Third Time’s a Charm: How this Serial Internship Student Shaped his Geospatial Workplace Skills and Experiences
From the beginning of his studies in Geographic Analysis in 2017, Cameron Martins had to work part-time jobs as Delivery Coordinator with The Home Depot and later as Customer Service Representative for this local municipality. To complete the program’s internship requirement, Cameron applied for over 50 program-related student positions such as Infrastructure Planning Assistant, Junior Transportation Technologist, Geographic Information Systems Technician, Land Use Planning Co-op, Junior Environmental Assistant, and GIS Data Analyst to name but a few. In the difficult employment environment of the first year of the pandemic, it took almost a year until Cameron at last secured an interview and ended up at the Ontario Power Generation’s Real Estate Services unit for an 8-month internship.
The bulk of Cameron’s work as GIS Developmental Student at the OPG consisted of updating existing real estate datasets for internal uses and external collaborations. Accurate and actionable information about their own assets is of critical importance for organizations in the public and private sector. This technical work also included coordinating with regional consultants with on-the-ground knowledge, providing the student with valuable insights beyond the confines of the computer screen. Additionally, Cameron was involved in several smaller side projects in the areas of environmental and public safety as well as commercial real estate, in which his geographic analysis and mapping skills were put to the test. The above map was included in the 2020 Darlington Nuclear Groundwater Monitoring Report published through OPG's regulatory reporting (external link, opens in new window) .
Instead of resting on the laurels of the successful placement in the energy sector, Cameron took an opportunity to gain additional work experience by immediately starting a second internship. During the fall term of his fifth year of study, he served as Geomatics Engineering Associate at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Similar to his tasks at the OPG, Cameron contributed to property management, though in this case the “property” data to be updated were for Ontario’s highways! At the end of this 4-month placement, Cameron moved to the private sector with a third internship as Geomatics Co-op Student with GeoVerra, a large surveying and geomatics firm.
Having completed his remaining course credits during these placements, Cameron was hired on a full-time permanent GIS Analyst position by his third internship host, GeoVerra. In the meantime, he has moved on to a Community Program Analyst position with a regional police service. This great variety of positions that Cameron has held over a span of just two years exemplifies the transferability of theoretical and practical knowledge in Geographic Analysis across industries and between public- and private-sector employers.
Despite many hurdles and extra time needed, Cameron is grateful to have gone through each of the experiences of his internship journey. He says: “ I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Geographic Analysis and hope to be able to one day assist the future students of this program as it provided me many opportunities for not just an interesting career but one that I am passionate about.”
