Note: We needed Kate a long time ago. Leslie Sage, our Director of Data Science, was putting in heroic hours to keep up with the onslaught of new DevResults users that have come on board in the past year. We knew it wouldn't be easy to match Leslie's work ethic and street smarts. We were lucky to find Kate, who is just as comfortable wrestling with spreadsheets and databases as she is traveling to the far corners of the earth. I'm excited to welcome Kate to the team! Herb Caudill, Founder & CTO
I wasn't looking for a job when I came across DevResults' announcement. There were two things about the position that called out to to me: data wrangling and making a difference. I’m a data geek; I believe in the power of data to have a huge impact on the decisions we make and, thus, on the world we live in. And DevResults seemed like the perfect place to do both.
Before DevResults
I didn't set out to have a career in technology. My master's degree is in English and Writing; I've taught freshman composition at universities, and worked as a writer and editor. In between things after a move, while temping at a call center, I ended up overhauling their data management system — which consisted of spreadsheets scattered across different computers — and thereby backed into the world of databases.
What started as a solution to a specific problem developed into a whole new career. I eventually went back to school at Syracuse University to get a Masters in Information Management around the time they began offering a Certificate of Advanced Study in Data Science. I knew I was in the right place when, at the grad student orientation, my database instructor Susan Dischiave stood up to introduce herself and said: “I want you all to repeat after me: It’s all about the data.”
And while I loved all the database, data analysis, and data management stuff I was learning, I also developed an enthusiasm for teaching and training. I worked as a research assistant in curriculum development, developing online learning pathways to retrain U.S. veterans for the IT workforce and helping to develop the iSchool’s first self-directed technology learning course.
After graduation, I worked as a database architect at a large financial services company, supporting a monitoring and alerting middleware platform, creating custom dashboards, and helping to architect and implement a large events processing platform. In my spare time, I also co-taught an undergraduate Intro to Databases class.
At DevResults
People might think of data scientists as statistical quant-heads, but that’s not me. I'm energized by the big picture, and by design and architecture: wooing systems into doing things we want them to do, focusing on good quality data from the start so that whatever analysis occurs can be considered solid and sound.
I like to think of my job here as solving data problems. I'll be helping clients really understand what their data needs are vs. the data reality they already have, getting them set up with a DevResults site that meets those needs, working with our engineers to tweak the software as necessary, and helping our clients get the most out of our product through training and support. For me, this job is an ideal combination of data and teaching.
Outside DevResults
When I’m not at work, I’m typically trying to maximize my outside time. I’m an avid hiker, cyclist, and traveler and a huge advocate for local food economies. I do a lot of my problem-solving when I’m walking or hiking, so if you see me wandering around outside the office, odds are that I’m chewing on a client issue. Or I got hungry.