Hi there! I’m Ben.

As a data scientist, I strive to help people and businesses make data-informed decisions. I think that being data-driven is great, but being data-informed is even better. This means that decisions are guided by both data and trained intuition.

As a software engineer, I create tools that enable people and businesses to solve the challenges they face. I am passionate about solving problems with code that is clean, functional, tested, and does what the client requested.

I have eight years of professional experience as a geophysicist in the upstream oil and gas industry. I hold both Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in Geophysics with minors in History and Business. My experience has made me very comfortable analyzing terabytes of structured and unstructured data, working in collaborative and multi-disciplinary teams focused on problem solving, and making multi-million dollar investment recommendations to upper levels of management To see more about my professional history, checkout my resume.

I also have 20 years of mostly self-taught programming experience going back to my middle school days when I started creating math programs on my TI-83+ graphing calculator. Since then, I’ve gained experience with Python, C++, FORTRAN 90/95, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with Python being my primary tool of choice. Checkout some of my recent projects on my portfolio page.

My guiding principles are:
Simplicity over complexity. Only add complexity as needed. Choose interpretability when possible.
Over-communicate. Check-in often and ask questions. The only bad question is the one left unasked.
Collaborate and include. Science thrives best with diversity of thought.
Under-promise and over-deliver.
Data is only as reliable as the manner in which it was collected.
Foster an environment where intellectual curiosity thrives.
First, make something that works. Then make it better.
Test, test, test.
Ask for feedback.
Listen actively.
Have fun, and do good.

What can we achieve together?