Learning ESRI Geography programs?

Question

i am going for a masters in geography and am going to take the cartography, gis, and remote sensing courses that all use ESRI Arc programs. I have no experience in anything and was wondering how hard they are to learn?

Answer 1

I work with GIS tools over ten years; and I am using ArcGIS 9.2 at this point.  If you are computer savvy and have IT background, basics of ArcGIS is rather easy to learn.  ArcGIS is more than creating maps, it also deals with data and ArcObjects programming (besides many other).  The best way to learn is from this book:

Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop: The Basics of ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo Updated for ArcGIS 9

ISBN-10: 158948083X

This book will help you to understand the ArcGIS application step by step with nice pictures.

After you have been introduced to ArcGIS application, look how to enhance your skills and knowledge of this software and learn how to increase its power.  Here are additional books that you will find useful for you MS and in GIS generally:

Getting to Know ArcObjects (With CD-ROM)

ISBN-10: 158948018X

Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS

ISBN-10: 1593852002  

Mastering ArcGIS with Video Clips CD-ROM

ISBN-10: 007299987X

Good luck and don’t forget to check ESRI website for help, references, white papers, discussion, code exchange, and training.

Answer 2

I have been using them for 5 years and I can say it depends on how you want to learn. If you are a programmer you are going to be in top of the class with in a month. If you have no idea of programming you can still work hard and use the wizards and tools to manage the same things. So don't worry you will do good even without any experience. If you need help email me :)