STAT 440 Interview Series
Spring 2012, Tuesday, late afternoon, statistics studio. Students start logging into Elluminate, a web conferencing program, and are soon face to face with AnnMaria De Mars, president of the Julia Group and World Judo Champion. Professor Ottesen, at the instructor's terminal, inquires, "Can you hear me?" De Mars replies. Yes, she can.
The web conference session has a two-way visual and audio connection between Ottesen and De Mars. Ottesen interviews De Mars with a set of questions the students formulated while conducting some brief background research on De Mars before the interview. The students watch and listen to De Mars answer their questions on screen and comment or ask more questions for her in the chat box integrated into the web conference window.
This past quarter, students in the SAS(SAS/STAT© Software) Certification Preparation course have been studying for the SAS Base Programming Exam and grappling with infamous "Ottesen data sets." But SAS is not just about programming. There is a whole SAS community out there, and Ottesen has come up with a new way to help budding SAS programmers get connected: the Webcam Interview Series, featuring a diverse group of SAS users ranging from experienced professionals to young programmers.
Each interviewee had a different perspective to add to the series, making each interview unique and memorable. In addition to De Mars, we spoke with Bob Rodriguez, director of R&D at SAS and 2012 President of the ASA; Renato Villacorte, senior statistician at Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates; Art Carpenter, CALOXY owner, consultant, and Cal Poly graduate; and Susan Slaughter, co-author of “The Little SAS Book.” Our questions covered topics such as their experience in industry and their approach to the hiring process.
We learned that Villacorte looks for candidates who have had experience working with data through projects or internships and who have solid communication skills. He looks to see whether candidates are active in the field, attending and presenting at conferences.
When interviewing a candidate for a job position, Rodriguez mentioned that he looks for people who pass the "pencil test." When Rodriguez is describing his company or the colleagues the candidate could be working with, is the interviewee actively taking notes? Is he asking questions about the job? Is the candidate showing that he wants to be there?
Companies are looking for qualified individuals who have not only the aptitude and skills required to perform well on the job but also the attitude and desire to be there and feel invested in the quality of their work and in their relationships with other team members.
We also wanted to compare the benefits of working in industry right after college to those of going directly to graduate school, and we turned to recent students turned professionals for advice. Kathryn Martin, senior researcher at UCLA School of Public Health, worked at the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center while in graduate school for both her MPH and Ph.D. in epidemiology and stressed how important it was for her to get experience while studying. Having that experience under her belt was a key component of her educational career and helped launch her into her current research position.
Tyler Benz, recent Cal Poly statistics graduate, decided to enter industry after graduation and now works with SAS to analyze defense data at Northrop Grumman Corporation. He believes he made the right decision but is still thinking about continuing on to graduate school.
We also spoke to Tyler Smith, associate professor at National University, who also believes he benefited from entering industry before continuing his education. Whichever post-graduation plans you decide to pursue, be sure to get experience through jobs, internships or other projects in college and throughout your career thereafter.
It was great to compare the success of our two Cal Poly alumni in the interview series, one at the beginning of his career and the other at the height of his career. Carpenter has worked on many high profile environmental studies and clinical trials including data analysis for the 1989 Valdez oil spill and design of experiments for cleanup efforts. Benz recognizes Cal Poly for teaching him how SAS works, not just how to use SAS. He identifies how this has served as an invaluable foundation for his expansive and still growing knowledge of SAS. The quality of our Cal Poly education is unquestionable.
This interview series presented two main take-home messages: get experience in working with big, real life data sets and be engaged — network at professional conferences, get in contact with people and show employers that you are interested in the job you are interviewing for. Interviews are not a one-way street. Ask questions and never stop learning.
Special thanks to all of our interviewees for taking time out of their busy schedules to speak with us, to Becky for organizing this interview series and to Tom for going above and beyond the call of duty in providing technical support. This wonderful experience could not have happened without you all.
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