Lately, I've been reading about famous statisticians in history. It's interesting to read about their lives, their contributions to the world and how they became interested in statistics.
Reading these stories from history also made me curious about current statisticians and how they became interested in statistics. What was that spark that made each one think, I want to pursue this as a career?
My story is less of a spark and more of an “a-ha” moment. I was in graduate school majoring in differential equations and not really enjoying the theoretical side of math. I also noticed that the students graduating from that field were not getting jobs, but all the students graduating in statistics were. So, I made the switch to statistics. Now, after 15 years working at SAS, I have never regretted it.
The latest in our "Ask the statistician" blog and video series documents the responses to this same question, which we recorded at the recent 2013 SAS Global Forum. From putt-putt games to family influences, the responses are fun to hear:
How about you? Is your story similar or completely different? Tell us what got you interested in statistics?
