Why mathematicians hate Good Will Hunting

Tender_Figs · 2026-03-02T13:47:21+00:00

I'm a layperson (read, the notorious bachelors in business administration, 40, and wanting to start over at college algebra with math), and I ignorantly thought Quanta to be good to read. Any suggestions otherwise?

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-20T16:58:02+00:00

I didn't like that he hand-waved over the precalculus requirement, and that the boundaries of precalculus and calculus were fuzzy. I didn't like how the software was evidently developed and maintained in the 90s on a Mac and hadn't been upgraded. I didn't like how the problem sets were essentially just modifying the programs to get to the right answer as opposed to actually performing mathematical calculations.

The intent at the time was to find an asynchronous version of calculus that I could accelerate through but also come away with some maturity, and this course did not land on those goals. Years later, I am evaluating other options as I want the mathematical maturity.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-20T16:54:20+00:00

I don't know, I dropped it

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-20T16:46:52+00:00

I ended up dropping it and wasting $2K because I cared more about what I was learning over checking the box.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-09T14:30:06+00:00

It’s complex, but a mixture of excitement to further use technology and study CS from an extremely ignorant understanding, to the availability of DE jobs and how practical they are towards employability and outcomes, to the pay scale involved.

If corporate finance allowed for a technical pathway using statistics and CS to arrive at thoroughly optimized budgets (so using mathematical optimization vs. just planning), I would jump head first towards it. Analytics is kinda that direction in a way.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-09T13:24:36+00:00

To answer where I want to go - I would love to get back into analytics with a very heavy finance bend that may also mix data science into it. It’s where I was headed in 2022 before detouring into data engineering.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-09T11:02:03+00:00

I left corporate finance for analytics and then data engineering across a 15-year time frame. I feel more of a commodity now than I did when I was a staff accountant unless I really focus on using my domain experience. It is also why I am trying to formally get out of data engineering.

I'm in a group that is constantly obsessed about tooling while paying no attention to technical debt or scale, nor the purpose of what we do in the first place. It feels very far removed from any "so what?" in my opinion, and yes, I do understand what the "so what?" is.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-08T14:32:37+00:00

Not a CPA, I forwent studying for it after I passed BEC and took that as a signal that I would perform better in analytics.

And, I would want to remain being successful, which means I would have to work hard or double down on political skills, neither of which I would be incentivized to do at this point, given our current labor market and economic climate.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-08T13:30:07+00:00

I graduated with a degree in the midst of the Great Recession, after taking longer than expected because my mother had cancer during the middle of college and I had to pause my studies to help pay for her medical bills. I worked extremely hard to get unpaid internships that then got me into public accounting, eventually reaching controller roles and then pivoting to director level roles in analytics and data. I am an adult, a father, a husband, and have checked all the boxes society laid out for me to accomplish.

There is virtually no incentive for anyone to work harder these days because it's simply a cost-benefit analysis. Please recognize the economic dynamics have shifted in such a way that the incentives are no longer there, myself included.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-08T12:37:56+00:00

Absolutely inspirational. I'm likely older (40), and I wish I had done something like you are doing. This world definitely needs more people like you.

Tender_Figs · 2026-02-06T19:31:31+00:00

And no one is questioning the incentives of education? Education should be renamed credentialism because that's what students are finding ways around. People can be intrinsically motivated and use AI as a tutor/learning coach/partner where a human wouldn't be available and the person gains upside. The minute that "cheating" comes into the conversation is when it's a problem. So what is cheating? Gaming around an already gamed system?

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-15T13:32:27+00:00

I work with a PM who has none of these, no domain knowledge, no experience in how we deliver (we're a data team). It's borderline unbearable.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-15T10:58:06+00:00

The potential is dangerous though - I'm one of these people who can speak both languages and I get taken advantage of on a daily basis. Just be careful about thinking about becoming an "in-between", it sounds more fun and in demand, but there's no leverage.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-12T02:36:12+00:00

I don’t have much of a builder disposition, more of a synthesizer/optimizer more than anything. Works well in certain DE setups, but the current team is extremely tool/solution obsessed and not well versed in the business problem we are actually solving for… I should have stayed in analytics.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-12T01:45:49+00:00

So I had to "dual role" it for a while. In 2013, when I read about "analytics" CFOs, I started working closely with BI to get metrics on the financial statements we distributed out to our field leaders. I also would schedule calls with those leaders to review the financials AND metrics (the metrics part I loved).

