How To Become A Mapper: What It Is and Career Path

What is a mapper and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a mapper. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.33 an hour? That's $75,560 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMapperUS Average

Salary

5.9

Avg. Salary $75,560

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 5.04%

Black or African American 3.38%

Hispanic or Latino 10.99%

Unknown 4.85%

White 75.23%

Gender

female 40.34%

male 59.66%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a mapper

Explore mapper education requirements

Most common mapper degrees

Bachelor's

49.4 %

Associate

27.9 %

High School Diploma

8.1 %

Start to develop specific mapper skills

Skills	Percentages
GIS	28.49%
CAD Software	15.73%
Pipeline Project	9.91%
As-Built	8.33%
GPS	6.76%

Complete relevant mapper training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New mappers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a mapper based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real mapper resumes.

Research mapper duties and responsibilities

Create UNIX and LINUX shell scripts to automate data migration process.
Deploy maps onto Unix platform.
Work with a small team to map and program a product call OnPar GPS.
Map out utilities (water meters and manhole covers) with a professional GPS unit.

Prepare your mapper resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your mapper resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a mapper resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable mapper resume templates

Build a professional mapper resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your mapper resume.