MS in Data And Information Management
- Biology Department
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- REALISE
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- Forensic Science Institute
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- School of Computing and Information Sciences
- MS in Data And Information Management
Navigating Challenges on the Road to Data Discoveries
Amanda Tolman does not shy away from challenging herself. She stepped out of her comfort zone to serve as the primary Database Administrator (DBA) for the SQL Server database at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). Becoming a DBA was especially challenging for Amanda because she was not familiar with Windows and she had never administered a database. Amanda felt confident given all she learned in Radford’s Master’s program.
Amanda also challenged herself when she enrolled in Radford’s accelerated graduate program. “I did not think I could succeed in an accelerated program because I was at a community college”, Amanda recalls, but with encouragement from her professor at Virginia Western, she decided, “Why not me?” and became the first transfer student to complete the Data and Information Management (DAIM) Master’s degree three years after starting the Computer Science program at Radford University.
Amanda is constantly learning, which she enjoys. Although she prefers Linux, she learned the Windows operating system, the Windows technology stack, and she learned to backup and restore the SQL Server database. She wants to automate the process of testing the backups.
Amanda is grateful to Radford’s programs for teaching her to connect to databases programmatically with Python, Ruby, and other languages. “I was productive with Amazon Web Services (AWS) right away”, Amanda says, “because I knew how to use an API.”
Amanda offers the following advice to students. “Making mistakes in school is much better than making mistakes at work. Mistakes are valuable and often the best way to learn. When you make a mistake, reflect on how you could do better next time.” She also suggests taking advantage of your professors, learning to collaborate and work with a team, and learning to ask questions. “Working in the ARTIS lab with other graduate students is fun and valuable,” Amanda fondly recalls.
Although Amanda started as a database administrator, her responsibilities expanded to include data engineering and she is currently designing and developing a data pipeline to ingest, process, and store sensor data from vehicles. Amanda implemented similar pipelines for several graduate classes and her capstone project.
Amanda wants to start a database team, which will be essential as VTTI continues to grow. The broad skillset she developed at Radford and VTTI will enable Amanda to lead the team and support young engineers starting their career.