If you have the insatiable need to deal with raw data, hypothesize a statistical
career.
Michael Soriano, a statistician for the U.S. Department of Energy, found
his career completely by accident. "In college, I discovered I had an aptitude
for mathematics. I wanted to find a field that required mathematical ability,
but didn't require laboratory work!"
His professors gently steered him away from the Bunsen burners and towards
statistics. Now he's happily working within the nuclear chemistry industry.
"Statistical evaluation of measurement data can demonstrate beyond a reasonable
certainty that nuclear weapon material hasn't been stolen by terrorists intent
on making a nuclear bomb."
Of course, not every day is so intense. Some days, Soriano merely confirms
that radioactive contamination wasn't released into the environment. His job
is crucial to both his employer and the world -- and a master's in statistics
made it happen.
"I see statisticians' involvement with computers intensifying," says Soriano.
"More and more, statisticians will simply be interpreting the results of computer
analyses and will spend less time performing the calculations themselves.
"A statistician's job is fun because we get to work with a variety of people
working on a variety of problems. We help discover facts and demonstrate things
that aren't obvious," says Soriano.
Prosper Hevi is a statistician for the Amherstberg Museums and Galleries.
Hevi loves statistics -- they're like a mysterious case that he can crack.
"It's fun because I love the subject. I love data manipulation and analysis.
Data tells a lot of interesting stories when seen in the correct light."
Hevi transforms tourism raw data into easy-to-understand, clear conclusions.
"The tourism industry needs to constantly assess trends, preferences, customer
service problems. Numbers and their relationships have to be written up in
words, graphs and reports. Most other people who aren't statisticians don't
understand just by looking at the numbers. You have to precisely tell them
what the numbers mean and why."
Not everyone thinks endless analysis is fun -- but Hevi offers encouragement
for fellow enthusiasts. "It's more fun and rewarding than the bad rap about
statistics and math you hear in high school and college. But you have to be
determined, logical and open-minded, rather than judgmental. If you can first
think of things and issues more as what they are rather than what you would
want them to be, you're halfway there."
There's one hazard to a statistician's life -- numbers dominate everything.
For some people, it's easy to leave work at the office and escape from data-crunching
mode. But other folks may have problems, like naming their pet 7816x and their
spouse Prime Set One.
"Some statisticians can't relate well to anyone other than other statisticians,"
says Debra Reece, a statistician in Arkansas. "We tend to reduce people to
numbers, and in a health service organization like mine, we have to constantly
remind ourselves that every admission is a person in need."
Reece says the future for statistics is strong. "The future
trends look good for statisticians. Everyone is money-conscious. We want to
save money and we want to sink money into projects that will work, benefit
the public and will do what they are intended to do. [Statistics] are no longer
something that only large corporations use."