The Years Go Fast But The Days Go So Slow
Graduated from Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, MO. Not yet knowing what career path to pursue, inquired with both the Coast Guard and the Navy. I often think about the decision I made then, the signs I saw, and the ones I missed.
Joined the United States Navy as a nuclear operator. Completed intensive training at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC) in Goose Creek, SC, learning the theory and practice of industrial mechanical components for Machinist's Mate qualifications, before proceeding to learn the theory of nuclear power as practiced in the US Navy.
Completed prototype training in Ballston Spa, NY. The theory of operating a nuclear power plant becomes real in the form of the S8G power plant. I climb the cooling towers during a midwatch; I am leery of crow-zilla; I read the Antennas manual a half-dozen times on the john.
By summer I know my destination: Guam. In September, I cross the gangplank of the USS Houston (SSN-713), where I'll serve under and beside a number of men who are now legendary in my mind. I will stay here until I leave the Navy in 2010.
I return to Missouri and enroll at Truman State University, initially studying Computer Science. I join the agricultural fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho, and switch to Agricultural Science the following semester.
Unhappy with my career trajectory, I leave university to reassess my path. While delivering pizzas by night and barista-ing by day, I meet my future wife, the sister of the coffee-shop owner. During this time, I develop a strong interest in economics during a libertarian phase. I come across Milton Friedman and get off the train at the Chicago school. (I admire many Austrians, but could never get into Von Mises and Rothbard). Become a big fan of Alex Tabbarok and Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution blog. Decide if I go back to school, it'll be to study Econ.
Move to Kansas City with an Econ degree and a wife and kid in tow. Temporarily fill in as a mutual fund accountant for a multi-billion-dollar bond fund. Was in town when the Royals won the world series.
Move to St. Louis to land first real data job, acquired (I'm convinced) with the phrase, "I like to tell stories with data." In school I'd been strongly influenced by a professor, Rossen Trendafilov, who introduced me to the tools used for large datasets, specifically R. Until then, the problems around analyzing years-worth of second-to-second data had never occurred to me. Once they had, I would constantly think about how to model data so that it could be presented in a coherent way.
Had several foundational experiences at Unyson. They were in the middle of a huge system-level software cutover, while implementing new business on top of it. A tricky, fast-paced game to play, and not for the faint of heart.
If half the story is the people behind the data, then I found that half the story is sometimes cranky, fallible, confused, or unhelpful. It's important to bring some grace to work.
In fact, the job of BI Analyst is largely the art of giving people what they want, not what they ask for. That may have been the most important lesson of all.
The decree had gone out from Boston when I was at Unyson, that henceforth, "Data Science Is The Future." From speaking with personal contacts, it occurred to me that if those data scientists were going to build anything, then some data engineers would need to supply them the bricks and mortar. So I positioned myself closer to data engineering, becoming a software analyst for a streaming data team.
At Enterprise, I worked with some of the most talented engineers I've had the pleasure to know. They taught me most of what I know about Scala and operating with real-time data in a streaming environment. This was also my introduction to Java-like environments, and their many challenges and solutions. (which have challenges of their own, which have solutions, which have...)
This was a weird time for everyone, no?
I worked for Spectrum, helping them untangle some old Talend processes, then re-implementing them in an internally-built framework. Despite it only being a temporary position, of all the qualitative things that changed, I finally had accumulated enough XP to cash in a change in job title from "Analyst" to "Engineer." After years of modeling data in my head and planning out applications... I continued to model and plan.
I was pleased as punch to join this legendary outfit, towering giants in the St. Louis business world. Here I saw ERP implementations in new paradigms: from managing a corner of a gargantuan global concern, to being the beating heart of a mid-sized manufacturer.
There was growth, hope, potential! Morale was high, company loyalty even higher.
It'd be nothing but up, up, up into the blue sky from here!
Daugherty Business Solutions is acquired by CGI in a private transaction for an undisclosed amount.
Professional Skills
Personal Philosophy
The world is a creation of a loving, holy, just, infinite, and infallible God. Humankind, having sinned once for all in Adam, requires redemption. This was accomplished, once for all, in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, Son of God and one with the Father. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, and to that end Jesus left his living and active Spirit with humanity. The Spirit speaks primarily in the Word of God, contained in the canonical books of the Bible, and through our lives as living representatives of the Kingdom of God on Earth.
But here in the everyday world, what does all that spiritual mumbo-jumbo mean? Among other things, it means reason has been left to us as a tool to interpret the universe. The physical sciences and mathematics give us sure foundations by demonstrating that there are repeatable, explicable phenomena. Certainly it is useful to know why the planets move around the sun, what happens when water boils, why a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field produces an angular force, and that you can build based on those facts. This is another thing entirely than knowing innately how to apply these facts, or what lessons may be drawn from experiments with them (deductive and inductive reasoning, respectively). Most of all, as Richard Feynman said, science can only tell you what is likely. It's math that tells you what's true. But ah, which one can tell you what's right and what's wrong?
To answer that, we often turn to the social sciences, or the humanities, because Mankind is messy. We don't follow straight lines or predictable paths, but we do have patterns, both as individuals and at scale. Economics is the most useful tool for understanding the behavior of human systems. Much of that behavior is rooted in psychology, handy for understanding the components of those systems (aka the Human). These forces have impacted, and have been impacted by, the formation of human groups, and in such explorations, anthropology and sociology have valuable insights.
But in noting all this we briefly demonstrate: that one can study the world in depth and not arrive at right and wrong. For those, humans have to revert to stories: this was right in one context, that was right in another. We tell each other, through myths and factual retellings alike, what we expect, and what we value. Ultimately these collections of stories stem from one singular Story, the Word.
If you'd like to know more, surely you know someone in your life who is a Christian. It'd mean the world to them if you reached out and asked. At least, I know it would if that person was me.