Celebrating a Decade of Empowering Young GIS Professionals
For 10 years, the Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN) has encouraged newcomers to the GIS profession to build community, enhance their skills, and give back to those following in their footsteps.
“YPN was created with three core goals: to provide a space for GIS learning and skill building; to facilitate professional connections and community collaboration; and to foster leadership development through mentoring, speaking, and volunteering,” said Raquel Perez, Esri senior industry marketing manager and the founder of YPN. “For over 10 years, it has supported career progression from newcomers to seasoned professionals, often serving as a platform for mentorship and knowledge-sharing.”
What began as a grassroots program for Esri employees in 2015 quickly expanded into the broader GIS community through Esri events. Now, YPN—founded on the pillars of learn, connect, and lead—has nearly 20,000 members around the globe, 10 chapters across the United States, an ambassador program, established partnerships with professional organizations, and a robust presence at major GIS industry events.
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Esri’s Young Professionals Network (YPN) helps those who are new to the GIS field make connections and improve their skills.
“Over the past decade, YPN has evolved from an initiative inside Esri to a cornerstone of the GIS community,” said Perez, who remains a driving force behind the organization. “It’s not just a network, it’s a movement.”
The Genesis of YPN
The impetus for starting YPN was simple enough: An Esri director noticed at a conference that many young people were eager to make connections but perhaps felt overwhelmed by the process. So he reached out to Perez to see what to do about that.
She invited a handful of young professionals to share their ideas for what a networking group might look like.
“We wanted to get their perspective on what would be important to them,” Perez recalled. “A lot of the conversation focused on the fact that they were young, just stepping out into their careers, and had the opportunity to attend conferences but didn’t know where to start.”
For Esri’s next event—the 2015 Esri FedGIS in Washington, DC—Perez put together a set of professional development sessions and a networking event geared toward young professionals. Since then, YPN has ensured that every Esri event includes sessions and networking opportunities for young people and folks who are new to the industry to get oriented and build connections. At events with a trade show or expo, such as at the Esri User Conference (Esri UC), Perez staffs a YPN booth that people can easily find to ask career questions, get feedback on their résumés and portfolios, and mingle with other GIS professionals.
A Great Way to Envision and Build a Career
YPN’s growing presence at conferences over the past 10 years has given young professionals a stronger foundation for exploring opportunities and launching their careers.
“It’s really overwhelming to attend a conference when you’re in college or just starting out in your career. You hear all these presentations from people who have been in the profession for 10 or 20 years, and they’re talking at a really high level, and you want to ask a question but don’t even know how to approach them,” said Sophia Garcia, Esri’s equity and civic nonprofit lead, speaking from experience.
She has been attending the Esri UC since she was in college and got involved with YPN right from its inception, when she was just finding her footing in GIS. Garcia—who has worked for local government, nonprofits, small consultancies, and now a large GIS company—has leveraged contacts she’s made through YPN, other professional organizations such as the Geospatial Professional Network (GPN), and conferences to orchestrate her career moves.
“Via YPN and other events and organizations I participate in, I was able to see people who had jobs that were centered on the community or equity space, and talking to different GIS professionals helped me envision the kinds of positions I wanted,” she reflected.
Taylor Hawkins, a recent graduate of California State University, Stanislaus, who worked as a student assistant at the 2025 Esri UC, also sees YPN as a great resource for envisioning and shaping a career in GIS.
“I’m interested in the networking opportunities available through YPN to help me find a career path,” said Hawkins, who studied sociology, geography, and environmental resources, and likes how GIS can connect some of the more theoretical concepts of sociology. “I’m also looking forward to joining a chapter and having a community of other GIS professionals to help me keep up with what’s going on and point me in the direction of job opportunities.”
YPN’s Legacy, Today and Tomorrow
For anyone looking to develop their skills, grow in their careers, and meet new people in GIS, YPN offers a range of resources and events.
Local chapters—from California to Maine and Minnesota to Texas—hold regular in-person meetups to help incoming GIS professionals connect and build relationships with mentors. This is in addition to the YPN events hosted at every Esri conference.
The YPN Ambassador program—open to anyone who wants to deepen their involvement in the organization—offers three levels of participation. Participants can become a YPN Ambassador who purposefully engages with other members, a YPN Content Ambassador who publishes articles and blog posts relevant to the YPN and GIS communities, or a YPN Event Ambassador instrumental in hosting, attending, and speaking at YPN events. All three ambassadorships are eligible to earn contribution points toward the Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) certification—another way for GIS professionals to strengthen their standing in the field.
Those further along in their GIS careers can become mentors through YPN to help up-and-comers shape their careers and set themselves up for leadership.
“I look back on YPN’s evolution over the last 10 years, and I’m just amazed that we’ve been able to build something so special,” reflected Perez. “YPN has empowered thousands of people, built bridges across experience levels, and reinforced the power of community in the GIS profession.”
Perez sees YPN’s 10-year anniversary as a moment to not only reflect on YPN’s past achievements but also envisage how the organization will continue influencing the future of geospatial technology and leadership—an undertaking that is near and dear to Esri president Jack Dangermond.
“Maps and GIS play a crucial role in the management and evolution of our world, but this requires more than technology. It requires geographic thinkers—those who look at problems holistically, leveraging the science of geography to develop an understanding of how to create a better future for everyone,” he said. “The YPN community is so important for this future, providing an opportunity to learn from one another and share the knowledge we need to create a more sustainable world.”
YPN has empowered thousands of people, built bridges across experience levels, and reinforced the power of community in the GIS profession.
