’ve probably changed it since I went… we learned a little bit of VB.net but ESRI has moved away from vba in the last few years to mostly Python for geoprocessing.


Originally posted by ExtraSlow
My wife has been in the GIS field for 10 years now, and it's been very good for her. She didn't go to SAIT, she did the Degree ---> BCIT route. I know back in the day, BCIT's one-year program was very highly regarded, and you had to have a BSc to get into it. I have no idea how the different options stack up now.
I looked at the BCIT’s program but was heavily weighted in programing (which I suck at) so I went to SAIT instead! :rofl:

Mibz
04-09-2015, 03:20 PM
Originally posted by ipeefreely
Unless she’s super specialized (pipelines maybe?) Well you nailed that, haha. I seriously had no idea there were so many other "GIS" jobs.

ipeefreely
04-09-2015, 03:35 PM
Originally posted by Mibz
Well you nailed that, haha. I seriously had no idea there were so many other "GIS" jobs.
To only be able to work in Calgary, Texas and Alaska it was pretty easy to figure out! :rofl:

And nobody understand what I do either...

GIS Specialist... What?

Mapping... What?

Digital Cartography... What?

Kinda like Google Earth... ok, and they still don't have a clue what I do! :rofl:

mago0
04-09-2015, 06:30 PM
Holy shit. Thanks everyone for your input. I didn't think I would get such a response.


Originally posted by No Pulp
As for the student for a day, those are always awkward. I found the people that came to our class either came on a really bad day or had no intention of getting anything from it (playing on their phone). Good for you for at least trying to ask questions.

If you don't have any experience with SAIT, i would recommend it. I have 2 weeks left of my 2 year program and have enjoyed it. The teachers were top notch and I was much happier with the quality of education I received compared to UBC.


Hopefully some of that was useful?.

Yes that was extremely useful. I've been to SAIT before, and I'm currently working in health care. In fact, I'm actually in the same building, so it was a little awkward to see my old instructors. I'm planning on going all in on this program, so I wanted to be sure this was the right one.


Originally posted by Mibz
She says it's difficult to find work outside of Calgary, Texas and Alaska though. At least within North America. She'd likely have to change careers if we moved anywhere else.

That's alright. I'm planning on staying in Calgary.... maybe Edmonton :barf: Hopefully it doesn't come to that.


Originally posted by ipeefreely
I took the course back in 2004. From what I’ve seen it’s improved a lot since I graduated (not that it was bad when I went).

I do a variety of things every day: Analysis, cartography, data management etc. We have contractors who do software development and maintenance.

I'm not good with code but I understand enough to modify other people's to made it work for me! There's a girl who likes to code in Python in my team so she does any Python work that needs to be done.

If you want to get into developing GIS software you will need to know Python other programing languages, understand relational databases, Oracle, SQL Server etc.

I would love to get into GIS software, so I think I'll get a head start on coding now. I was looking around for jobs and I noticed a ton of these contract jobs. This is the only drawback that I'm currently seeing for GIS. I'm currently in a full-time position and I feel extremely safe (even with cut backs to health care). Am I just looking in the wrong places? or are there "safer" positions out there?

mago0
04-09-2015, 06:32 PM
Originally posted by ExtraSlow
My wife has been in the GIS field for 10 years now, and it's been very good for her. She didn't go to SAIT, she did the Degree ---> BCIT route. I know back in the day, BCIT's one-year program was very highly regarded, and you had to have a BSc to get into it. I have no idea how the different options stack up now.

I've been told that having a BSc background can really help you out in GIS. However, no one has really explained why. I imagine you take some sort of geography course in there.

ExtraSlow
04-10-2015, 06:17 PM
Well, I think in her case, that BCIT program had limited spaces, and they were positioning it as a "postgraduate" program.

mr2mike
04-13-2015, 08:21 AM
Originally posted by mago0


I've been told that having a BSc background can really help you out in GIS. However, no one has really explained why. I imagine you take some sort of geography course in there.

I've got a BSc in Geography. Reason would be that you get the basics of GIS and Remote Sensing.
Also there's some great geomorphology, physical geography courses that would better your understanding of the topographical landscape. Would the weather, oceanography, climate, soil, glaciation, etc courses help? You bet but probably only pull about 10% from each course to your overall future GIS career.

But I could see how a BSc in Geog. would help you become a stronger analyst and not just a monkey running the alogorithms.

This being said, I never went further for a Masters in GIS because I saw it wouldn't really better where I wanted to get.
As well, I work in oil and gas now. Nothing to do with GIS. I think I did a facility map and helped map out my old company's fields and game plan when it came to evacuations. This was ontop of the paid for ERP plan.

Some buddies in GIS spend their whole day geocorrecting images. I hope you like computer screens. ;)

stillworking
04-13-2015, 11:00 PM
My advice would be to do an in depth comparison of the program you're considering to the same program at other intuitions.

Compare all the information online, course outlines, learning objectives, technologies, etc.
I would also ask questions about who the instructors are going to be.

The program I'm in has grown far too quickly and is falling behind the competition.
If I were to do it again, I would have chosen BCIT.

oogaboogie
04-15-2015, 01:16 PM
I went through the SAIT Geomatics Engineering Diploma and then went on to specialize myself through the GIS Applied Degree program 2003-2006 and have worked with GIS since (Imaging services (LiDAR/aerial photo), Surveying, Environmental consulting, Municipality, Utility, Oil/Gas). Every job in the world can be assisted by GIS.

While the GIS program taught me a lot, the Geomatics Engineering experience taught me about the fundamentals of Cartography, Suverying, Image/data processing, AutoCAD, Drafting, Geodessy, Remote Sensing, etc that wasn't really covered in depth during my GIS program. I'm now taking my Computer Science Degree and minoring in Business Administration in order to round out my skill set. While knowing how to program is a great skill to have, as long as you're able to manipulate whats already created, you should do fine. Understanding databases and their relationships/system configuration, I believe, is more essential to know as that is what drives GIS maps/analysis.

As a GIS professional in Oil/Gas, I currently work with Asset managers, Surface/Mineral Land team, Construction team, Drilling team, Completions team, Facilities team, Remediation team, Production Accountants, Measurement teams, Operational Integrity, Health and Safety, Investors Relations, Legal, Supply Chain, all of IT, Field workers, and other groups. Basically you can apply GIS into any function as long as you have an understanding of what the group does and how you can visualize their data in an easy way. If you can automate the integration of tables and databases from one group to another (basically relate every asset to all the databases your company has), you're seen as a magician as other groups who try to relate databases struggle to even understand what the business needs and understand how this data flows into other groups' decision making.

If you like computers, art, science, innovation and business, then you'll love GIS.

I say take the SAIT course... its got great staff and is close to home.
In about a year they will also be teaching courses on UAV's with the advantage of also getting a UAV Pilot's license from SAIT (I'll be taking this).