Career opportunities for geographers

I’m studying in class 10th and geography is my favourite subject, I would like to make a career by pursuing the subject I’m interested in. Is teaching the ultimate career or are they any other career options in this subject, and what is the scope?

There are definitely very good positions that fit well with specialisation in geography. Mainly because we live on a planet with numerous countries and charting out their maps, their climatic conditions, and its influence on the lifestyle as well as economy of the region, the location of forests, rivers, etc., the people that inhabit the region and so on and these widen the career opportunities in the field of geography.

Some of the popular opportunities within the field of geography in India include:

• Economical geography
• Cultural geography
• Political geography
• Historical geography
• Tourism geography
• Regional geography
• Climatology and so on.

You can become a science writer or a travel writer for a magazine or newspaper. Preparing reports for the environmental impacts is a wide open field with tremendous job prospects. A geographer who specialises in climatology and meteorology has a vast scope of working with agencies like:

• National Weather Service
• News media
• Weather channel and other government entities.

Specialising in GIS (geographic information system) will get you a chance to work with city governments, county agencies, and other government agencies and also private groups.

If you have a science background like B.Tech/B.Sc, then there is more scope, but you have to do a one-year post-graduate diploma in remote sensing technology and geo information system/PG in geomatics, these are offered by:

• Mumbai University
• Sri Krishnadeviya University, Anantpur
• Scanpoint Education Research Centre, Ahmedabad
• MDS University, Ajmer
• Banglore University etc

You can refer site: http://www.gisinindia. com/directory/gis-training-institutes-in-india. Doing a masters level specialisation in this field will take you a long way, some of the institutes offering masters are:

• Masters in Geo Informatics is offered by Pune University
• Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (ISRO) in Dehradun,
• Annamalai University
• Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research, Pune
• Madurai Kamaraj University and
• Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics, Pune

Refer link, http://targetstudy.com/colleges/msc-geoinformatics-degree-colleges-in-india.html?recNo=10

Dept of Rural Development, Gandhigram ((Accredited with five star status)) offers a two semester PG diploma in spatial technology, and the eligibility is a graduate (Earth and Life Sciences) and any graduate who has studied mathematics/ statistics/ business mathematics/ computer applications as one of the subjects at +2 level or at graduate level.

The job prospects for geographers are becoming brighter with each autumnal equinox, but essentially you need to do an internship by which you will learn from the on-the-job experience and you'll have better employment opportunities. Additionally, the odds are pretty favourable that you could end up working for the agency where you take up your internship. All the best!

My son is studying intermediate 2nd year and will be appearing for a few competitive exams next year, can you explain a strategy to crack these exams?

Getting an entry into your dream career option is preceded by qualifying in a competitive exam with flying colours. Cracking the competitive exam has become extremely tough as there is a cut throat competition and one loses an entry by a fraction of percentage. Along with the preparation for the competitive exams, he also has to simultaneously prepare for his boards. Therefore, he will need to implement certain essential study habits with systematic and strategic hard work with absolute discipline.

The first step would be setting a goal, say a desired score (99%) or an order of rank within first to tenth, because it is said that if you want to shoot at the moon you have to aim the stars. Then set up a plan to achieve this by preparing a schedule to manage time appropriately.

Competitive exams have: Defined syllabus, questions repeat rarely, test memory, understanding and comprehension skills, questions are framed to test speed and accuracy at problem-solving; therefore, time management becomes critical. Improve reading speed, note taking speed and also develop concentration and memory skills. Get papers of previous years, which can thereafter be analysed to understand what exactly is being assessed in the exam. Practice solving these papers and to help better create three lists: headings of the three lists will be –

Solved correctly and quickly (list 1); Solved correctly but not quick enough (list 2); Could not solve correctly (list 3)

List 3 has the questions that need to start working on immediately, take help of teachers, friends, elders, etc. Questions in the list two is taking too much time therefore learn to increase your speed at solving them, just by trying to solve them faster, keep the speed high and keep practicing and do not worry if you go wrong. It is nothing but conditioning the brain to solve such questions at a higher speed.

Finally learn to first solve the list 1 questions, then go to list 2 and avoid questions which still remain in list 3. This strategy helps avoid negative marking if there is any and helps fair better in exams. If your not sure then better don’t answer to avoid negative marking.

Always keep the syllabus in view to cover all the subjects and first target the difficult subject and then the easier one. Keep upgrading general knowledge by reading newspapers, watching talk shows, etc. Take suggestions from previous achievers by joining a related forum online or take coaching sessions. Attend some group studies or preparative exams to help mould the vision and thought towards success. Visualize success frequently and be optimistic. All the best!!

By: Shehre Banu Kagalwala