Frank Wan
Class of 2022
Hometown: Nanchang, China
Undergraduate University: Castleton University
Class Year: 2020
Major/Minor: Business Management, Marketing/Statistics
Employer: Amazon
Position: Professional Services Consultant
How did your professional experience influence your decision to get an MSBA degree?
I had an internship as a product manager, where I was gaining more professional knowledge about product marketing. I was using statistical methods to conduct hypothesis tests, but once I collected the data, I did not know how to visualize it or present the results in the correct way. When I started my full-time job as a marketing assistant, there were new tools I was exposed to SQL, Alteryx, and Tableau, and did not know how to use them. I tried to self-teach through online learning websites, but I did not feel that was enough, and I wanted to pursue a degree at a higher level.
What are some real-world applications of the skills you're learning?
I did a project for my database management course, and I worked on a project for one of my professors as part of my Graduate Assistantship. I had never done a practical project before in an academic setting, and there two experiences gave me a lot of insights into the real-world way of business analytics. When I was interviewed by different companies as part of my job search, they always asked me about these projects—what techniques I used to design them, what tools did I use, what were the results that I concluded? I knew how to answer every question because of my hands-on experience.
How will this degree set you up for success in the future?
I want to learn more about programming, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, and this degree gives me the confidence in self-learning and guidance. I feel that the topics and tools I've learned can translate into a more technical job, and if I choose to pursue a more managerial or business-oriented path, I can do that as well because I have the foundational analytical knowledge.
What milestone or accomplishment are you most proud of?
Through the expert faculty, I have learned to be a more professional person. But what was a really big step and achievement for me was before I entered this program, I knew nothing about programming. I didn't know how to use the tools or executive technical tasks like a Python four-loop. But now, I am able to do these technical things, find the true value in the data, and present my findings to an audience.
