I have worked for over 20 years in application development and data analysis. I have an 
, an MA in Political Science from 
(30 min south of Frankfurt, 90+- min north-west of Ramstein, depending on how fast you drive) and a few programming/IT certifications.
Apart from anything data related (I read NHL and golf stats, but have never been to a hockey game. And the Leafs are not going to make the playoffs. Again.) I enjoy finding solutions to problems, logic puzzles, pattern finding, coding and banging my head against the wall, also referred to as debugging.
What I have learned
- Nobody reads specs that are longer than page 20 3 pages
- There is always at least one end user in a department who knows how things work. Make him or her your friend!
- End users (whoever they are) make an application a success or failure
- Excel is not a database
- Being good in relational database design can be a problem when it comes to Dimension and Cube design. Unlearn normalization
- Security rules and procedures work better when they do not work against human nature
- One size does not fit all and tailored solutions provide the best fit
- Certifications require you to learn many features about an application that you will never use and by the time you actually may need one of them you forgot how to use it
- Being nice to your boss keeps you your job, being nice to end users makes your work easier and more productive
- Finding the Problem is the first step to step to developing a solution
- Finding the real source of a bug can be the toughest part of solving it
- No application is well tested until the users have a go at it
- Error messages are sometimes misleading, and so are line numbers
- You can re-read a document 10 times and then see a typo after you hit the ‘Send’ button
- A compiler is more reliable in finding errors than a spell checker
My Philosophy
- I am more interested in finding a solution to a problem rather than in a particular tool
- There are exceptions to every rule, which is why I usually qualify everything I say
- Everything is 80/20 or some other split, other than hindsight
- Excel is not a database!
- Everything should be made as simple as possible
- Stats do not lie, when they are based on good data
- Sample size matters, up to a point
Why this Website
- Learn new web skills
- Convince a person who is looking for a data analyst or analyticist (yes, I added this to the English vocabulary) that a company can benefit from using my skills and experience
- Make use of my registered domain name