The Business Analytics Club recently hosted a Home Depot Virtual Open House/Information Session for students interested in business analytics careers with The Home Depot. Ten Home Depot employees, including six Yellow Jacket alumni, spoke to the 60 students in attendance, revealing what it’s really like to work in business analytics at Home Depot.
“The Home Depot group put on an energetic and informative Open House, presenting the company in a great light,” said MBA Candidate Alex Azar. “I appreciated the manner in which they focused on analytical roles and the specific skills and tools (R, tableau, SQL) valued both in the hiring process—and for career success at the company. I also enjoyed hearing the varied perspectives of the newer and more experienced analytics professionals.”
The Home Depot's Director – FP&A Operations Decision Analytics Michael Carpenter kicked off the event with an introduction of Home Depot, focusing on its core values.
“The Home Depot group put on an energetic and informative Open House, presenting the company in a great light,” said MBA Candidate Alex Azar. “I appreciated the manner in which they focused on analytical roles and the specific skills and tools (R, tableau, SQL) valued both in the hiring process—and for career success at the company. I also enjoyed hearing the varied perspectives of the newer and more experienced analytics professionals.”
The Home Depot's Director – FP&A Operations Decision Analytics Michael Carpenter kicked off the event with an introduction of Home Depot, focusing on its core values.
“We’re here to serve our customers, our communities, and our front-line associates," said Carpenter. "Within the company, data science and business analytics are supported and seen as critical to our success. Each year we even have an Analytics Summit where more than 1,200 Home Depot employees learn together and explore the broader world of analytics."
Carpenter also commented on the many business use cases for analytics within his team. “We’re all about solving critical business problems for our customers and associates, and we do it at scale with a tremendous track record. The team and their analytical work products are central input to critical, enterprise business decisions including Curbside Pickup, Online Order Pickup Lockers, Shrink mitigation strategies (i.e., value product lock-up), etc. Basically, you can do anything here. There are extensive opportunities to work in a number of different disciplines.”
After Carpenter’s introduction, all 10 of the Home Depot employees introduced themselves and gave a short sketch of their background and what they do at the Home Depot, including overviews of multiple analytics projects ranging from clustering to modeling to data wrangling.
Next, two Yellow Jacket alumni Allen Lo (MBA Class of 2017) and Todge Aumiller (MBA Class of 2018) provided a more in-depth look at their Home Depot journey.
Lo, currently a Decision Analytics - Senior Manager, FP&A, came to Home Depot after working with them on a big data consulting project while a MBA student at Tech. “It’s great to work at a global leader that values data and data science,” says Lo. “What we do with data at Home Depot is tremendous..”
Aumiller is likewise enthusiastic. “Working at the Home Depot is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” said Aumiller, Home Depot’s manager – Decision Analytics. “Every day is different with a new problem to solve, and I enjoy the ability to drive positive change through data.”
The Home Depot executives took questions from the students, then broke into groups for breakout sessions, giving students the opportunity to speak with Home Depot executives and learn more about the specific career and internship opportunities currently available.
Both students and executives enjoyed the opportunity for interaction.
After Carpenter’s introduction, all 10 of the Home Depot employees introduced themselves and gave a short sketch of their background and what they do at the Home Depot, including overviews of multiple analytics projects ranging from clustering to modeling to data wrangling.
Next, two Yellow Jacket alumni Allen Lo (MBA Class of 2017) and Todge Aumiller (MBA Class of 2018) provided a more in-depth look at their Home Depot journey.
Lo, currently a Decision Analytics - Senior Manager, FP&A, came to Home Depot after working with them on a big data consulting project while a MBA student at Tech. “It’s great to work at a global leader that values data and data science,” says Lo. “What we do with data at Home Depot is tremendous..”
Aumiller is likewise enthusiastic. “Working at the Home Depot is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life,” said Aumiller, Home Depot’s manager – Decision Analytics. “Every day is different with a new problem to solve, and I enjoy the ability to drive positive change through data.”
The Home Depot executives took questions from the students, then broke into groups for breakout sessions, giving students the opportunity to speak with Home Depot executives and learn more about the specific career and internship opportunities currently available.
Both students and executives enjoyed the opportunity for interaction.
“Having just started the Evening MBA Program this month, I appreciate how quickly we've been immersed in the network Georgia Tech offers,” said new MBA student Heather Craytor. “I really enjoyed learning how Home Depot is reshaping the consumer landscape with analytics and data science, and I was impressed at how quickly they were able to accelerate some of their initiatives to better serve customers throughout the pandemic. Great panel!”
"It was a fantastic program," summed up BAC Corporate Engagement Manager Sherri von Behren. "We greatly value our partnership with The Home Depot and especially enjoy showcasing their top brand to our top business analytics students and matching highly talented students with great analytics career opportunities."