I am David Blackwelder

My data journey actually began when I was much younger, I read an article about a kid that used data analysis to predict outcomes for sporting events and was fascinated by that ability to use data to generate predictions. But when I barely passed AP Stats with a D grade in high school it crushed my hopes that I would be good at analysis. Throughout my 10+ years in sales I would always analyze my own performance and my team's performance and I would create custom queries to find a targeted customer base.

While I enjoyed sales because no two days were ever the same, it wasn't providing the mental challenge and stimulation that I desired so I transitioned to web development because I enjoyed solving problems and creating things with code. I was still missing something and I found myself more interested in how database modeling worked and how to connect databases. I was more interested in the data behind the website, user interaction and finding insights through querying the databases. But I still didn't consider data analysis as an option because of that AP Stats class that I barely passed way back in high school.

Then in early 2023 I offered to buld reports and Salesforce dashboards for my team and built custom dashboards for our sprint planning and day to day use even though my role and my team are not data analysts. I enjoyed it so much that I decided I would pursue data analytics as a career and earned my Bachelor's of Science in Data Analytics. Through that program I earned the CompTIA Data+ certification, the CompTIA Project+ certification, and the Data Analyst Nanodegree from Udacity. Due to my dedication to earn my degree and the skills I had learned from the Project+ certification I wrote a business case to gain access to my company's database to start putting my SQL skills to use in my current role.

This portfolio will host my publically avaiable projects to showcase my growth as a data analyst because I believe there is always something to learn and the journey never ends.