While every role here at ALK is extremely important we would not be nearly as dependable if it weren't for the accurate data provided by our GIS team. Thanks to incredible leadership and hardworking team members all of our customer's expectations are consistently met.
Mike Farrell is just one of the integral leaders of the GIS team that continue to show initiative and encouragement. Mike's team has grown to 7 members here in the Princeton office and 10x that many over in Chennai. While Mike’s team has nearly doubled in 2018, as far as his leadership ability goes, he has not missed a beat. When asked why Mike feels what he is doing is important he replied, “We like to pride ourselves on how accurate our data is and we are the ones that make it all happen”.
When commenting on his own leadership abilities Mike stated, “There are a lot of moving parts and each person on my team has their own way of working so adapting and accommodating each style has been a huge adaptation for me.”
ALK is dependant on the GIS team and all of the data that they pull. It is no surprise the success they have seen when there are leaders like Mike Farrell to look up to.
Questions & Answers
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Why do you feel what you're doing is important? I feel that our department, and more specifically my team, is the backbone of ALK. We like to pride ourselves on how accurate our data is and we are the ones that make it all happen. My team specifically, is responsible for preparing current county and state data that will then get conflated against our road network data. This is then sent to our teams in teams in Chennai to be worked on and then incorporated back into our data, enhancing our geometry, address, and street name data.
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What kind of experience did you have before starting this position? When I had started at ALK in 2014 as a GIS Technician, I had some prior experience with GIS through college coursework and more extensively working with the United States Forest Service for a year and a half. I had no prior experience working in the transportation industry or with GPS software/Tech.
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What is your favorite project that you have worked on? How has that project affected the company? I have had the opportunity to bounce around to a number of different projects within the GIS department but I would have to say that the current Conflation project is my favorite. There are so many moving parts and working with this team fun, challenging and rewarding.
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How would your coworkers describe you? Laid back and easy going.
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What has been your biggest learning experience while working here? What I have learned the most while working here is how to stay organized and manage a team. For the past year, I have been working with the Chennai support team and the conflation project. Our team has grown to 7 members here and 10x that many over in Chennai. There are a lot of moving parts and each person on my team has their own way of working so adapting and accommodating each style has been a huge adaptation for me.
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If you could pick a new skill in this instant what would it be? JSON, Python, or any other programming language
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What is the nerdiest thing you do in your free time? Research and watch videos about repairing and rebuilding bike components and planning trips
If you are interested in becoming part of the ALK team, check out our careers pages. We are hiring >