Brian Goodhue

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I graduated from SMC in May of 2012 with a degree in Mathematics and in Economics. At the time I had an internship with the actuaries at National Life in Montpelier, VT. The internship was helped in large part by my connection with the math department; an older classmate who had previously filled the internship put in a great recommendation for me and I landed the role! My internship turned into a “temp full time” position, and I was able to stay on board. Actuarial work was a great application of my math degree and I enjoyed working there, but after the summer of 2012, I decided I wanted to pursue something a bit different.

I changed jobs and worked as a Marketing Analyst for the Vermont Teddy Bear company in Shelburne. This introduced me to more data analysis and database work. After a year and half at VTB, I made a bit switch to work in Business Intelligence at Wayfair in Boston. This was a great opportunity and turned me onto a career that (a) I had never heard of and (b) I found I loved. After a year and a half at Wayfair, I have now moved back to Burlington and work in a similar role at MyWebGrocer in Vermont.

As a BI Analyst, I handle data extraction, transformation and loading to make information available to other parts of the company. The job involves all sorts of computer work, from SQL and Python to Microsoft BI programs. I find the job both challenging and rewarding.

My mathematics degree helped me post-college in a couple ways. First, my degree opened doors in Actuarial Science, Data Analysis, and Business Intelligence, three fields I hadn’t really considered before getting out into the “Real World”. Once in these positions, I was able to use skills I had picked up in school to solve the complex problems that came up. Identifying problems, finding “knowns” and then creating a plan to solve the problem remind me of many of my homework problems from school. My mathematics education taught me the framework for breaking down large problems and using the tools and resources available to create a solution. I believe my math background, my economics background and my complete liberal arts education have set the framework to allow me to succeed in whatever I choose to do.