Ryan Robitaille

Coming off the excitement of my last post about writing a simple bare-bones python usage of Tableau’s brand-new Data Extracts API from version 8.0 – I figured that it was time to build on that. Let’s take a step forward and get a little more complicated – AND a little more useful…. Let’s do this.

Data Party! Most people focus on search.twitter.com (or automated pulls from their API) for data collection regarding the “pulse” on a particular topic or brand – they often overlook the fact that the public Facebook timeline can be a useful source of data as well. I’ll show you how to harvest it and store it in a database of your choosing for later analysis.

It’s interesting, the types of data conversations you have with people when discussing a unique project like MetallicAnalysis. You’re trying to show things in a different way and get as deep as possible, BUT never want to get too lame or “tech-y”, else it loses contact with the actual subject matter and begins to make less sense. Numbers are cool, but numbers that ACTUALLY FUCKING MEAN SOMETHING to the average fan / person are way cooler…

Let’s be honest – I’m a data guy. “Geek” to be more exact. But, I’m also a sports guy – and if there is ANY sport out there that prides itself as being massively data-centric… its Baseball. Data goes with baseball like Barry Bonds and… um, Home Runs (yeah, that’s it). Data collecting is an […]

Just a recent article I wrote for the C&C Computer Solutions site / blog. Great stuff. Here’s a bit of the intro, but for the MEAT of it, you’ll have to go to the C&C site and read it yourself…

Anyone who has ever dealt with the mortgage software package “Encompass” from Ellie Mae – from any kind of support / IT standpoint knows the pain. It just… well, doesn’t behave as you would assume. Seemingly simple things (from an integration / workflow standpoint) just don’t play nice, help in the web forums is laughable, […]

Business Intelligence. I hate the term as an IT buzzword. So sick of hearing Business Intelligence-this, Business Intelligence-that, Business Intelligence-expert-my-ass. But, hate it or not “Business Intelligence” shiz isn’t going anywhere – in fact, its been here in one way, shape, or form since the first caveman traded a sharp rock for some unsanctioned cave-nookie.

I think that ‘data wrangling’ takes a special kind of problem solving mentality. Keeping data current, cleaning it, merging it, aggregating it, and creating summary (or data warehouse) tables for reporting purposes… For MANY years I used Express installations of SQL Server 2000 as my ultimate data Swiss Army knife. It was like a secret […]