graduated with a degree in Statistics..and where are you working now ?

masterinex wrote: ↑I have been looking for a free version of SQL , but no luck , guess mySQL is not the choice

most sql database software companies offer free community editions. DB2-Express C, Oracle Express, absolutely sure mysql has a free version as well. Check out the virtual appliance marketplace (VMware) and download a VA...will save you the hassle of needing to install all the necessary components to get up and running with a database environment.

masterinex wrote: ↑thanks alot for the input guys , I thought this thread will be going docile , but now It is really picking it up. Its always nice to hear success stories , really cheers you up . Im thinking to get into SQL , really dun much about it . Are there any good private colleges which teach those courses ?

To fulltimeIT , how did you found out about your job , what is the jobtitle and what other skills are they looking for ? And how is the job environment ? Isnt it stressful to do nonstop programming and learn new languages ? Im also curious about when you mentioned that your school experience didnt really help you , what we have done so far is all SAS and SAS enterprise guide is totally new to me , I also dun have a major in economics . could that be another roadblock ?

Hey man I found my job through the UofT career website, and I had some previous job experince in SQL and a little bit of SAS very little. My job as an intern right now is not really stressful at all, I work on a lot of different projects but I have plenty of time to work on them and assistant of a Sr.Data analyst to guide me. Suprisingly I don't program much at all, I give u a quick example, I just finished a project on the correlation between interest rate and deposite behavoir, basically they bring me into the meeting, tell me what they want to know, than my manager would help me to get teh data, since I am not very experinced at SAS and EDW, then I use w/e method I want and give them a presentation afterward on my findings, which I did last week. SAS EG is not very hard to learn I am reading the user guide right now as I have nothing to do until afternoon. Major in Econ is not that useful, basically I think what we learn from school is the ability to solve problems and do critical thinking and tell a story from a big set of data to the management.
Of course I think studying stats gave me a good sense of the numbers which defninitly help, but I think what i meant about school not being helpful is b/c I will most likley never need to use any advance stats, 2nd year and some 3rd year at most, so the key its knowing how to apply, even if you only know how to apply intermediate level stats in Uni then you probably have enough knowledge to perform

o yea sorry just a follow up, I know one of the guy in business intelligent department was sent to SAS class paid by the company(keep in mind they require a lot of SAS and inSight there)so I think if you get an interview, you need to convince them that you have the background in programming and that you are willing to learn, then it shouldnt be a big roadblock, thats basically what I did, but I consider myself extremely lucky.

I see lots of internal posting for data mining jobs at the bank requiring SAS but I believe they use the tool just to pull data and don't fully utilize the capability. If you are in Risk Management/Credit/AML they are good areas to apply you Stats knowledge.

Most of my PhD statistic friends go to US after they graduate.

they told me.... theres no future in Canada for statistics grads.

masterinex wrote: ↑Yes , leoben , I'm in Toronto now and I didn't know much about the workshops at UofT .Thanks for bringing it up, I will definitely will look into. How much did the workshops prepare for your job?

On the flip side, I'm also thinking of taking the course called SQL Development to brush up my database knowledge at a private career college called Victoria College. I'm not sure if that's the right course to take if I want go into Data Analysis. They also have a course in SAS . Both courses last 60 hrs and cost around a thousand bucks. Is the money worth it ?

I've taken the U of T SAS workshops (our whole team at work did the workshop and all paid for), quite intense for people with no or little SAS knowledge.

I work in health research and there is always a need for people with good stats background and knowledge of SAS. We used SPSS before but because there are a lot of limitations with SPSS we are switching to SAS.

I am also trying to learn SAS/SQL/Oracle to better prepare myself for future employment!

I did a bachelor in stats, finishing up a masters in stats and starting a PhD in stats.

As you can see, I love my stats. Only used SAS for a little bit, never got into it. I'm more of a Matlab and R kinda guy. I've worked at Stats Canada where they use SPSS but my real passion is for research and teaching so I'll probably go into academia.