Tell us about yourself! What does your life look like outside of OPAIR?
I am usually found spending time with family (especially my teenage daughter), fixing old HiFi electronics, doing film photography, and house maintenance. Photography is my biggest hobby; I’ve been doing it since I was 15 and used to do commercial photography. I think film photography is the real art because you have to take your time and think about how you’re going to compose the photo. It’s much more interesting than digital because it’s all about finding the proper moment to create the image you want. I also recently started fixing old record players—I am fascinated by everything that is old!
What led you to a career with Penn State?
I got involved with computers through my work in photography. I had to find a way to store and categorize thousands of photos, so I began making catalogs on my computer to organize and label my photos. I didn’t know anything about computers, so I bought one and took it apart and learned some basic coding language. That got me interested in coding and programming. I was influenced by my hope that I will be involved with the latest technologies in industry.
As a Data Engineer, what does your day-to-day look like?
My day-to-day responsibilities involve working with data pipelines, ensuring data accuracy, and maintaining data architecture. It starts with morning logs. Almost every day, something breaks in the network, causing data transfer disruption. This must be troubleshot and corrected.
Afterward my day continues with assigned projects or tasks which usually involve designing, constructing, maintaining, and troubleshooting an organization’s data architecture.
Many tasks include:
- Selecting the appropriate technology stack based on the company’s needs and write custom code for necessary customizations.
- Developing secure storage solutions capable of handling large data volumes efficiently which is very crucial.
- Collecting and collating data from various sources, ensuring its accuracy and integrity during storage.
- Transforming raw data into more useful formats is essential. This might involve writing code to automate processes or leveraging machine learning algorithms to detect patterns.
- My goal is to ensure data flows smoothly from its source to its destination efficiently and securely.
- Interacting with databases such as Oracle, MS SQL, Azure, Postgres, MySql etc…
- Routinely developing ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)
- As the technology industry progresses rapidly, I must keep up to date with the latest tools, technologies, and best practices.
Do you have any particularly fond memories over your time working at OPAIR?
Every time I come up with new ideas on how to speed up work is a good day. Tasks that used to take users 2-3 days now take a few minutes or seconds to complete, and that is always satisfying.
Are there any upcoming projects you’re especially looking forward to?
My team has been working on updating ODI, which is a technology that was brought into Penn State in 2014. When we realized how tedious it would be to update ODI manually, we began looking into other utilities to expedite the process. With the solution we found, what once was going to take a year will now take only three months. I’m always trying to find easier ways to get jobs done; I’m always amazed by new technologies.