Experience
The A.R.N.O.L.D. Project
Founder (January 2023 - Current)
The Aerial Restoration of Nature and Open Land with Drones Project is my primary money-pit project. The main tools I've used as part of this project include OpenCV, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and I also work a lot with Raspberry Pis (and therefore, Raspbian). The ultimate goal of this project is to automate the litter collection and recycling process through the use of specialized drones and computer vision technology for a faster, safer, and more efficient process.
I was named a finalist, and finished third, in MNSU’s primary entrepreneurship & venture competition, the Big Ideas Challenge. As part of my admission into the competition, I created a comprehensive business plan, cash flow analysis, and sales projections for the company, before finally delivering a pitch in front of a live audience and panel of judges.
I encourage you to check out https://www.thearnoldproject.org/ for more information.
Southwest Small Business
Development Center
Technology and Business Development Intern (May 2024 - January 2025)
Overview
• Created PowerBI Dashboard to track SBDC funding sources, business development statuses, contractor and organizational objective progress, and the service effectiveness of the SBDC for organizations within Blue Earth County. This dashboard was presented to SBA and state officials to justify the funding we receive.
• Worked with local organizations and educational institutions to support the development and application of various information technology for small businesses in Blue Earth and Nicolette counties.
• Offered guidance to small businesses on utilizing emerging technology (such as AI) among other various technologies that would help support their overall business objectives and use cases.
Maverick Software Consulting
Business Analyst Intern (May 2024 - January 2025)
Overview
• Aided in event coordination for the Thomson Reuters Microsoft Power Platform workshop.
Created a company-wide SharePoint site hosting site pages for users to understand & utilize these applications.
Answered questions, provided guidance for users, and would troubleshoot user issues during walkthroughs.
• Developed PowerBI dashboards to track department software management updates, assignments, and efficiency.
• Created department event calendar, tracking and managing various software change updates & communications from Microsoft pipelined to users.
Thin Film Technology Corp.
Business Process Coordinator (May 2022- March 2024)
Overview
Primary responsibilities:
Created and maintained project documentation (Statement of Work, Project Plan, etc.).
Delivered clear and consistent communication to project stakeholders throughout a project’s life cycle
Performed systems analysis and design when refactoring existing systems, and creating new ones.
Assigned to the "Red-Alert" Response Team established to resolve a "Red-Alert" (business-critical issue) within the organization's ERP, resulting in incorrect shipments being made.
Aided in data analysis tasks used by Procurement and Sales in weekly forecast meetings for the company
Communicated project plans, timelines, statuses, and significant updates to project stakeholders
Created, maintained, and completed project documentation (e.g. Statements of Work, Project Plans, & Data Maps)
Presented project plans for the user permissions project to management, leadership, and company ownership
Hosted numerous company-wide meetings, presentations and trainings
Project Lead assignment highlights:
PCN / EOL Customer Notification Process: Managed the restructuring of the external customer notification process to achieve compliance with JEDEC standards, provide an improved method of record keeping, and to solidify department responsibilities within the process.
PCN: Part Change Notification | EOL: End of Life (Notification) | JEDEC: Specific to the JEDEC standards J-STD-46 & J-STD-48
New Part Number Creation System: Developed the system used for requesting and approving new part numbers in the ERP using PowerApps.
Purchase Approval System: Designed, developed, and implemented an organization-wide purchase approval system using PowerApps and leveraging Teams Approvals, Shared Channels, and built-in permissions.
HR Forms Development: Created comprehensive onboarding, offboarding, and position change forms to improve communication between the HR and IT departments, and to better maintain the company’s UCL.
Helpdesk Analytics: Performed data analysis on the effectiveness of helpdesk processes and effectiveness, tracking agent performance, frequent issue types, and other metrics, then presenting that data weekly to company personnel and management.
Sales Analytics & Forecasting: Developed a data consolidation tool using Python in support of a PowerBI sales analytics and forecasting dashboard. This program would take all the data provided by Sales (~25 Excel WBs) on a weekly basis, and output it into a single Excel file, formatted correctly, which was the main connection for the Sales Analytics & Forecast dashboard.
User Control List Maintenance: Created and modified existing SharePoint Lists & Libraries, along with supporting automations, to establish a better method for assigning, logging, and maintaining employee permissions.
Quality Records Database: Revised the procedure for creating records of documentation for the Quality Assurance department, primarily involving the creation of a new central database in SharePoint, transferring all records over from IBM Notes (sunsetting it), and training Quality Assurance personnel on this new procedure.
Staples
Certified Tech Associate (July 2019 - November 2020)
Overview
At Staples, I worked with a wide age group of people who made every day at work amazing. At Staples, I had monthly & weekly sales goals to meet in the form of market baskets (amount of money added on top of the original item being purchased) and ESP sales (protection plans and services sold). The majority of my job revolved around helping customers with tech questions and problems, physically and over the phone. Often customers would bring in computers where I would have to diagnose, explain what I found, and fix their device. During this, I would have to manage other customers, and document work orders and what I did to fix the problem. I absolutely loved it at Staples, but retail sales is definitely not for everyone. I didn't make commission, which I feel is also important to add.
From working at staples, I gained a lot of important professional skills, along with life skills from my time at Staples. I learned how to work well as a team, a sizable amount of useful things you can do with computers, and most importantly how to work efficiently. I was also the inventory guy for tech, meaning I restocked the shelves off of the items we got off of shipments. Check my resume for the full list of skills!