Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Greg Sundberg on July 31, 2012 at 12:50am

Hi Parag,

I humbly recommend you focus on marketing analytics (unless you wish to work in healthcare or financial services which will take you down a different path). Don't worry about the skill, techniques, methods, etc so much as how you can either 1) Create New Users for a company or, 2) Retain Users for a company. It all boils down to this. Show them the value of loyal customers. Show them the value of lowering the acquisition cost of acquiring new customers. Don't over think it. Focus on customers, customers, customers.

G'luck,

Greg

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Permalink Reply by parag kulkarni on July 31, 2012 at 10:14am

Hi Greg,

First of all thanks a lot for quick reply . I really appreciate your "out of box" thinking. I will certainly follow this path as I am also inclined to analytics that too in marketing.I hope you will continue to guide me in future too.

regards

parag

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Permalink Reply by Vincent Granville on July 31, 2012 at 10:09am

Great suggestion Greg! Fraud detection is also a path with lots of potential, especially if the economy does not improve. Environmental stats might also see a come back.

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Permalink Reply by Dmitry Vakhrushev on August 1, 2012 at 9:55pm

Hi Parag,

I would like to add about the software. SAS and SQL are very popular and you will encounter them in many job descriptions. SPSS Statisitcs is nice to know  as well.

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Permalink Reply by parag kulkarni on August 3, 2012 at 10:39am

Thanks Dmitry.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Cormier on August 7, 2012 at 7:38am

I agree that the big domains are marketing / media research, scientific (including healthcare) and  financial.  I spent 25 years in market and media research and am now in anti money laundering.  The 2 key drivers for most of us in analytics are quality (however it is measured) and cost.  Most of the analytics teams I am aware of want skills in math / stat, data / DB, computational tools, domain knowledge, problem solving, process improvement, . . . .  

 

No one person will be strong in all areas.   My suggestion is to be very strong in one area and knowledgeable in 2 or 3 more.  The ability to relate your skills to one or both of the key drivers of quality and cost will also go a long way.

 

Take care - Bill

 

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”-- Mark Twain

 

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Permalink Reply by parag kulkarni on August 13, 2012 at 9:33am

yeah , I agree with you.have you any time thought of financial / job insecurity any time in your service span of 25 yrs?

rgds

parag

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Permalink Reply by Gbadebo John O. on August 13, 2012 at 8:45am

hi parag..am an undergraduate student of stats and from the little i know so far , i think  you have to be conversant with  spss  statistic software...you can actually teach yourself  how to use the software...its easy  to learn.

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Permalink Reply by parag kulkarni on August 13, 2012 at 9:30am

oh john thanks a lot

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Permalink Reply by Tom Miller on September 3, 2012 at 12:25pm

Another way you might capitalize on your graduate degree in stats is add a little Lean Six Sigma background.  Maybe a green belt or better.  Because you have both the degree and industrial experience you should be able to mine your experience for the project that is often required for a "belt".

There is a "free" version of SAS which I think is called "R" and you should not overlook Excel if you have access to Microsoft Office.  While the programming doesn't crossover if you need a free spreadsheet look at OpenOffice.org

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