Matt Kuckler (’17) is a double major in Geography with GIS and in Environmental Studies. In January he conducted a GIS internship for Assembly MN, a group of commercial retail consultants who operate in the southwest Twin Cities metropolitan area.
What were your daily tasks? Any special projects you were able to work on?
My daily tasks consisted of solving a couple of problems that were given at the start of the internship: to create a geographical database that represented the southwest metropolitan commercial real estate area and, secondly, to make the data viewable via ArcGIS Online and Excel to allow further customization of the data.
What was the highlight of your internship?
The highlight of doing this internship was being able to learn new skills using ArcGIS online and other programs that interface with ArcGIS to accomplish the job.
What skills did you gain?
Every day I had a different problem to solve which made every day a day of learning to accomplish the goals that were established. Specifically, I had to learn about ArcGIS Online and how to be creative with add-in programs and extensions to ArcGIS.
What advice would you give someone who is looking for or working in a Geography/GIS internship?
When you are looking for a job in this field, don’t be afraid to ask around. Most people are usually willing to guide you in the right direction. Don’t be afraid of going for difficult jobs/internships because it is experience that will push you to become a better geographer.
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