I have spent a fair amount of time learning GIS in undergraduate (urban studies program) and applying those skills in local government/real estate development.

I have spent a fair amount of time learning GIS in undergraduate (urban studies program) and applying those skills in local government/real estate development. I have to agree with a lot of what he is saying. Many of the GIS skills I learned in ESRI during University pigeonholed me into the same few glorified data entry/basic spatial analysis roles. There are also a lot of people with this niche skill set, which makes getting these positions really challenging. There is an emerging field called Civic Technology that focuses more on building out geospatial applications for the public good. I hope more public policy/urban studies degree programs shift in this direction of building out tools for social change rather than learning the same few applications of ESRI ArcGIS.