Hi, I'm Dereck.

I'm Dereck Mendez, a professional building my career at the intersection of data, software and Machine Learning.

My professional background started outside of traditional data roles, where I developed experience working with people, processes and business needs. That experience shaped the way I approach technical problems today: I don't see data as an isolated technical exercise, but as a tool for understanding problems and making better decisions.

As I moved deeper into analytics, I began working with SQL, Excel, Power BI and Python, gradually expanding toward statistics, Data Science and Machine Learning. That progression eventually led me to explore the engineering side of ML: reproducible experiments, versioned data, testing, containers, model tracking and deployment.

Today, my main interests are Data Science, Machine Learning and MLOps. I'm particularly interested in the space between a model that works in a notebook and a system that can be maintained, evaluated and trusted in the real world.

I don't consider learning something I complete once. I prefer learning by building projects, testing ideas, understanding failures and improving the system with every iteration.

My goal is to keep growing toward roles where I can combine analytical thinking, software engineering and Machine Learning to solve meaningful problems.