Does the thought of vellum scrolls, quill pens, pots of ink made from berries that you gathered in misty woods, and traveling the world by camel seem attractive to you? Then cartography probably isn't your gig.

 

Wait...were we supposed to take a left? (Source)

Sure, that's probably how it happened in ye olde dayes, but—prepare yourself for a shock—things have changed a lot since then. Dried calf skin (yes, that's what vellum is) is no longer the preferred medium for mapmakers. Nowadays we have Google cars, GPS systems, and computer programs to find places for us. 

However, that doesn't mean that cartographers aren't needed anymore. Someone has to program those GPSs and gather the information to create those digital maps.

Yes, future cartographers, your dream field is still an essential part of life on earth (source). And, even better, the salary will keep you comfy. The average salary of a cartographer is about $57,440 (source), which is enough to pay for your modest dream home, drive a slightly used car, and take a nice vacation every year or two. With a salary like that, your hourly wage will be over twenty-five bucks, which is above the national average (source). Impressive, we know.

Cartographers are what you'd call versatile little hooligans (and by hooligans, we mean calm and peaceful artists and scholars). Cartographers work for universities, GIS firms, software companies, architectural firms, marketing companies, oil and gas mining factories, development agencies, and even the government.

As expected in today's technology-obsessed world, computers play a big part in a cartographer's career. No more wrinkled paper, stained notebooks, and fancy pens; now, it's all about the latest systems and software. You're going to need to know a lot about computers...and geography, geology, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and calculus, too.

So, surprise—cartographers aren't just nomads with long beards and thoughtful eyes. Along with a love for the job, they also have at least a bachelor's degree in cartography (or a similar field like geomatics or surveying), plus enough licenses and certifications to make all the cool kids wish that they were cartographers, too.

"But wait a sec," you're probably thinking. "I get that cartographers don't just make maps or whatever, but honestly...the earth has already been explored. Why do we need cartographers? Like, didn't Marco Polo and Amerigo Vespucci and all those guys do that stuff already?"

Well...yes. The earth's surface has been fully explored. We're not likely to find any new continents or lost jungles or anything. But even if we put aside the fact that cartographers these days don't just draw maps, mapmaking is still a necessary part of human progress.

The earth is constantly changing, from both the effects of Mother Nature and of humans. When a new road is added or changed, a neighborhood is built, or a new city springs up, who do you think is in charge of adding it to the atlas? And think of the future of cartography. In a few decades (or less), you could be mapping Mars. Or the bottom of the ocean. Or a series of underground tunnels connecting a collection of nuclear rebellion groups together.

And we're not the only ones who are considering these possibilities. Apparently the rest of the world is realizing the importance of cartographers, because the cartography field is expecting a big jump in job opportunities soon. Like, a 20% jump by 2022, which is way faster growth than average (source). Mind you, a 20% jump in a tiny field like cartography is more like a hop. There will probably be around 3,500 new jobs—total.

 

Better than a sunroof. Well, maybe not. (Source)

If there was one thing to complain about in cartography, it'd be the job availability. It's not exactly a super-popular job. However, its applications can be used in many different types of fields, which means even if you don't get a cartography job, you can still land a gig in a field similar to it—like geography or geology.

So don't just sit there; it's time to jump on the metaphorical magic carpet and fly off into a sunset packed with satellite positioning data and funny cars with mounted cameras.

Or you could, y'know, walk. But bring a map.

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