Name: Nikolajs Timrots
Year of graduation: 2014
Major: GIS
Current employment status:
Employer: Prince George’s County Government, Department of Public Works & Transportation, Transit Planning Section
Position: Engineer Tech II
Did you/do you currently go to graduate school?
No, but I am looking into going to graduate school. Most likely Urban Planning.
Why did you want to be a GEOG/GIS/ENSP major?
I wanted to be an urban planning major, but since UMD does not offer such an undergrad, and I’ve always loved geography, I figured it was the next best thing. I selected GIS, as opposed to GEOG, because it offered more toward my skill set, and more opportunities for jobs. It has come in handy at my current job, as GIS is a hot topic at my office, and not many people have any experience with it. I also figured it would be more fun to try and explain to people what GIS is, because explaining why I chose to “study maps” wasn’t enough, As an added bonus, “GIS” sounds more impressive than “Geography” to many people.
What internships or independent research did you do as a GEOG/GIS/ENSP major?
In high school, I interned at a local government Parking Department, where I assisted with planning of county-owned parking garages. I spent two summers and one school year there.
At UMD, I had a job at Shuttle-UM throughout my college career, where I worked my way up from a bus driver, to Operations Planning Assistant, to Operations Planning Manager, to Operations Supervisor (full-time). While this may not sound geography-related, transportation (specifically, transit) was always a field I was interested in, and GIS certainly came in handy. I got first-hand experience in the operation of a working transit system, and was able to apply many of the skills I was learning in class, and vice versa.
I was also fortunate enough to obtain full-time employment with Prince George’s County, my current job, and apply it as internship credit toward finishing my degree. GIS has been invaluable here. I am one of two people in my office that have any experience working with GIS, and am in the process of starting a GIS program. We will be getting our office’s data up to date on the county-wide GIS database, which will help us better serve our customers as well. This will help us keep up with ever-changing Title VI (transportation for minorities and low-income persons) requirements, which are very important in the transit industry. We will also use GIS data to store information about bus stops (shelters, trash cans, lighting, sidewalk availability, etc.), catchment area (areas served), & frequency of service in an area, among other things, to improve our product
What recommendations would you make to current GEOG/GIS/ENSP majors for career and academic success while they are still undergraduates?
Make friends, and more importantly stay friends/keep up with them. Same with co-workers at your internship. It’s a small world, and odds are, you’ll be working with some of them somewhere. When you’re a manager or your friend becomes a manager, you want someone you know and trust, just like buying a car from a friend is better than from a stranger. Networking is huge! It really is largely about who you know, and knowing more people will put you a step ahead.
What recommendations would you make to current GEOG/GIS/ENSP majors for career and academic successafter graduation?
1) Train, train, train. The more qualifications and credentials you have, the better you look to your boss and other potential employers. 2) Do things you’re not 100% comfortable doing, it’s how you learn new things and become more versatile, which looks great to your boss, and makes you invaluable. 3) Keep networking- that boring meeting might be the place you have a chance to meet and chat up your future boss, future co-worker, future business partner. Just knowing a name can make a huge difference. Have an elevator speech ready. 4) Document everything you do at work. This will come in handy when performance appraisal time comes around, as well as when you are updating the resume.