Alter Everything Podcast

AlteryxMatt · ‎12-02-2025

Join us for a special farewell episode of the Alter Everything Podcast as we celebrate the impactful journey of host Megan Bowers. In this episode, Megan reflects on her career in data analytics, her experiences at Alteryx, and the evolution of the podcast. Discover insights on building a personal brand, the importance of networking in the data industry, and the future of data science and AI. Hear memorable stories from past episodes, expert interviews, and practical advice for data professionals.

Panelists

Michael Cusic, Sr. Learning Experience Designer @ Alteryx - @mikecusic, LinkedIn
Megan Bowers, Sr. Content Manager @ Alteryx - @MeganBowers, LinkedIn

Topics

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Transcript

Episode Transcription

Ep 199 Farewell Megan
===

[00:00:00] Introduction and Special Farewell
---

Welcome to Alter Everything, a podcast about data science and analytics culture. I'm Michael Cusic. Today's episode is a special farewell to our host, Megan Bowers, who's recording her final episode with us. We thought it'd be fun if I switched roles with Megan and brought her into the guest seat. We talk about her time at Alteryx, her work on the podcast, her data career journey, the value of networking, and her thoughts on the future of the data analytics industry.

After this episode, we will take a short break from our normal release schedule as we plan for 2026. We'll step away for about a month, but in the second half of January, look forward to a new host, a refreshed format, and even video episodes. But for now, enjoy this final episode with our wonderful host, Megan.

Let's get started.

[00:00:57] Megan's Journey with Alteryx
---

Megan, this is your last podcast episode with Alter Everything. How are you feeling?

[00:01:02] Megan Bowers: Wow, it's crazy. It's been a really fun, really fun journey to host this show, for sure.

[00:01:08] Michael Cusic: Yeah, it's gonna be very bittersweet. We've been working on the podcast a long time together. I'm very sad to have you be stepping away from Alteryx, but I'm very excited for your new journey.

So for, I guess for our first question, can you just talk about like, how did we meet, like how did we come together on this project?

[00:01:25] Megan Bowers: Yeah, totally. So I joined Alteryx back in 2022, and at that time we met. We had a dedicated Alteryx community content team. We were kind of day in, day out, working on community content, on blogs. You were working on videos, and it was super fun to collaborate on all of that and work with our community members. And then we kind of inherited the podcast about a year later, which was exciting. We had both worked on it. You had worked on it even more than me, but I had done some guest hosting, but then it like became our program and was exciting. Like a little bit of a nerve-wracking challenge at first. But yeah, it's just grown from there.

[00:02:09] First Podcast Experiences
---

[00:02:09] Michael Cusic: As a host, do you remember the very first episode that you recorded?

[00:02:13] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I do. I was managing the community blogs as my full-time responsibility and then got pulled into like guest-host an episode, and it was really fun because it was with Steve Roderick, who I had worked with in my previous role at Stanley Black and Decker. So it was like a full circle moment of getting to interview him and hear about some of his best practices that he implemented back when we were both working together at Stanley. So I remember also going in back when we had the Alteryx Broomfield office and being in the little recording studio. So that was a good time too. And Maddie, the former host, walked me through it, showed me all the ropes. Yeah, it was definitely a memorable first episode.

[00:02:57] Michael Cusic: Yeah. How did it feel? Were you nervous? Had you ever done anything like this before?

[00:03:00] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I was nervous. The really, the only thing I'd done before was speaking at Inspire, like when I very first joined, again, carrying over from my last job, and that was a huge public speaking step for me, but it was a little bit nerve-wracking, a little bit of a leap compared to what I'd done previously, for sure.

[00:03:22] Career Reflections and Data Passion
---

[00:03:22] Michael Cusic: On that vein, can you reflect on your career journey? Where did you start out? Where did you think you were going, and you know where you're at now? Like how has that journey been for you? What was surprising or unexpected or not?

[00:03:33] Megan Bowers: Yeah, honestly, like a lot of it was unexpected. Every step in my career journey, I've pivoted a little bit. And so reflecting back, I got my degree in industrial engineering, actually, which is super broad. I learned a lot about all different types of engineering. Did a few manufacturing engineering internships, which was crazy. Didn't love that. And then I got into technical consulting after that. Also wasn't my favorite fit, but like throughout college and throughout all those experiences, I really liked working with data and working in Excel, things like that. And so that is what propelled me to start really looking into the data field. And that's where I feel like I found my fit, but even in the data field, I've bopped around and started out as a data analyst, hands-on, working with Alteryx, working with Power BI day in, day out. And then throughout that I was just had this side hobby of blogging. You know, I was blogging about data analytics, best practices. It was just kinda like a fun little passion project, and then that turned into creating content about the data field full time. So it's definitely been like a little bit winding of a journey, but it's been really fun. I really like where I settled with the content creation, but still like I keep those technical skills sharp to be able to engage with the community and be able to create little use cases or be able to analyze the analytics from our show or from other content efforts. So that's been my journey so far. Kind of confusing, honestly, but it's been really fun. It's like each new opportunity is pretty different.

