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Hi Rachel, I can fully understand your situation. Because I was in this situation some 1 yr back. You still have a Medical stats degree. I just had a BTech in Computer Science from a reputed Institute in India. I would just tell you what I did. I wont say you'd get success but I can only say that I did this.
1) Since I didnt have any formal detailed course in statistics I went and read statistics.
2) I heard that econometrics was at the root of statistical modeling so bought a book of Gujarati( a good writer in India ) and started equipping myself with the concepts of regression.
3) approached innumerable firms explaining them how was I better than rest of the mediocre stats graduate in India without a formal degree in stats ( just by my confidence)
4) since I had experience in software when I started trying for analytics, I started learning SAS and tried reading programs and learning syntax.
5) went to the analytics companies websites and read their case studies and explained myself that this case could be solved by the techniques I know..If I found a new word in the case studies , I went to the net and tried reading about it.
6) explained myself to prepare for an interview that most of the things that are done to solve such business problems involve some amount of common sense and a decent command over maths.
7) last but not the least, approached infinites start ups to take me.
feel free to write me at [email protected] in case of any help you need.
Every employer is looking for someone with education, certifiable technical skills, and experience. 2 out of the 3 usually keeps you competitive. 1 out of the 3 usually keeps you hunting for a job.
One phrase - BI. If you're a statistician with little to no programming skills right now and no work experience, you in a tough spot. Lots of companies are looking for people with a specific skill, not just an general education in that area. Why? Because most firms don't like paying for a traditional training program - at least until they're sure you're worth keeping.
So if you have Medical Statistics background, SAS, SPSS, or Cognos might be a good skill to pickup and or perfect. Even a MCITP: Business Intelligence wouldn't be horrible, though less helpful in staying close to a true Analyst/Statistician roll. If you have one or more of those skills, you should be emphasizing that. So much so that you have to run the risk [as someone has said already] of ending up in the IT department, rather than Analytics. This is ok, so long as it is only with this first employer.
Next, the following industry sites are your new favorite places on the web:
http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov...
http://www2.healthmetrics.org/Extranet/95542/forms.aspx?msgid=2lv13...
http://www.himss.org/ASP/index.asp
Once you're networking amongst proven professionals and you can bring a technical skill to the table in conjunction with your education, you are now a candidate that is potentially more valuable than someone currently in place. Why? Because even if they pay you the same salary, you have a technical skill that is likely to increase your productivity. This becomes hard to argue with unless a current candidate or employee has a great deal more experience.
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