What sort of jobs can I get with a statistics masters?

[chetanxavier]

I'm coming from a undergrad CS and math background and I've been admitted to various statistics programs and will most likely be attending cornell or columbia. How is the current job market with this degree? Is the market flooded and filled with applicants? Is it possible to obtain a job in something like finance and algo trading given my background?

[ashramsoji]

Have you tried looking for the kind of jobs that you are interested in and what the educational requirements are? Sometimes it helps to go on Linkedin and find people who hold the position you would want and see what their background is.

 

I think you are going to have a hard time getting an answer here because your question is so specific. That being said, it seems like you shouldn't have a hard time getting a job with a Stats MS/PhD, it just depends more on what field you want to go into.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

A lot of possibilities. Biostatistics, data science, machine learning, actuary (if you pass the P and the FM exams), SAS or R programmer, etc. Try to get an internship in an area that interests you. That seems to help many grads land jobs a lot more quickly.

[chetanxavier]

A lot of possibilities. Biostatistics, data science, machine learning, actuary (if you pass the P and the FM exams), SAS or R programmer, etc. Try to get an internship in an area that interests you. That seems to help many grads land jobs a lot more quickly.

I'm going to be living in NYC and the expenses there are huge. Which of these career paths would be the most lucrative? I was thinking machine learning but I think data mining jobs often require a Phd.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

I'm going to be living in NYC and the expenses there are huge. Which of these career paths would be the most lucrative? I was thinking machine learning but I think data mining jobs often require a Phd.

 

These are all pretty lucrative. However, the jobs with the highest overall salaries are often located in expensive cities too. I have friends in the Bay area who are making six figure salaries and still have little disposable income leftover after paying for everything (and are also priced out of buying property).

[ashramsoji]

Piggy-backing on this:  does anyone have a good resource on salary info? I'm getting my MS Stats and in trying to decide what to specialize in, it would be good to have a sense of what kind of specializations are really hot right now (or in the next 2-3 years, I suppose).

 

I've tried things like Glassdoor, but that's not the clearest way to get at salary info.

 

Just wondering how others decided how to focus their own specializations, either with their MS or PhD.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Piggy-backing on this:  does anyone have a good resource on salary info? I'm getting my MS Stats and in trying to decide what to specialize in, it would be good to have a sense of what kind of specializations are really hot right now (or in the next 2-3 years, I suppose).

 

I've tried things like Glassdoor, but that's not the clearest way to get at salary info.

 

Just wondering how others decided how to focus their own specializations, either with their MS or PhD.

I think machine learning and data science are good bets though. I have seen positions starting at $90k at start-ups in places like Houston and Austin. The work seems pretty interesting as well -- ultimately, I think that is more important than salary. Commanding a very high salary may not be worth it if it is going to make you miserable!

[ashramsoji]

I think machine learning and data science are good bets though. I have seen positions starting at $90k at start-ups in places like Houston and Austin. The work seems pretty interesting as well -- ultimately, I think that is more important than salary. Commanding a very high salary may not be worth it if it is going to make you miserable!

When you say data science do you mean big data/analysis?

 

What kind of courses would one take if they wanted to learn machine (ha) learning?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

When you say data science do you mean big data/analysis?

 

What kind of courses would one take if they wanted to learn machine (ha) learning?

Yes, but data science is more than just big data.

 

You should take machine learning, statistical machine learning, and an artificial intelligence class. I think that, plus stats, should be sufficient for coursework. You should learn Hadoop, Java, Python, and MySQL on your own, and you should pursue internships. The internship experience will likely matter more than the courses.

[ashramsoji]

Yes, but data science is more than just big data.

 

You should take machine learning, statistical machine learning, and an artificial intelligence class. I think that, plus stats, should be sufficient for coursework. You should learn Hadoop, Java, Python, and MySQL on your own, and you should pursue internships. The internship experience will likely matter more than the courses.

 

Thanks Mocha. I'm going to be working full-time, so an internship is out of the question.

 

That seems like a lot of programming languages to learn on my own while not using them.......or are they used in class? Am I able to take a course like machine learning or AI without a CS background?

[Stat Assistant Professor]

For those classes, you will probably use Octave, MATLAB, and/or R for implementing AI and machine learning algorithms. If you take a statistical computing class, you'll like work with R, which is similar to Octave and MATLAB. I don't think you really need to take a stand-alone class on these. As long as you have a basic understanding of programming constructs (like if-then statements, for and while loops, assignment, and functions/passing variables <-- this is the big one) and basic matrix/vector algebra, you should be fine with it. Plus, there are TONS of online resources if you need to look up how to use a specific math function (like computing the inverse of a matrix, say), and there's no real reason to memorize these.

 

You might need to learn Java and/or Python on your own, but again, there are so many online resources that you can teach yourself. It seems like data science and macine learing uses mainly these languages and/or R and Octave.