[00:05:15] Michael Cusic: No, I love it. I mean, it's one of the things that I like most about you hosting the show is that because you have such an extensive data background, that you actually know what you're talking about. You're not just a podcast voice who's been given questions, like you really know the answers and have actual experience with it. It's just really fun.

[00:05:31] Megan Bowers: Yeah. I mean, I, I know some of the challenges that analysts face, like when they bring up their pain points, it's like, yep, I feel that. I felt that a few years ago. So. It definitely makes it easier to relate.

[00:05:43] Favorite Podcast Topics and Episodes
---

[00:05:43] Michael Cusic: What topics do you like to talk about the most when it comes to being on this show?

[00:05:48] Megan Bowers: I enjoy like a lot of different conversations that I've been able to have. I think some of the most interesting is recently like understanding from experts how AI really works and breaking down some of the terms we just throw out there, like RAG or like explainability. Being able to talk to an expert and really understand what that means for the everyday data person. I also enjoy talking about best practices for people who've been in the industry for longer. You know, how to run data teams or how to really do data literacy. Again, those topics, it can be corporate thought leadership -y, but it's really fun to have an expert on that can break it down and that can give concrete examples of things they've seen or successes they've seen, or real like strategies to make data teams better.

[00:06:43] Michael Cusic: Some of my favorite episodes definitely are when you have a real expert in the chair, but they've then gone and like started a company. So then now they have to pivot from their expertise in whatever niche data science field that they're in. And then now they're having to like learn how to communicate with business leaders. And then the crossover of those skills, I always just find, is really interesting and not necessarily having anything to do with each other.

[00:07:08] Megan Bowers: Yeah, and they can be so different. And we've had on people, like when we had on Heather Harris at Alteryx, that stood out to me because she was, she's able to talk to both of those sides. And so often data practitioners either aren't involved in the business side or the managing stakeholders, building the business use case. Like it's really cool to have people on that have, that are in both of those worlds, the data and the business side.

[00:07:34] Michael Cusic: I think there's an episode recently, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but someone talked about using AI to like literally translate the speech from the engineers to the business leaders and vice versa. Like they were speaking such different languages and terminology that they had to have an AI intermediary to like translate. It's amazing. Yeah,

[00:07:52] Megan Bowers: that was recent. That was Nick Schrock, I think at Dexter. He was like very excited about the AI translation. It's like translating business speak in a way to technical speak. It was really interesting, for sure.

[00:08:07] Michael Cusic: What are some other episodes that you liked or really stood out to you since you've been here?

[00:08:11] Megan Bowers: I remember like the first episode or one of the first ones we did when we officially took over the program was talking to the CEO at Fiddler AI. I just remember that one 'cause I was really nervous for that 'cause that was my first time talking to someone at that level and I just really started working on that. But he was like so knowledgeable, so kind and very personable. So that was a fun one that I like look back on. I also think about the multiple episodes we've done with Ken Black, who's an Alteryx ACE, and one of them where we talked about using Alteryx to analyze climate change and just like the scope and span of his personal project with Alteryx and the passion that he has for analyzing this climate data and the way he's kept it going for years and years and has all these blog posts. It was just really incredible. I mean. It's humbling to talk to any of our customers that have done really cool projects with Alteryx, but his definitely stood out for like the passion that he had for it and that it was really separate from his day-to-day responsibilities. It was something he was doing on the side. And a final episode or episode type that stood out is when we've been able to go and collect mini recordings from community members and folks at Inspire. So in the years past where we collected recordings and we're able to piece them together with an episode as well as more recently doing the 10-year community episode, that was super fun to hear from community members and stitch everybody's little stories into a bigger story. So those have all been really enjoyable.

[00:09:53] Michael Cusic: Yeah, those are really fun. Like being at the company and concerned with the business. You sometimes can forget that the technology that we make has been transformative for a lot of people and their careers and the kind of overflowing positivity that some people have around Alteryx. Uh, it kind of makes me feel good, like we're doing something that that really does help people out a lot. So that's really nice.

[00:10:18] Unexpected Moments and Technical Challenges
---

[00:10:18] Michael Cusic: So what's the funniest or maybe the most unexpected thing that's ever happened while recording? I'm sure there's been many a gaff or snafu and a mishap out there.

