WIH_TBL_Ambrioso

The NHL is celebrating women in hockey, and every week through April, NHL.com will highlight a woman from each of the 32 teams. Today, a look at Tampa Bay Lightning software developer/statistical analyst Erika Ambrioso:

Name: Erika Ambrioso
Job title: Software developer/statistical analyst
Education:Florida Institute of Technology, B.S. in Computer Science with a Minor in Computational Mathematics. M.S. student at the University of South Florida
Years of hockey experience: 1
Describe your job in 2-3 sentences: As a software developer I am involved in building analytic systems from the ground up. I source and clean data as well as create internal tools for visualization and analysis.
What's the best piece of career advice you've ever been given, or what advice do you like to give others?
Learn Python! In my second year of college, I had a professor who recommended learning Python as my next programming language. Now, I use Python every day; and it's not only me, Python is currently the most popular programming language used by developers. I would not be where I am today without it.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement to date?
Getting hired by the Lightning as a data analyst right out of college. A few months after graduation I saw the job posting online and, being a Tampa native, I had to apply. After signing my contract, I felt so much pride knowing that all my hard work prepared me for this and enabled me to get my dream job.
Describe a moment where you proudly thought to yourself, "I can't believe this is my job!"
After winning the cup in 2021 I celebrated with the team and I drank from the cup with Pat Maroon pouring for me. I couldn't believe that within a month of starting my job with the Lightning that I'd be in the locker room with the most famous trophy in the world!
Are you a morning person or night owl?
Night owl
What's your favorite book?
"The Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe"
What's your favorite movie or TV show?
"The World's End"
Do you have any hidden talents (if yes, what)?
My family calls it "Eagle Eye'', basically I have a knack for finding stuff!