Sandy Hulen

"Sometimes we choose our industry, and sometimes our industry chooses us." Sandy Hulen strongly believes that the geospatial industry chose her, and it has been an excellent fit thus far. She has been a part of the T-Kartor team since 2021 and is an integral part of our team. 

Sandy's husband sparked her interest in geospatial, and she began her career in digitizing land base for utility projects in Clearwater, FL. She eventually began working on production for numerous NGA projects at Pine Design Engineering in St. Petersburg, FL, including Feature Data (FD) stereo extraction and finishing; this enabled her to transition to Harris Corporation in Melbourne, FL, as a Quality Engineer.

Sandy was a Quality Lead on several NGA projects, including Image City Maps (ICMs, topological Line Maps (TLMs), Urban Feature Data (UFD), and Stereo Airfield Collection/Airfield Foundation Data (SAC/AFD).

While at Harris, Sandy earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida. Afterward, she took classes and tested to become a Certified Quality Process Analyst. 

Sandy eventually returned to West Florida and connected with her former co-worker at Harris, Michelle McCarty, who mentioned an opening at her new company, T-Kartor. Sandy knew of the name: T-Kartor was a subcontractor for Harris, and she knew Simon Bailey from her time at Pine Design. She decided to take on the job and jumped right into her role at T-Kartor; the transition was seamless with her background in NGA products and quality. 

Remote work has been a big plus for Sandy. Although there are moments she misses face-to-face interaction, she makes the most of her time each day and values working independently (while still having opportunities to collaborate with others).

Sandy finds T-Kartor's culture of valuing collaboration over competition refreshing. Everyone on the team wants to get things done efficiently and will reach out a helping hand whenever needed.

Sandy has seen the industry evolve from digitizing scanned paper maps to streaming imagery, along with many advances in software programs, and thus knows the potential for growth in the next decade. She anticipates many more integrations with AI and is curious to see how it will all play out.

If you're a geospatial newcomer, Sandy encourages you to learn as much as possible and spread your wings. Find your niche, understand what project types you like or dislike, and align that with what you excel at. You can also always enhance your background through education.

When Sandy isn't working, she spends time with her family and two standard poodles. She enjoys walking on the beach and playing piano. 

Sandy also values travel adventures. She loves going on cruises and visiting our beautiful National Parks; she even has a long-term goal of visiting all 50 states.