[00:10:28] Megan Bowers: Yeah, there's been a few, there's always technology issues, that's somewhat constant. There was one where someone's Wi-Fi at their workplace was so bad, and I'm like, how do you guys get work done if it's, it's cutting in and out, all this stuff? But more recently, super random, but I was recording, so I record just in my home, in my little home office. Yeah. I was talking and listening to a guest and a bird just flew out the window, full speed. And so I was talking and I jolted back and the guest took a pause and then kept going, but it was like so surprising and very silly occurrence. I've also had guests' pets kinda demand attention during recordings too, so that happens as well.

[00:11:15] Michael Cusic: I love when new guests are recording from a train station or an airport and just for consideration for the background environment, and thank goodness for background removal tools because we've saved a couple of episodes for sure.

[00:11:27] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I mean, it's a testament to your editing too, like that probably listeners don't realize who was the infamous train recording. But um, yeah, you did a lot of work on your end for that one and some others,

[00:11:40] Michael Cusic: and you guests out there have no idea how many ums and ands I've taken out over the, over my time as the sound engineer. But it's always just funny to hear podcast speak versus what people actually sound like when they're talking in conversation. It's very different,

[00:11:55] Megan Bowers: right? Everybody has their, their filler words, or filler phrases. Reviewing those episodes can be humbling 'cause I look at the actual words I say and how much we sometimes have to edit down, but it comes out sounding very professional. So exactly.

[00:12:11] Impact of Hosting and Networking
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[00:12:11] Michael Cusic: How has this hosting job and being on the show changed you personally or professionally? Can you reflect on that at all? Has it given you any kind of skills or passion for anything that, uh, you didn't have before?

[00:12:24] Megan Bowers: Yeah, definitely. It's definitely increased my confidence, I would say, in being able to have good conversations with leaders. Being able to have those higher level conversations, I think really increased my confidence and sometimes my boldness when it comes to just reaching out and asking if people would want to be on the show, or you start talking to their executive assistant or their PR agent, and that was a cool journey to honestly just learn more how executives or founders or people work. It's also helped me become better at identifying good stories and good storytellers. I think that as I'm recording, I really hear, "Ooh, this is a good soundbite that they just said, or I really like. You know this, I'm gonna ask a follow-up question here." It's actually, it's so hard to, to be actively listening and to ask good follow-up questions in the moment, and that's like a skill that I think I've developed and could even develop farther. I have so much respect now for if you go to conferences and you see a panel that's being moderated by someone when they're in there asking really good follow-up questions. To do that live and to do that in front of an audience is really hard, and to just even have enough subject matter knowledge to ask a good question, a good follow-up. We have our prepared questions, but to be able to jump in there and ping off of what they said or weigh in on your perspective, that's a skillset for hosting that, that I've been developing and could go even further because you're 110% engaged in the conversation, and I think it can make you a better listener overall. Like in my personal life, having that professional practice of being a hundred percent engaged spills over into just listening to family and friends too, I think.

[00:14:25] Michael Cusic: Megan, you've had a pretty strong LinkedIn presence for a long time. Can you talk about why you maintain that? What keeps you online and posting and contributing to the data community as much as you do?

[00:14:36] Megan Bowers: First of all, it is fun and I like social media. It's fun to be on there and connect with new people and to post my thoughts on things and have people like and reply. I think it's fun to, to have conversations with other folks in the industry. I think being on LinkedIn has been critical just for this role of curating my feed so that I'm hearing from thought leaders in the data space so I can keep up. As best I can. So LinkedIn is helpful for that, for just the kind of keeping up to date and consuming. And then I've kept posting because I still create, or I have created content for Alteryx that I wanna share more broadly. Sometimes I post to, to get people's feedback on, "I saw this new data analyst GPT, what do other people think about this?" So it's really nice to have a community of people on LinkedIn and also to just try to make the show more findable and finding guests. It's a good tool to to outreach. So yeah, it's been really fun to have a presence on there and continue to grow my network. I think that's another thing this role has taught me is just how important networking is. It's kind of cliche when people say your network is your net worth. But I feel like it's true, like it, it really can present so many opportunities, not just for whatever projects you're working on, but for like your own career. So. That's what's kept me on there too, even despite seeing so many cringey things and probably being cringey myself throughout the years.

[00:16:17] Michael Cusic: How many guests have we had on that stress the importance of a personal brand on LinkedIn? Like it's everyone who's working in this space more publicly, like they, they all rave about it, how important it is.

