What is Launch?

Launch Consulting Group is a consulting firm with which I had the great privelage to work an internship at as a data analyst. Summarized from the video above, Launch is a consulting firm with the goal to “help you navigate in the age of digital transformation…”

There are a lot of different avenues the company takes, but my experience lies within the data analysis and data science teams.

What did I do?

As an Intern, I worked directly under Jared Endicott, the Advanced Analytics Manager. From him I was able to gain mentorship and learn all about the tools of data analytics. He guided me to be able to see beyond just the numbers, and I was able to gain important perspective about the possibilities data brings to us all.

My mentorship was mixed between independent learning and certification preparation, and duties to help other members of the analytics team with their projects. The main tool I was learning and using was Microsoft Power BI

Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful data visualization tool. Even with the training I have had and am still pursuing, there is still so much potential to be unlocked. You are able to turn data into opportunity by driving better business decisions through the capabilities of Power BI.

You are able to post dashboards, an interactive tool that allows users to track, analyze, and display KPI’s and metrics for the company. It is so easy for all members of a business to access this information when you have a dedicated data analyst preparing these dashboards.

Projects

One of the largest projects I worked on in my time as an intern was a Power BI Dashboard about GDP Inflation. With the world events happening in mid 2022, it was a large point of concern for many people, as inflation was spiking and people were worried about cost of living.

This project involved the collection of data via online resources. This was not limited to just a simple overall inflation, but the data for all categories and sub-categories, from types of food and shelter to entertainment and media. With all the data available online, we used a Python script to download them all into a workable file for Power BI to handle.

From there, I worked on a dashboard that would be drilled down into categories and sub-categories and see visually how time had affected things. For instance, anything grain related was heavily affected. The data didnt give us more than that, but we knew it was because the conflict in Europe had slowed down the export of grain from that area. What I found very interesting though is that even though Gas was also victim to the inflation rise, employees of Launch were mostly all remote workers, so it was of less concern for us than those who commuted to work.

It is moments like these that differentiate a hiuman from a machine. The machine only has the numbers, and tells us the facts from it with no context to anything else. One of my favorite parts of being a data analyst is figuring out and communicating the why behind the numbers.

Conclusion

I will always be grateful for my time at Launch. After my internship ended, there were opportunities for me to stay, but not doing what I loved doing with data analysis and telling the story behind the numbers.