What Do Statisticians Do?

Statisticians and data scientists solve challenging problems and guide societal and scientific advances.

• Here are some real-life examples of the jobs performed by statisticians.
• Statisticians and data scientists are never bored, because each project is different.

Statisticians are respected!

• They see their names in print as part of a team publishing research articles.
• They attend national and international conferences to present work to colleagues.
• Statistics is an international discipline with studies being conducted around the world.
• Statistical teams are often multi-national.

Statisticians are employed!

• The unemployment rate for people with data skills is extremely low and expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
• The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a good source of information.
• Statisticians work in all sectors of the economy and in diverse geographic areas.

Statisticians are creative and have fun!

• Being a statistician is like being a detective and trying to understand the story the data is trying to tell you. This provides a thrill of discovery and a challenge to then communicate those insights to others. This can be rewarding!
• FlowingData has examples of creative data visualizations.