I just wrote a guest blog post for the Esri Young Professionals Network (I know, I’m neither young, nor professional) about my job at Esri (UX design, cartography, and education), what I did before that, and then I carelessly toss around some advice. If that sounds like a 3 minute read that you’re interested in, you can find it here: https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-young-professionals-network-blog/gis-career-pathways-cartographer/ba-p/1651451
Love, John
