Blake Barber Email & Phone Number

I have recently earned my level two GIS certificate from Austin Community College and hold a B.A. in Social Studies from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Previously, I was a high school teacher in the Austin and Houston areas for ten years. I have taught students from 14 to 18 years of age subjects from history and economics to college-credit psychology and geography. I view my experience as an educator fulfilling and essential in helping me hone countless skills such as communicating, writing, and collaborating with people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. In 2019, after years of teaching spatial thinking and other skills in my geography classes, I decided to leave the field of education to follow my passion of geospatial data. Since then, while being a stay-at-home dad, I have earned my level two GIS certificate from ACC, worked as a Geospatial Intern at the Texas General Land Office, and performed subcontracting and freelance GIS work in the energy and real estate industries. I have performed analyses and applied my cartographic skills using a wide variety of ESRI products and open-source software. I have not only enjoyed studying and making maps, but especially the analysis and stories behind each one. As I am a firm believer that we never stop learning, I am hoping to take the skills I have developed and further refine them with a dedicated team that has a passion for making our community a better place.I enjoy reading, cooking, mountain biking, playing games, and making up silly songs about my kids with whatever random instrument is laying around.Skills:- ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcMap, QGIS- Cartographic Design for Print and Web- Vector and Raster Analysis- 3D Scenes, LiDAR, Drone Mapping- Data Documentation/Metadata- Network Analysis- Workflow Development with ModelBuilder and FME- Web Map Application Programming (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)- Python and SQL