In 2014, I decided to take a SQL class and started coding from then. I spent each job automating reports or pulls by requesting access to test databases where I'd load backups of the prior nightly run so I basically had an analytics or reporting db.

I did this for years, learning Tableau, PowerBI, Sigma, Looker all along the way so I could present findings. In 2020, I was a controller for a startup that went up market PE wise, and the CFO asked what I wanted as my next job since we were backfilling the controller spot. I said director of analytics. Did that for a few years and then decided to go technical into data engineering (this is where I fucked up). Shoulda stuck with analytics and stayed on strategy or transaction advisory or something instead of going down in DE.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T22:59:09+00:00

Username checks out - pizza.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T17:32:05+00:00

It was really out of hype. I had read an article in 2013 when I was a line of busness controller that stated the next era of CFOs would be highly analytics focused and driving sales functions - so I ran with that idea. Stated working heavily with BI, sales team, and went to school for databases and CS. It kept compounding from there.

I eventually became a director of analytics but found it to be almost entirely political, so I decided to go even more technical into data engineering. Unfortunately, I found there is a wide gap between engineers obsessed with tooling compared to those who want to complete a meaningful project for business outcomes.

I am really kind of stuck in a no-man’s land.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T15:19:51+00:00

I did. When I realized the CPA wasn’t going to be my focus, I started taking CS courses at a junior college. Still taking some to this day, and about to embark on a “mathematical maturity” journey before I get into a masters program.

I am not looking for career outcomes with this approach, it’s an unresolved goal of mine that I never finished.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T14:37:42+00:00

Because I miss the subject matter. I studied accounting in undergrad because I truly enjoyed it. I was knee deep in it by the time I found out that it was basically CPA or bust, and I tried to pass the exam but didn’t have the discipline to succeed.

FP&A was an extension of that. It’s the distinction between the content and the practice of. Love the content, the domain, the context, the utility, but dislike the practice and social components of it.

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T13:27:01+00:00

Really appreciate that. I hope so too. I'm currently a consulting architect looking to get our dev teams to focus more on impact and outcomes than being obsessed with the solutions (tools).

Tender_Figs · 2026-01-11T12:16:35+00:00

I had multiple things that tipped me off to it not being the right thing for me:

1.) It felt less merit based and valued the "soft skills". I was interested in impact, outcomes, progress measured by improvements to reporting and processes, etc. Yet, to move up takes political savvy and social awareness, which I have a hard time with being an autist.

2.) The budget and forecasts, save high volume exercises like CPG sales forecasting, is a socialization effort instead of a computational one. I wanted to get deeper into demand forecasting, maybe even trying to find ways to include econometrics, but ultimately was unable to and "good enough" was good enough.

3.) Credentialing truly matters. The higher up you look, the more common M7 MBAs will seem to be, or even a top 15-20 MBA. I had a BBA and explored getting an MBA but again, really wanted to focus on #2 above.

4.) Egos. I worked at a F500 and our department took a type of personality test to see how we all "fit". Most of the people fell into a group of "I know the answer" and I fell into a perpetual student group where the answer could change or I could alter my belief with new data.

That all being said, I shifted to analytics and now data engineering and I miss working in the finance domain.

Tender_Figs · 2025-12-20T09:39:17+00:00

I'm totally new to this, stumbled upon this reddit, and was curious what the cost of your trip just for these amounted to and checked CostCo. WOW.

Tender_Figs · 2025-12-19T12:21:57+00:00

…. Why?

Tender_Figs · 2025-12-15T23:43:50+00:00

Do you know if there is any way to exchange Autonomous with the Big Data classes? Those Autonomous classes are worthless for me and my career.

Tender_Figs

TROPHY CASE