How do you get a career in statistics?
This is a common question from our students. Unfortunately our perspective does not always lend itself easily to life outside of research and academia, as what I look for in a curriculum vitae and in a job interview is usually with respect to hiring someone who will become an academic staff member. However, fellow statistician, and the Young Statisticians representative for the New Zealand Statistical Association executive committee, Kylie Maxwell has posted her own experience as part of the International Year of Statistics.
James Curran's interests are in statistical problems in forensic science. He consults with forensic agencies in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He produces and maintains expert systems software for the interpretation of evidence. He has experience as an expert witness in DNA and glass evidence, appearing in courts in the United States and Australia. He has very strong interests in statistical computing, and in automation projects. See all posts by James Curran »
For anyone else who is asked the question “where can statistics take me?”, on the Department of Statistics website at http://goo.gl/UUywg there are no fewer than 28 stories from our graduates, who tell why they chose statistics and what great jobs they are doing now. And there’s just a few examples of the sorts of jobs statistics got them: Silver Ferns performance analyst; business analyst for a global computer games company; bank interest-rate trader; maths and stats teacher in Ghana (via Auckland Girls Grammar School); senior manager for Microsoft; cancer researcher; sales and operations assistant for adidas; analyst, Air New Zealand.
11 years ago
The “posted” link is missing a colon; try this instead: http://www.statistics2013.org/2013/05/13/how-i-got-into-a-career-in-statistics/
11 years ago
One problem I have found is that students don’t necessarily see jobs that require “statistics”, or even “mathematics”, so don’t see much direct demand. I have to tell them that if the job asks for “quantitative” or “analytics” skills that often implies “understands statistics”, so there are lots of jobs out there.
11 years ago