Meet Vincent Roberto, Senior Business Intelligence Developer at Populi. He masterfully  interprets intricate datasets and delivers valuable insights to customers. When he’s not traveling or catching a concert, you can find Vincent cheering for the Yankees with his dog, Jeter.

Q: What’s your role at Populi, and what does an average day look like for you?

A: As a Senior BI developer, I’m working every day to make it easier for our customers to understand the huge amount of data they are accessing so they can make informed business decisions. The challenges our customers face and the ability to provide valuable insights keep me motivated to come up with new and better ways to interpret and connect different datasets to tell a compelling story. I work with our product owners and data engineering team to understand requirements and deliver solutions. I also really enjoy working directly with our customers to hear their particular business objectives and then coming up with ways to solve for them.

Q: What do you think is the most important benefit of the detailed healthcare analytics and insights that Populi provides?

A: I’ve worked in analytics for several other industries, including finance and digital marketing, and the basic need to understand your core business KPIs and drill deeper on demand is consistent across the board. The difference in healthcare is that there are many challenges in connecting data points to understand the whole picture. The quantity and complexity of data itself can be a challenge. Then, trying to answer a question using the data requires additional skill sets. Populi solves those challenges by delivering access to quality data products and easy-to-use BI templates that connect to the data in just a couple clicks. You can start asking questions of your data without wasting time setting up the infrastructure or building your own dashboards.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about working for Populi?

A: The flexible working environment allows me to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Being fully remote, I can work from home, from a coffee shop 3,000 miles away or anywhere in between. The flexible time-off policy ensures that we’re able to take adequate vacation time.

Q: Why should someone join your team at Populi?

A: I started here in March 2022 and immediately got to work, contributing to our product stack in my first two weeks. If you join our team, you’re joining a really smart group of people with experience in healthcare who collaborate really well. We also love to have fun. Our monthly virtual team-building events and weekly developer happy hours give everyone a chance to unwind and get to know each other better, which has helped us stay connected in a remote work environment.

Q: What do you do in your free time?

A: I love to travel. I’m already planning a two-week tour of Europe next summer. Some of my favorite experiences have taken me out of my comfort zone, and I’ve gotten to see different cultures. I also really enjoy the Austin music scene, so I try to get out and see new musicians and DJs whenever I can. When I’m at home, I just spend as much time as possible with my dog, Jeter. (Yes, I named him after pro baseball Hall of Famer, Derek Jeter).  

Q: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

A: Chris Hemsworth. Just so I can gloat to everyone I meet for the rest of my life that Chris Hemsworth played me in a movie.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote?

A: I don’t think I have a single favorite quote, but one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Breaking Bad, has a ton of memorable quotes, despite the dark nature of the show. This one, on overcoming your fears, resonates with me because we all are faced with challenges at times, and it’s how you respond that defines who you are:

“I have spent my whole life scared, frightened of things that could happen, might happen, might not happen. Fifty years I spent like that—finding myself awake at three in the morning. But you know what? Ever since my diagnosis, I sleep just fine. And I came to realize, it’s that fear that’s the worst of it. That’s the real enemy. So, get up. Get out in the real world.”

— Walter White, Breaking Bad

Q: What was your favorite Halloween costume?

A: A few years ago, I attended a video game-themed Halloween party. The Sims was a game I probably played way too much when I was younger, so I convinced a few friends to do a group costume that reflected that. If you’ve played before, you know each character has a big colored diamond above their head to identify them, so we found them on Etsy in different colors that light up and you can attach to a hat. It was a hit.