Name: Matthew Norman
Year of graduation: 2013
Major: Geography
Minor: GIS
Current employment status:
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Employer: US Census Bureau
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Position: Geographer
What drew you GEOG/GIS/ENSP?
I was changing my major and was initially interested in
pursuing a career that would allow me to work with the environment.
What internships or independent research did you do as a
GEOG/GIS/ENSP major?
I applied to the Census Bureau during my first semester as a
geography student and received an offer for a summer internship. The internship
was extended several times and eventually I was hired after graduation.
What do you do at your current job?
The team I’m on now largely works
with spatial products for both internal customers within the Census and
external customers such as local partners and the public. These spatial
products are extracts from the MAF/TIGER database (MTDB) and are created
throughout the year, usually from a benchmark and sometimes from the live
database. I perform QC (quality control) for some of these products, such as
the TIGER/Line shapefiles (which are available to the public here: https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-line.html).
I am also now responsible for maintaining the software requirements
documentation for several products which are generated from the MTDB, and as
such I will be responsible for the QC of those products. Generally speaking, QC
involves comparing a shapefile, geodatabase, or table to the requirements used
to create it and the rules which govern the source data in the MTDB. It also
involves ensuring that the contents of the files generally look appropriate,
that fields are populated where expected or that spatial features exist and
appear well-formed.
Our team is also involved in the
development of new partnership software for partnership programs such as the
Boundary Annexation Survey and the Block Boundary Suggestion Project. The
software, known as GUPS (Geographic Update Partnership Software), is being
developed by a separate team and my role is to provide user acceptance testing
as a federal user. Testing is required for recently added features or
improvements to the software as well as for finding defects and testing those
which have recently been fixed. I use the software as if I were one of our
partners providing updates to the Census and I provide feedback to the development
team.
I also recently finished creating
the Geodatabases with ACS 5-year estimate data for 2010-2014 (data which become
available in December, 2015). The source data is provided to the public in the
form of summary files (delimited text files) with several other files used as
references for reading the data. I created a SAS script which reads necessary
information from several of those reference files and then combines the summary
files (the ones with data) into national tables grouped by overall theme. Empty
fields are identified by the script and are dropped, and corresponding entries
in the metadata table are dropped. The output tables have labeled fields and
GEOIDs (read: “geo IDs”) for matching data to geography. I used python scripts
to create the geodatabases and add the feature classes, metadata tables, and
data tables. The resultant geodatabases make it much easier for an end user to
create a thematic map using ACS 5-year estimate data. The geodatabases are
available here: https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-data.html
What recommendations would you make to current GEOG/GIS/ENSP
majors for career and academic success while they are still undergraduates?
Make an effort to learn technical skills now even if you
don’t think you’ll need them
Don’t put off searching for an internship. Your career is
already starting and it’s up to you to start off strong. You have so many
opportunities right now that may be closed to you after graduation.
What recommendations would you make to current GEOG/GIS/ENSP
majors for career and academic success after
graduation?
Take on greater responsibility. It will make you a better
person and a more valuable asset.
Ask questions and show interest in all aspects of your life.
What do you miss the most about UMD?
I would say I miss watching the seasons change on campus and
finally feeling like I belonged at UMD during my time in the Geography program,
but I live and work nearby and haven’t completely lost those things. Funny
enough, I miss all the time I spent in the computer labs in LeFrak. With the
passage of time I tend to forget the moments of frustration and what sleep
deprivation feels like... and I actually miss some of those late nights of
everyone in the lab going stir crazy together.
What are some of your hobbies/interests?
-HiFi audio, especially if it involves vacuum tubes and
comes as a kit that requires an evening or two of soldering.*
-Keeping my Oldsmobile running, despite it being slow and
ugly by most standards.*
-Video games, but nothing competitive or that requires me to
devote regular time to it.*
*To the extent that the responsibilities of adulthood and
marriage will allow.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The Census Bureau is hiring geographers right now: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/429956300/
