u/Time_Mode7292

I just need someone to tell. I’m quite experienced with tech. I have a specialization in software engineering, an undergrad degree in CS from a top tier university, with another Major in Urban Planning where I even previously took a GIS course couple years ago. Ive studied intermediate level SQL, Programming, Numerical Analysis, etc. I’ve fixed computers and taught computer software (like MS Office) as a job (IT Helpdesk, GeekSquad etc). I was doing a technical assessment interview today for a GIS job I Really wanted. So I prepared like Crazy.

They said it’ll be on ArcGIS.

I use Linux myself. So I decided to practice it all using QGIS. I went in depth. Being a CS specialist (having taken intermediate courses on SQL, Python etc), I studied attributes table joins, merges, spatial joins, buffers, everything. How to write python expressions, etc. I reviewed till I fully understood everything, including projections, raster data and what not. I exclusively worked with shape files in QGIS but fully understood the different file formats, even .dbf, .prj and what they’re used for.

I spent the last 2 days before the interview with ArcGIS, basically know how to use it. All the concepts were the same. I was ready. With ArcGIS I decided to work with geodatabases and saving feature class in the .gdb files. After all, I had so much practice with shape files in QGIS. I was ready for an intermediate, maybe even advanced test.

I go into the interview. Naturally I’m nervous but hey I was ready. Easiest questions Ever. “Hide this layer, label that layer, create a layout with a legend”. The most advance thing was to use the Clip tool (literally the only non-Super basic thing). But then…

Early into the test: very easy working with layers, and then the question I got stuck on. “Save this layer as a shape file”. Easy, right? Data -> export…. And…. No shape file option? Uhm ok, I can figure this out. I click on browse, and try to change the file format, but shape file isn’t showing up in the list of formats. Ok, surely this isn’t That hard, I think. I change directories, and still, no shapefile option. The Only Option is geodatabase… I think, maybe I should name it layer.shp, but I know that even if you suffix the file name a certain extension, how I save the file format is what takes precedence, and the only format for saving was geodatabase. Maybe there is a separate button in the menu / ribbon for it? Nope. Maybe it’s in the right-click options? Nope. At this point I Am Shocked. How in the world is saving a shape file using ArcGIS NOT intuitive? I don’t want to risk naming the file one thing but specifying the format another, so I panic. Because I know if I do that and the files don’t open, it will mess up everything else. I save it as a feature class in the .gdb. Multiple questions pop up about saving layers as shape files. For all of them, I couldn’t do it, didn’t know how. I finished the entire interview, and not One shape file saved. I left a note on the questions saying “out oh habit I saved it as a feature class in .gdb since it’s cleaner, and that my data is there D:” I think I wrote I read to save it as shape files afterwards near the end. Idk

I look it up after the interview, frustrated. And turns out, it’s the most unintuitive thing ever. Apparently you have to switch directories, say you want to save it as a geodatabase but append .shp to the end of the file name. I went in not actually searching how to save as a shape file in ArcGIS because I thought it was intuitive, and that’s what messed me up. Intermediate / Advanced level knowledge, and yet I failed the most basic interview because saving as shape file is what I couldn’t do.

If only it was as intuitive as QGIS. Anyways, thanks for reading.

I work for city of Toronto. I oversee a facility. Toronto residents can take courses for fun to learn things at my facility and we also host camps for kids.

I help the instructors by setting up the classroom and directing the customers etc.

There is this really old lady instructor, call her A. I always thought she was a bit off, because when I introduced myself to her with my name, she said how it’s like the most common name in certain parts of the world, but she said it with a weird tone. I noticed, but I responded in a quite civilized way even though the convo got a bit awkward.

After all, she’s an old lady in the west and maybe she saw people with my name on the news and she didn’t exactly like it, and she was surprised that someone with that name is helping her now? lol

Anyways, she came in again and I was helping her organize the stuff she needed for her course.

As I finished, she talked about the US Iran war and said, if only US can just go in and do to the Iranians what Israel did to the Palestinians. Then she said what she meant was that Israel went in and peacefully did their missions with no innocent person getting hurt.

When I heard this I didn’t want to help her anymore.

Anyways, what would you guys do if you heard this and this old lady would likely come back seeking your assistance?