[00:16:29] Megan Bowers: Especially with just how the job market is currently and how the tech job market has evolved. I think it's, there's a reason why everybody shouts it out if they've done it. 'Cause they've seen cool opportunities come their way.

[00:16:42] Michael Cusic: For sure. What about the podcast are you most proud of as you were reflecting on your exit?

[00:16:47] Megan Bowers: I'm really proud of the way that we've enabled people to share their story, so especially people that are data practitioners that are doing cool things, the way that it can be that kind of first LinkedIn post for them or to share up at their company to share externally, to really get them like the recognition that they deserve. We've had a lot of Alteryx users and Alteryx ACEs share really great work they're doing, and some specifically just the work that they do on the Alteryx community and how much they contribute. Like I think I'm proud that we have been able to give them a little spotlight back for everything that they've done and contributed. So. On the kind of behind the scenes, I'm proud of, like you, me, and Matt being able to really operationalize the podcast and run it well and, and put out really professional episodes. So that's been a cool journey too.

[00:17:46] Future of Data and AI
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[00:17:46] Michael Cusic: Maybe as a question to close, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the future of the industry of data and AI. What do you think about this current state of it and where, where it's going, what's hype, what's not, what scares you, what excites you? Anything like that?

[00:18:00] Megan Bowers: Yeah. It's interesting because just even from the time I started hosting to now, how many of our episodes have shifted to talk about AI. There is a lot of hype in the industry, but the fact that we continue to talk with professionals and like those episodes where we're saying, "Here's how someone used AI in their workflow. Here's how someone got business value." Those have been super popular. I think it indicates AI is here to stay and it's something that can make data analysts, data scientists a lot more efficient. It's something that can open up new possibilities with the way you can enrich your data, with the way you can automate things, with the way you can prototype so much faster. So I think there's a ton of opportunity, I think. The AI agent topic is still a bit overhyped or under defined. We just had Andrew Merrill come on and talk about AI agents as a spectrum of agentic, which I think is true and so many people and companies wanna rush to define, "Okay, we've hit agentic AI," and then I'm sure people wanna rush to define when they've hit, like super intelligence. There's always business incentives to try to say that you've hit those things, but just hearing about actual use cases has been really cool, and I'm sure we'll see AI agents continue to evolve. I think like the role of the data analyst will continue to evolve too. At first, we all wanted to say that AI is just a tool for the data analyst, but I think. Like some, some data analyst roles will shift, or there'll be a need for maybe less data analysts, or they'll be more of a focused on annotating the data or data quality. So I think that role in particular is gonna continue to shift. I think it's just like more important than ever to stay on top of it, to like be learning what you can. I'm biased, but be listening to podcasts, be listening to thought leadership of making sure you're ahead of it versus stuck in your spreadsheet, not open to changing technologies and changing methodologies and things like that. So that's my quick take on that.

[00:20:12] Michael Cusic: One of my favorite tech podcasts, the Verge, they talk about this all the time, about what is hype, what's not, and mm. Especially around the agent AI conversation. About the AI was gonna like literally click around on your screen and navigate webpages for you and be able to do things, and then turns out that doesn't really work. So they've gone back to where they're just using a bunch of APIs plugged into a backend AI agents and communicating that way. So, um, I'm super curious how it's all gonna shake out in the end. Like if there's gonna be some kind of breakthrough use case or some company that kind of cracks it to be able to really start taking action on behalf of people. Mm-hmm. But until then, I don't know. I've been like overwhelmed and underwhelmed by AI. Yeah. I feel that. I feel

[00:20:54] Megan Bowers: that.

[00:20:55] Michael Cusic: I'm sure there'll be like the continuation of that for a while. Yeah.

[00:20:58] Final Thoughts and Farewell
---

[00:20:58] Michael Cusic: Anything else that you want to add as we close up here?

[00:21:01] Megan Bowers: I wanna say thank you to everybody who consistently listens to the show. It's always super cool to hear from listeners, to hear from even Alteryx employees who listened to the podcast as they were interviewing to see what the company was all about. Really fun to hear those stories, and I appreciate everyone's support and sharing of it. It's definitely. It's something that I will miss working on, but I know that our next host and our next program manager are gonna do an amazing job and you can kind of stay tuned for what's to come.

[00:21:35] Michael Cusic: Well, thank you, Megan, for showing your thoughts and for being here and for all your amazing work producing this. I wish you the absolute best of luck and positivity going into your next role. Can't wait to see what you do next.

[00:21:47] Megan Bowers: Yeah. Thanks so much, Mike. It's been so great working with you. I know you're gonna continue to do a great job.

