Meet Charles Tyler, a 2021 MQE program Alumni. Charles graduated Pitt with a bachelor’s in economics, and continued his education with a Masters in Quantitative Economics. Charles explored research during his first year in college and became interested in pursuing a career in the financial industry. Currently, Charles Tyler works as a Pittsburgh I&P Intern, where he works with Data Governance in our very own City of Pittsburgh.
Q: How has the MQE Program provided you with the skills necessary to succeed in your current position as an I&P Intern for Data Governance for the city of Pittsburgh?
A: “MQE provided me with hands-on experience with economic analysis and taught me how to communicate and present information concisely. Here in the city, we’re trying to establish a new data governance program which complies with the open data ordinance (a set of laws pertaining to how a city publishes open data). Because of the novelty and sheer size of such a project, clear communication is invaluable, as well as networking. Because of MQE, I feel confident when working with data, both in terms of technical knowledge and in communicating and presenting data.”
Q: What did you love learning most from the MQE program?
A: “I enjoyed learning about the various types of research designs and the machine learning techniques for economic analysis. It was interesting to replicate the results from influential economic papers to observe the different ways research identify casual relationship, and how we use that in our own analysis. The machine learning was also fascinating, from running bootstrapping simulations to comparing the performance of a multitude of classification methods.”
Q: How did the MQE program help prepare you for real world career experience?
A: “MQE’s Professional Development sessions and Career Chats helpful and insightful. They allowed me to gain perspective on different types of work, and what to expect in the real world. I learned how to approach work and job searching. The Capstone, albeit challenging, taught me the importance of professional project planning. It helped me discover how to conduct research, and it expanded and grew from what we had learned in class. I was able to exercise my resourcefulness and problem-solving skills, which is beyond valuable in the workplace.”
Charles’ master’s in quantitative economics helped him to achieve vital problem-solving and analytic skills, as well as professional communication. He looks forward to his future in economics and to expanding the skillsets that the MQE program has helped him strengthen as he continues to grow his career.