How can busy professionals learn GIS effectively?

Online platforms do contribute greatly to bridge the gap. The other way of learning GIS effectively is through mentorship. One needs to have a GIS expert to provide mentorship and have hands on experience in doing GIS projects

Online learning platforms like LinkedIn Learning in GIS can help. I'm an author there and encourage it. However, don't discount formal education as well. Pick a program that doesn't rush you through because GIS, like any language you don't understand, takes time to practice and learn.

GIS is rooted in spatial theory, which comes primary from the academic discipline of geography. The more geography courses you can take, the better GIS expert you will be. It's not just about learning how to click and move your mouse, it's also about mastering spatial concepts rooted in geography.

Real-world examples are great teaching tools. But so is failure. If you can tackle some safer real-world GIS projects but ones that safely allow you to fail in different ways, that can be the best teaching tool of all. I tell my students at the university that I want them to succeed, but if they fail in different ways, they can recover and its a safe place to learn.

Just don't get overwhelmed! It is so easy once you jump in to get bogged down by the larger communities online. One easy way to engage is just make connections here on LinkedIn and see what people are posting.

Pride can be a big inhibition to learning and attaining a skill. Showing vulnerability to those who are charged with mentoring you, or who you look up to professionally is both endearing and rewarding. It shows that you are willing to have honesty in the pursuit of skill. Simply asking “what could I have done differently?”, out loud if you struggled with a stat check, have fallen behind, or are just frustrated with your progress can yield some eye opening results. It is natural to feel defensive when faced with adversity, but dropping that guard and casually owning your trouble spots is a truly freeing experience.

Keep participating in online learning once you've mastered basics and more advanced concepts. No one has "arrived" in GIS and there is always more to learn. Take human and environment geography courses to boost your ability to understand complex spatial problems to offer the best GIS & remote sensing solutions to them.