[00:21:53] Michael Cusic: Thanks for listening. To learn more about topics in today's episode, visit the show notes at Alteryx.com/podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. As a reminder, you will not see new episodes in your feed until later in January, but we will return. See you then.

Ep 199 Farewell Megan=== [00:00:00] Introduction and Special Farewell--- Welcome to Alter Everything, a podcast about data science and analytics culture. I'm Michael Cusic. Today's episode is a special farewell to our host, Megan Bowers, who's recording her final episode with us. We thought it'd be fun if I switched roles with Megan and brought her into the guest seat. We talk about her time at Alteryx, her work on the podcast, her data career journey, the value of networking, and her thoughts on the future of the data analytics industry. After this episode, we will take a short break from our normal release schedule as we plan for 2026. We'll step away for about a month, but in the second half of January, look forward to a new host, a refreshed format, and even video episodes. But for now, enjoy this final episode with our wonderful host, Megan. Let's get started. [00:00:57] Megan's Journey with Alteryx--- Megan, this is your last podcast episode with Alter Everything. How are you feeling? [00:01:02] Megan Bowers: Wow, it's crazy. It's been a really fun, really fun journey to host this show, for sure. [00:01:08] Michael Cusic: Yeah, it's gonna be very bittersweet. We've been working on the podcast a long time together. I'm very sad to have you be stepping away from Alteryx, but I'm very excited for your new journey. So for, I guess for our first question, can you just talk about like, how did we meet, like how did we come together on this project? [00:01:25] Megan Bowers: Yeah, totally. So I joined Alteryx back in 2022, and at that time we met. We had a dedicated Alteryx community content team. We were kind of day in, day out, working on community content, on blogs. You were working on videos, and it was super fun to collaborate on all of that and work with our community members. And then we kind of inherited the podcast about a year later, which was exciting. We had both worked on it. You had worked on it even more than me, but I had done some guest hosting, but then it like became our program and was exciting. Like a little bit of a nerve-wracking challenge at first. But yeah, it's just grown from there. [00:02:09] First Podcast Experiences--- [00:02:09] Michael Cusic: As a host, do you remember the very first episode that you recorded? [00:02:13] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I do. I was managing the community blogs as my full-time responsibility and then got pulled into like guest-host an episode, and it was really fun because it was with Steve Roderick, who I had worked with in my previous role at Stanley Black and Decker. So it was like a full circle moment of getting to interview him and hear about some of his best practices that he implemented back when we were both working together at Stanley. So I remember also going in back when we had the Alteryx Broomfield office and being in the little recording studio. So that was a good time too. And Maddie, the former host, walked me through it, showed me all the ropes. Yeah, it was definitely a memorable first episode. [00:02:57] Michael Cusic: Yeah. How did it feel? Were you nervous? Had you ever done anything like this before? [00:03:00] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I was nervous. The really, the only thing I'd done before was speaking at Inspire, like when I very first joined, again, carrying over from my last job, and that was a huge public speaking step for me, but it was a little bit nerve-wracking, a little bit of a leap compared to what I'd done previously, for sure. [00:03:22] Career Reflections and Data Passion--- [00:03:22] Michael Cusic: On that vein, can you reflect on your career journey? Where did you start out? Where did you think you were going, and you know where you're at now? Like how has that journey been for you? What was surprising or unexpected or not? [00:03:33] Megan Bowers: Yeah, honestly, like a lot of it was unexpected. Every step in my career journey, I've pivoted a little bit. And so reflecting back, I got my degree in industrial engineering, actually, which is super broad. I learned a lot about all different types of engineering. Did a few manufacturing engineering internships, which was crazy. Didn't love that. And then I got into technical consulting after that. Also wasn't my favorite fit, but like throughout college and throughout all those experiences, I really liked working with data and working in Excel, things like that. And so that is what propelled me to start really looking into the data field. And that's where I feel like I found my fit, but even in the data field, I've bopped around and started out as a data analyst, hands-on, working with Alteryx, working with Power BI day in, day out. And then throughout that I was just had this side hobby of blogging. You know, I was blogging about data analytics, best practices. It was just kinda like a fun little passion project, and then that turned into creating content about the data field full time. So it's definitely been like a little bit winding of a journey, but it's been really fun. I really like where I settled with the content creation, but still like I keep those technical skills sharp to be able to engage with the community and be able to create little use cases or be able to analyze the analytics from our show or from other content efforts. So that's been my journey so far. Kind of confusing, honestly, but it's been really fun. It's like each new opportunity is pretty different. [00:05:15] Michael Cusic: No, I love it. I mean, it's one of the things that I like most about you hosting the show is that because you have such an extensive data background, that