Young Alumna Makes Data Make Sense

Like a lot of college students, Maddie Dierkes, ’19, ’21 M.S., said she came to Rockhurst University not knowing exactly what she wanted to do.

She arrived planning to major in computer science, but it didn’t quite fit. She took mathematics courses, too, and “floated around” while looking for what clicked with her.

It wasn’t until her junior year that everything started to fall into place. Dierkes said she had an internship as a pricing analyst for YRC Freight that opened her eyes.

“I learned that I loved the type of problem-solving that came along with analytics and that there would be opportunities in all types of industries,” she said.

Using that newfound clarity, she switched her major to applied mathematics and economics. Throughout her undergraduate and graduate experience, she said she had help from faculty members who encouraged her to follow those interests and who pointed her in the right direction when it came to deciding what she could do with her skills.

“Laura Fitzpatrick (Ph.D., professor of economics) was so helpful in helping me figure out for myself what I wanted to do as I was a definitely a little lost in how to utilize what I was learning,” Dierkes said.

Most recently, she’s utilized her skills at Playfair Data, Kansas City-based data analytics consulting firm — a job that caught her eye on LinkedIn as she was finishing her master’s degree. There, Dierkes is part of a team that takes often complicated raw data sets and helps companies get the most of them. For Dierkes, that means spending a lot of time in data visualization software Tableau, helping build dashboards that provide valuable insights for companies and clients, as well as sharing expertise.

For someone who spent so much time as a student trying to find a way to put together interests from different areas, she said it’s been good to finally make the pieces fit in a way that flexes her creative side, too.

“There is so much more that goes into creating a good visualization than I had ever realized,” Dierkes said. “I have learned so much very quickly here. I have really grown in both the technical side of Tableau and in the fundamentals of creating a good data visualization.”