About
There are three parts to making a decision: analyzing the situation, developing a strategy, and implementing the plan. While all three are important, the first is by far the most critical. Think of it akin to firing a gun. Analysis is your process of aiming. Without identifying the target, adjusting for wind, taking into account the velocity and direction of the targets motion, and characterizing all of the other critical features of the aiming process, one cannot expect to accurately or precisely fire the gun to hit the target.
Analytics: Business, Investment, & Technology
This website is dedicated to the first part of the decision making process: the analysis. The mission is to evaluate important situations that we can extract value from. That is, when analyzed, data allows us to develop and implement a logical, well-informed strategy.
My hope is that the blog articles on this website will be interactive. I welcome comments and debate. All articles have a comments section using Disqus, where I invite you to voice your opinion. Last, feel free to contact me. The easiest way is via email.
Me
Welcome!
Hello! I'm Matt, and I'm a management professional with a background in engineering, sales, and data science. My profession is the Manager of Sales Engineering: I manage a Product Engineering Department and a sizeable part of the Sales department. I have a BS in mechanical engineering and an MBA from Penn State, and a masters in industrial engineering from Pitt. I live in Happy Valley with my wonderful wife. Outside of work, my wife and I most enjoy traveling the globe.
Throughout my career, I've recognized a value in data analysis. It first started with Excel, where I developed engineering calculations using data visualizations, statistics, and VBA programming. As I transitioned into sales, my competency in Excel helped tremendously. I eventually added to my toolbox, developing database applications in Access. The tools contributed to my career progression because they got results!
Eventually, my data needs outgrew the capabilities of Excel, and I stumbled down the rabbit hole known as Data Science. I began using Power BI and Tableau for communicating analytics throughout my organization, but this wasn't enough. I began using both R and Python programming for managing, visualizing, and most importantly understanding data. I took several courses to "level up", and I found that the data science tools were applicable to my profession (business strategy analysis and formulation) and my hobbies (financial investments). I hope to teach and learn from others as I grow in this amazing field.