you actually know what you're talking about. You're not just a podcast voice who's been given questions, like you really know the answers and have actual experience with it. It's just really fun. [00:05:31] Megan Bowers: Yeah. I mean, I, I know some of the challenges that analysts face, like when they bring up their pain points, it's like, yep, I feel that. I felt that a few years ago. So. It definitely makes it easier to relate. [00:05:43] Favorite Podcast Topics and Episodes--- [00:05:43] Michael Cusic: What topics do you like to talk about the most when it comes to being on this show? [00:05:48] Megan Bowers: I enjoy like a lot of different conversations that I've been able to have. I think some of the most interesting is recently like understanding from experts how AI really works and breaking down some of the terms we just throw out there, like RAG or like explainability. Being able to talk to an expert and really understand what that means for the everyday data person. I also enjoy talking about best practices for people who've been in the industry for longer. You know, how to run data teams or how to really do data literacy. Again, those topics, it can be corporate thought leadership -y, but it's really fun to have an expert on that can break it down and that can give concrete examples of things they've seen or successes they've seen, or real like strategies to make data teams better. [00:06:43] Michael Cusic: Some of my favorite episodes definitely are when you have a real expert in the chair, but they've then gone and like started a company. So then now they have to pivot from their expertise in whatever niche data science field that they're in. And then now they're having to like learn how to communicate with business leaders. And then the crossover of those skills, I always just find, is really interesting and not necessarily having anything to do with each other. [00:07:08] Megan Bowers: Yeah, and they can be so different. And we've had on people, like when we had on Heather Harris at Alteryx, that stood out to me because she was, she's able to talk to both of those sides. And so often data practitioners either aren't involved in the business side or the managing stakeholders, building the business use case. Like it's really cool to have people on that have, that are in both of those worlds, the data and the business side. [00:07:34] Michael Cusic: I think there's an episode recently, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but someone talked about using AI to like literally translate the speech from the engineers to the business leaders and vice versa. Like they were speaking such different languages and terminology that they had to have an AI intermediary to like translate. It's amazing. Yeah, [00:07:52] Megan Bowers: that was recent. That was Nick Schrock, I think at Dexter. He was like very excited about the AI translation. It's like translating business speak in a way to technical speak. It was really interesting, for sure. [00:08:07] Michael Cusic: What are some other episodes that you liked or really stood out to you since you've been here? [00:08:11] Megan Bowers: I remember like the first episode or one of the first ones we did when we officially took over the program was talking to the CEO at Fiddler AI. I just remember that one 'cause I was really nervous for that 'cause that was my first time talking to someone at that level and I just really started working on that. But he was like so knowledgeable, so kind and very personable. So that was a fun one that I like look back on. I also think about the multiple episodes we've done with Ken Black, who's an Alteryx ACE, and one of them where we talked about using Alteryx to analyze climate change and just like the scope and span of his personal project with Alteryx and the passion that he has for analyzing this climate data and the way he's kept it going for years and years and has all these blog posts. It was just really incredible. I mean. It's humbling to talk to any of our customers that have done really cool projects with Alteryx, but his definitely stood out for like the passion that he had for it and that it was really separate from his day-to-day responsibilities. It was something he was doing on the side. And a final episode or episode type that stood out is when we've been able to go and collect mini recordings from community members and folks at Inspire. So in the years past where we collected recordings and we're able to piece them together with an episode as well as more recently doing the 10-year community episode, that was super fun to hear from community members and stitch everybody's little stories into a bigger story. So those have all been really enjoyable. [00:09:53] Michael Cusic: Yeah, those are really fun. Like being at the company and concerned with the business. You sometimes can forget that the technology that we make has been transformative for a lot of people and their careers and the kind of overflowing positivity that some people have around Alteryx. Uh, it kind of makes me feel good, like we're doing something that that really does help people out a lot. So that's really nice. [00:10:18] Unexpected Moments and Technical Challenges--- [00:10:18] Michael Cusic: So what's the funniest or maybe the most unexpected thing that's ever happened while recording? I'm sure there's been many a gaff or snafu and a mishap out there. [00:10:28] Megan Bowers: Yeah, there's been a few, there's always technology issues, that's somewhat constant. There was one where someone's Wi-Fi at their workplace was so bad, and I'm like, how do you guys get work done if it's, it's cutting in and out, all this stuff? But more recently, super random, but I was recording, so I record just in my home, in my little home office. Yeah. I was talking and listening to a guest and a bird just flew out the window, full speed. And so I was talking and I jolted back and the guest