Welcome to my project showcase. My name is Drew Colbert and I am here to share my coding journey. I began coding the in fall of 2019, and this site is the culmination of all the time, energy, frustration, and eventually perserverence of learning to code.
I am proud to show off the work I have done, some of these projects are from when I first started in school, and I hope the progression is clear as you get to more recent projects. I like to spend most of my time is R, but Python is the first one I learned and love using that too. A few of these projects will have a Shiny App associated with it, it will be linked inside of the post so be sure to look for those!
Please enjoy and thanks for visiting, feel free to reach out with any opportunities you may have for me. Check out my resume!
Born and rasied in New Hampshire, I grew up in a small town where most people kept to their own circles and had their own traditions. I enjoyed this lifestyle and was comfortable in it. However I knew that if I didn't get out I would become complacent and never leave. Luckily for me the University of Oregon football team was really good and they were flashy and fun to watch, I immediately became a fan. During my junior year of high school I applied to the University of Oregon because I thought it was fun and it would be cool to see if I could get in. When I got accepted, me and my mom went out to visit because she had a work trip to Seattle anyways. As soon as we stepped on campus, I was in love and I knew that now was my time to branch out and explore outside of my small town in New England, I wanted to go to school here.
My time at UO incredible and I have no regrets about my decision. There were two major highlights about my time. I was given the opportunity to work very closely with the football team, and I was able to continue playing the sport I love on the University's Club Baseball team.
During my time with the football team, I was lucky enough to work with the players through their state-of-the-art sports performance program. My main job was to attend practices and monitor 60+ gps units and the data that was collected along with it. At the end of practice, I had to download the collected data, make any adjustments that were needed, and then run an R script that would analyze the data and export a report that would be delivered to the coaches. This was my first exposure to R and to coding in general and I knew right there that I needed to learn this if I wanted to reach my goals in my career. This is what sparked my interest in coding and I haven't looked back since. Along with my main job, I was able to run specific tests on the players to collect data using force plates, isometric squat machines, and laser guided sprint systems. This was a great experience that taught me so much and I was even given the ability to be the lead on a similar program with the baseball team where my job was to coordinate with the pitching coach to track the workload of the UCL in pitchers during their bullpens and report this data back to the pitching coach. This allowed me to refine my skills in communicating technical knowledge to someone who may not have the same technical background as myself.
My time with the club baseball team is something I will never forget. I met friends for life and was able to travel to places I never would have the chance to go to otherwise, all while continuing to play the sport I love. This also taught me how to balance and manage tasks, as a human physiology major, I had a lot on my plate and trying to balance doing well academically while attending practices and travelling for games wa something that I quickly had to adjust to or else I wouldn't have been able to last very long doing it. That experience is something I wouldn't trade for anything.
With all this being said, these experiences led to me to where I am now. Living in the tech capital of the world, with the knowledge and willingness to use this knowledge to make a difference. Not only within a company but hopefully in the world. I have the chance to do meaningful work that impacts thousands, if not millions of people and that is something I dont take lightly. I have a lot to learn and I am here just waiting to soak it all up and continue along this journey. This blog is only the beginning, I still have so much more to give.
If you made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read more about me and to read a little bit about my story. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to head over to the Contact page and reach out to me directly. I am always open to new oppotunities and the chance to connect with new people. Enjoy this blog and thank you again!