My name is Maggie Conroy and I created Data Lab Notes as my online project notebook where I write about and share information related to my own Data Science journey in the world of IoT.

I have been working in the Information Technology field for over a decade, with much of that time spent managing data. I began at an insurance company and helped to migrate an ancient database to SQL. From there, I took a role as a lead system administrator managing HP Unix, Red Hat Linux and Windows systems in a National Guard Data Center. Meanwhile, I also served as a Signal Officer for the National Guard responsible for planning and establishing wireless communications in austere environments for Infantry and Field Artillery units.

While working in the Data Center, I began working on a Master’s of Science in Data Science. During this program, I completed an internship at a telecommunications company in the Engineering department working with Radio Frequency (RF) Engineers and subject matter experts to analyze network quality and coverage.

After earning my Master’s degree in Data Science, I transitioned into Data Science as one of the first members of an R&D Data Science team embedded in the Engineering Department of an automotive manufacturer. This is where I cut my teeth on the end to end pipeline of IoT data—Building pipelines, managing the data after it landed and processing/modeling the data to provide value to the customer.

In my personal life, I move around quite a bit. I married a fellow military service member (though, I left the service quite awhile ago now) and we have lived in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, North Carolina and (currently) Okinawa (Japan). I have two children and a dog, Ghost. Sadly, Ghost had to remain with my in-laws in North Carolina due to the difficulty and expense of moving big animals overseas (especially to an island).

You can read more about my experience as a military spouse on the Society of Military Spouses in STEM blog.

This lifestyle has proven to be difficult, but not impossible, for building a career in Science and Technology. I have made some unique sacrifices, like spending 3 months 1000 miles from home, while 7-9 months pregnant to complete an internship. Or working through the first 8 months of the pandemic with 2 small children and a deployed spouse.  Or moving 7000 miles overseas, 14 timezones away from my team in the middle of a big work project (I spent a year attending 4am video conferences).

The sacrifices have all been worth it. I have had the great fortune of working with amazing people in the corporate world and in the military. I am extremely motivated and passionate about the power of technology, especially data science and IoT, to solve the big problems of the world and my mission with this blog is to help add value to this interesting intersection, empower/inspire/educate data professionals working in this space, and work with you to build efficient and sustainable IoT data solutions!

Please feel free to Contact Me or connect through the social links below!