took a pause and then kept going, but it was like so surprising and very silly occurrence. I've also had guests' pets kinda demand attention during recordings too, so that happens as well. [00:11:15] Michael Cusic: I love when new guests are recording from a train station or an airport and just for consideration for the background environment, and thank goodness for background removal tools because we've saved a couple of episodes for sure. [00:11:27] Megan Bowers: Yeah, I mean, it's a testament to your editing too, like that probably listeners don't realize who was the infamous train recording. But um, yeah, you did a lot of work on your end for that one and some others, [00:11:40] Michael Cusic: and you guests out there have no idea how many ums and ands I've taken out over the, over my time as the sound engineer. But it's always just funny to hear podcast speak versus what people actually sound like when they're talking in conversation. It's very different, [00:11:55] Megan Bowers: right? Everybody has their, their filler words, or filler phrases. Reviewing those episodes can be humbling 'cause I look at the actual words I say and how much we sometimes have to edit down, but it comes out sounding very professional. So exactly. [00:12:11] Impact of Hosting and Networking--- [00:12:11] Michael Cusic: How has this hosting job and being on the show changed you personally or professionally? Can you reflect on that at all? Has it given you any kind of skills or passion for anything that, uh, you didn't have before? [00:12:24] Megan Bowers: Yeah, definitely. It's definitely increased my confidence, I would say, in being able to have good conversations with leaders. Being able to have those higher level conversations, I think really increased my confidence and sometimes my boldness when it comes to just reaching out and asking if people would want to be on the show, or you start talking to their executive assistant or their PR agent, and that was a cool journey to honestly just learn more how executives or founders or people work. It's also helped me become better at identifying good stories and good storytellers. I think that as I'm recording, I really hear, "Ooh, this is a good soundbite that they just said, or I really like. You know this, I'm gonna ask a follow-up question here." It's actually, it's so hard to, to be actively listening and to ask good follow-up questions in the moment, and that's like a skill that I think I've developed and could even develop farther. I have so much respect now for if you go to conferences and you see a panel that's being moderated by someone when they're in there asking really good follow-up questions. To do that live and to do that in front of an audience is really hard, and to just even have enough subject matter knowledge to ask a good question, a good follow-up. We have our prepared questions, but to be able to jump in there and ping off of what they said or weigh in on your perspective, that's a skillset for hosting that, that I've been developing and could go even further because you're 110% engaged in the conversation, and I think it can make you a better listener overall. Like in my personal life, having that professional practice of being a hundred percent engaged spills over into just listening to family and friends too, I think. [00:14:25] Michael Cusic: Megan, you've had a pretty strong LinkedIn presence for a long time. Can you talk about why you maintain that? What keeps you online and posting and contributing to the data community as much as you do? [00:14:36] Megan Bowers: First of all, it is fun and I like social media. It's fun to be on there and connect with new people and to post my thoughts on things and have people like and reply. I think it's fun to, to have conversations with other folks in the industry. I think being on LinkedIn has been critical just for this role of curating my feed so that I'm hearing from thought leaders in the data space so I can keep up. As best I can. So LinkedIn is helpful for that, for just the kind of keeping up to date and consuming. And then I've kept posting because I still create, or I have created content for Alteryx that I wanna share more broadly. Sometimes I post to, to get people's feedback on, "I saw this new data analyst GPT, what do other people think about this?" So it's really nice to have a community of people on LinkedIn and also to just try to make the show more findable and finding guests. It's a good tool to to outreach. So yeah, it's been really fun to have a presence on there and continue to grow my network. I think that's another thing this role has taught me is just how important networking is. It's kind of cliche when people say your network is your net worth. But I feel like it's true, like it, it really can present so many opportunities, not just for whatever projects you're working on, but for like your own career. So. That's what's kept me on there too, even despite seeing so many cringey things and probably being cringey myself throughout the years. [00:16:17] Michael Cusic: How many guests have we had on that stress the importance of a personal brand on LinkedIn? Like it's everyone who's working in this space more publicly, like they, they all rave about it, how important it is. [00:16:29] Megan Bowers: Especially with just how the job market is currently and how the tech job market has evolved. I think it's, there's a reason why everybody shouts it out if they've done it. 