By Synectics
Data Nerds Rule
Are initials like ETL, AI, and ML second-hand nature to you? When you hear the word “mining” do you admittedly first think of data mining rather than gold, silver, or coal? When friends say you are overly analytical, are you secretly proud? And do you actually use visualization tools to make points in conversations? If you answered “yes” to even just one of these questions, then face it: you’re probably either a tech geek, a data nerd, or a statistics junkie.
You are not alone.
Synectics for Management Decisions, Inc. is the cool place where geeks grow, and data nerds dominate. Selected by CIO Review Magazine as one of the Top 10 most promising tech companies of 2022, Synectics combines the excitement of a start-up with the stability of a company that has been around since the mid 1970’s. In its Data Analytics Edition, CIO Review examined factors like thought leadership, innovation, data analytics prowess, tools and technology, and other factors related to the world of data management. And Synectics came out near the top. Let’s face it: if you’re a small IT company and you’ve been around for over 50 years, you’re doing something right, a lot of things right.
Today a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), “Synectics” is our clever coinage of “synthesis” and “connections.” Our corporate culture is one of synthesizing folks from all walks of life and allowing them to prosper in an ever-changing world. In fact, we can’t even speak of “office culture,” because in this post-pandemic world, we look for and accept talent both locally and nationwide. And we are a place of synthesizing diverse disciplines like data science, statistics, and technology. And we are a place of connecting talent with opportunity. As Walter Mehlferber, our Senior Director of Information Technology puts it “if you have a better way of doing things, we’re all ears. Synectics is the place where we put talented engineers, data scientists, and technologists behind the wheel – then let them innovate and engage in creative solutioning.”
President and CEO of Synectics Ana Hirsbrunner agrees. Named one of the 10 Most Impactful women in technology by a different magazine, Insight Analytics, she both champions women in STEM careers and sets the tone for an environment that is decidedly “anti-micro-management.” “The reality” she said while sipping an iced espresso in her Arlington, VA office “is that people want to be their own bosses. So really the best thing either a business owner or project manager can do is find top talent – and let them do their thing.”
“Doing their thing” is what Synecticians do best. Quietly and effectively behind the scenes, our teams do important technical, statistical, and data management work that positively impacts national life – like the user-friendly Opioid Treatment Center Locator that the Department of Health and Human Services put directly on its website through its agency SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). This important locator – using Google Maps, GPS software, open-source libraries, and tools like AngularJS – allows addicts or their loved ones to find Government-approved treatment centers free of ads, hyperbole, or false or misleading information. Our Synecticians have also created the IT that has helped securely process more healthcare grant money for Health and Human Services than any other company in history – we’re talking about billions of dollars in grants to important programs like Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid, and health programs for AIDS patients and populations on Indian reservations. At the prestigious National Science Foundation, we pioneered the NSF-by-the-Numbers app – an extraordinary GIS-based tool that details and displays all scientific, technical, and engineering projects nationwide for the last 10 years. This amazing and user-friendly tool allows scientists and thinkers to see what’s been done – and what could be done. It also allows Congress to see what projects have best served the national interest. These projects do everything from tackling climate change, to addressing infrastructure, to improving agriculture, to ensuring our military is competitive – the list goes on. And in partnering with the University of New Hampshire, we work with computer science major interns and provide them with an immersive real-world data management experience, entailing the whole data management lifecycle, from meetings and requirements gathering to database administration, analysis, business intelligence, reporting, and visualization.
If any of this sounds like you – fascinations with data science, a desire for independence, and a desire to use your talents to improve society – then we’d like to talk.
We’ll even buy the coffee.
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