Shondra Kapuaakoakoaokamoanaokalani Kam Grenz was born in 1981 and was raised in the 80’s. Her parents are from Hawaii and have lived in California since the 70’s. She is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, and Irish descent, and was raised on Hawaii with Hawaiian values and culture.
She works for Esri as a Geographic Information System Support (or GIS for short) Desktop Analyst. She loves photography and takes photos of people as a hobby.
“Being able to capture the aloha in people and families is a magical moment.”
She is also passionate about environmental issues because while in school for her BA in Environmental Studies, it has shown her that there are lots of things wrong in this world that can be fixed or at least cared for, to improve it for the future generations.
Let’s go chat with her!
Interview Notes:
Timestamps:
- [2:11] – GIS Analyst- What Shondra does for a living
- [3:29] – Helping people use software – Working as a support analyst at Esri
- [6:10] – Problem-solving – What kind of support Shondra gives
- [10:45] – Having the State of Alaska as the biggest customer & what the customers use Esri’s software for
- [13:44] – Connecting the world using spatial information – What is Esri?
- [14:44] – What a day at work looks like for Shondra
- [18:50] – Learning more about your own personality – Shondra’s study period
- [25:44] – How to get a job at a company like Esri
- [27:33] – Getting scholarships while working at Esri & how it is to work there
- [34:06] – Books recommended by Shondra
- [35:32] – Cool resources & how to learn more about the company Esri
- [40:04] – What the future for people in mapping looks like
- [44:47] – What advice Shondra would give to her 18-year-old-self
Books mentioned in the interview
- The Hunger Games novel series by Suzanne Collins
Links and other useful resources
- Here is Esri’s homepage, that has educational courses that you can take, and information about the Esri User Conference events that Shondra mentions in the interview.’
- Still wondering what a GIS Desktop analyst is or how to get a career as one? See Environmental Science‘s article on How to Become a GIS specialist!
- See this article by the National Geographic Society on what a GIS is and what it is used for!
Videos
Here’s a video of a day in the life of GIS analyst and cartographer Wesley C.
Here’s a tutorial video with GIS analyst Chris Goranson on the basics of how to create a kernel density surface using ArcGIS Spatial Analyst. Interesting!
We hope this episode with GIS analyst Shondra was useful to you! Let us know in the comments below if you want to learn more about what a GIS analyst does for a living or how to become one!
On 99 Career Options, you can even have a live webinar with GIS analyst who personally will help you on your path to becoming a GIS desktop analyst!
Until next time! 🙂
Leave a Reply