'Cause they've seen cool opportunities come their way. [00:16:42] Michael Cusic: For sure. What about the podcast are you most proud of as you were reflecting on your exit? [00:16:47] Megan Bowers: I'm really proud of the way that we've enabled people to share their story, so especially people that are data practitioners that are doing cool things, the way that it can be that kind of first LinkedIn post for them or to share up at their company to share externally, to really get them like the recognition that they deserve. We've had a lot of Alteryx users and Alteryx ACEs share really great work they're doing, and some specifically just the work that they do on the Alteryx community and how much they contribute. Like I think I'm proud that we have been able to give them a little spotlight back for everything that they've done and contributed. So. On the kind of behind the scenes, I'm proud of, like you, me, and Matt being able to really operationalize the podcast and run it well and, and put out really professional episodes. So that's been a cool journey too. [00:17:46] Future of Data and AI--- [00:17:46] Michael Cusic: Maybe as a question to close, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the future of the industry of data and AI. What do you think about this current state of it and where, where it's going, what's hype, what's not, what scares you, what excites you? Anything like that? [00:18:00] Megan Bowers: Yeah. It's interesting because just even from the time I started hosting to now, how many of our episodes have shifted to talk about AI. There is a lot of hype in the industry, but the fact that we continue to talk with professionals and like those episodes where we're saying, "Here's how someone used AI in their workflow. Here's how someone got business value." Those have been super popular. I think it indicates AI is here to stay and it's something that can make data analysts, data scientists a lot more efficient. It's something that can open up new possibilities with the way you can enrich your data, with the way you can automate things, with the way you can prototype so much faster. So I think there's a ton of opportunity, I think. The AI agent topic is still a bit overhyped or under defined. We just had Andrew Merrill come on and talk about AI agents as a spectrum of agentic, which I think is true and so many people and companies wanna rush to define, "Okay, we've hit agentic AI," and then I'm sure people wanna rush to define when they've hit, like super intelligence. There's always business incentives to try to say that you've hit those things, but just hearing about actual use cases has been really cool, and I'm sure we'll see AI agents continue to evolve. I think like the role of the data analyst will continue to evolve too. At first, we all wanted to say that AI is just a tool for the data analyst, but I think. Like some, some data analyst roles will shift, or there'll be a need for maybe less data analysts, or they'll be more of a focused on annotating the data or data quality. So I think that role in particular is gonna continue to shift. I think it's just like more important than ever to stay on top of it, to like be learning what you can. I'm biased, but be listening to podcasts, be listening to thought leadership of making sure you're ahead of it versus stuck in your spreadsheet, not open to changing technologies and changing methodologies and things like that. So that's my quick take on that. [00:20:12] Michael Cusic: One of my favorite tech podcasts, the Verge, they talk about this all the time, about what is hype, what's not, and mm. Especially around the agent AI conversation. About the AI was gonna like literally click around on your screen and navigate webpages for you and be able to do things, and then turns out that doesn't really work. So they've gone back to where they're just using a bunch of APIs plugged into a backend AI agents and communicating that way. So, um, I'm super curious how it's all gonna shake out in the end. Like if there's gonna be some kind of breakthrough use case or some company that kind of cracks it to be able to really start taking action on behalf of people. Mm-hmm. But until then, I don't know. I've been like overwhelmed and underwhelmed by AI. Yeah. I feel that. I feel [00:20:54] Megan Bowers: that. [00:20:55] Michael Cusic: I'm sure there'll be like the continuation of that for a while. Yeah. [00:20:58] Final Thoughts and Farewell--- [00:20:58] Michael Cusic: Anything else that you want to add as we close up here? [00:21:01] Megan Bowers: I wanna say thank you to everybody who consistently listens to the show. It's always super cool to hear from listeners, to hear from even Alteryx employees who listened to the podcast as they were interviewing to see what the company was all about. Really fun to hear those stories, and I appreciate everyone's support and sharing of it. It's definitely. It's something that I will miss working on, but I know that our next host and our next program manager are gonna do an amazing job and you can kind of stay tuned for what's to come. [00:21:35] Michael Cusic: Well, thank you, Megan, for showing your thoughts and for being here and for all your amazing work producing this. I wish you the absolute best of luck and positivity going into your next role. Can't wait to see what you do next. [00:21:47] Megan Bowers: Yeah. Thanks so much, Mike. It's been so great working with you. I know you're gonna continue to do a great job. [00:21:53] Michael Cusic: Thanks for listening. To learn more about topics in today's episode, visit the show notes at Alteryx.com/podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. As a reminder, you will not see new episodes in your feed until later in January, but we will return. See you then.

This episode was produced by Megan Bowers (@MeganBowers), Mike Cusic (@mikecusic), and Matt Rotundo (@AlteryxMatt). Special thanks to @andyuttley for the theme music track, and @mikecusic for our album artwork.

Alter Everything Podcast

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199: Data, Community, and a Farewell to Megan

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This episode was produced by Megan Bowers (@MeganBowers), Mike Cusic (@mikecusic), and Matt Rotundo (@AlteryxMatt). Special thanks to @andyuttley for the theme music track, and @mikecusic for our album artwork.