Professional Experience Points
(Refer to forms EXP-W, EXP-P, and EXP-S in the application)
Minimum Professional Experience Requirement
The minimum qualification for initial certification is four years of professional experience in the area of GIS. An individual also will need to accrue 60 points in this area to meet the minimum requirement. Therefore, if the applicant has less than four years of professional experience but meets the 60-point minimum the applicant must wait until the 4-year (48 month) employment requirement is met. An applicant who has met the 4-year (48 month) requirement must still earn the minimum of 60 points.
Different positions offer different levels of points. More credit is given for GIS analysis and design experience, for example, than for data compilation or teaching.
Rationale
Job experience is the most important factor contributing to an individual’s qualifications as it allows opportunities to become skilled at the application of GIS technology to real world problems. Failures and successes in these contexts provide valuable learning experiences that, in turn, allow growth and expansion of skill sets. In addition, the professional working environment, where one is often working with other GIS professionals who have different skill sets and different experiences, provides opportunities to gain knowledge from one’s peers. Successes, failures, and access to mentors all form skill development opportunities in the working experience, and the longer one is exposed to these opportunities, the more one is qualified to address new problems. Therefore, four years of experience is the minimum number of years required for GIS Certification.
Completing the Professional Experience Section
This section will list all the jobs and professional responsibilities that the applicant had or currently has. The applicant should list the duration title, duration of employment, and percentage of time spent working in GIS on the EXP-W forms. The applicant should list all the experience that is relevant according to the parameters set by the section and explained on the EXP-P professional profiles. Only positions that have a GIS focus should be included while unrelated positions should be left off entirely. When the applicant has listed the relevant positions, they should complete the related calculations and determine their point total. If the total amount of experience points meets or surpasses the minimum point total, the applicant has successfully completed this section and may move on to another section.
The applicant will use forms EXP-W, EXP-P, and EXP-S to document GIS professional experience. Complete one EXP-W worksheet and one EXP-P professional profile for each position held. Each individual job will need to be placed within its own EXP-W worksheet. A corresponding EXP-P professional profile will need to be filled out to verify claims made on the EXP-W worksheet.
Organize the worksheets so that most recent position is listed first. List your next most recent position second, and so on until all positions have been recorded. This same order is duplicated for the professional profiles. The application is arranged so that two EXP-1 worksheets are followed by two EXP-P profiles. Then two more EXP-W worksheets are followed by two more EXP-P profiles. If claiming more than six positions, create and label additional EXP-W worksheets and EXP-P professional profiles as needed.
EXP-S will be used as a tally sheet for all the individual worksheets used. Points may be noted in ink or filled in using the form fields. The documentation that needs to be provided for verification is the employer letter.
Use the EXP-W experience worksheets, EXP-P professional profiles and EXP-S summary sheet to document your GIS professional experience. The Experience Point Schedule (next page) defines the points allowed for GIS experience in three different levels of technical complexity and one bonus level for supervisory or management experience.
Professional Experience Point Schedule
The Experience Points Schedule is broken down into three tiers with one supplemental “bonus” tier:
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Tier I: Points for years in a GIS position of data analysis, system design, programming, or similar GIS position.
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Tier II: Points for years in a GIS position of data compilation, teaching, or similar position.
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Tier III: Points for years in a GIS User position (an individual who employs the use of GIS technology but not in the capacities identified above).
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Supervisory Bonus: Points for years in a GIS supervisory or management position (points are additive to the other three positions, i.e. a GIS Manager who also manages the department would receive 25 points + 10 points per year in that position).
Examples of what GIS-related skills fall into each tier can be found on the Experience Point Schedule. This list is not all-inclusive. It is designed to give applicants an idea about what duties fall within each tier. When possible, do not simply list the duties performed on the EXP-P professional profiles. Applicants should go into more detail when claiming duties.
View the Professional Experience Section of the Application
(in .pdf form)
The EXP-S Summary Sheet
Summarize point totals from the Experience Calculation Worksheets. Minimum 4.0 years experience and 60 points from the Experience section is required for certification.
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