[Q] When did you start learning statistics and why?

[u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN]

Was it for school/work? Any hobbyists here?

[u/sleekcinch]

Doing a degree on statistics 😭

[u/Humble_Aardvark_2997 → u/sleekcinch]

It’s a fake field. All made up. Money making hack l. (Great for bookies and assorted idiots). /s

[u/fermat9990]

In graduate school. I eventually graduated with a PhD in Psychological Measurement and Evaluation.

[u/Duckandrun12]

1. Failed OChem too many times. I was decent at math, so I switched to stats.

[u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN → u/Duckandrun12]

Why didn’t you switch to bs math?

[u/Duckandrun12 → u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN]

I thought Stats would set me up for a job better.

[u/Difficult-Trust6345 → u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN]

Cause it's bs

[u/Double_Clue4282 → u/Duckandrun12]

Oof same thing for me

[u/PTSDaway]

I hated statistics so much when I took my degree in Earth Sciences, did extremely poorly and barely passed.

Then I got to the part of writing my thesis, the handout scripts my supervisor told me to use made some good graphs, using real data instead of textbook was the difference. Being able to extract so much cool information from time series gave me an itch I haven't been able to properly scratch since.

[u/Unbearablefrequent]

Tried reading Epi papers on nutrition. Got completely embarrassed by someone who could. Motivated me a lot....

[u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN → u/Unbearablefrequent]

Hehe what was your field of study/profession then? For me, it was psychology that did it haha although I’m not from the psych field

[u/JAMIEISSLEEPWOKEN → u/Unbearablefrequent]

Hehe what was your field of study/profession then? For me, it was psychology that did it haha although I’m not from the psych field. It’s nice reading research papers that rely so much on statistics and experimental design just working without fumbling along the way lol

[u/e8thn0t3]

For my graduate degree. I felt it would help me professionally because my undergraduate degree was in music.

[u/Haruspex12]

My sophomore year in college and they made me or I would never have taken the class. I mean, what’s the point?

Of course that view was held two graduate degrees ago and at the end of my freshman year.

It turns out they are useful.

Who knew?!?

[u/MissLaorte_101]

Eigenlijk op mbo niveau kennis mee gemaakt maar tijdens m'n bachelor echt verliefd op geraakt waardoor ik nu m'n master daarin doe

[u/Hopeful_Crab_1745]

started at highschool, a little bit at college, and at work

[u/Proud_Satisfaction_7]

On my BS program (into to probability and statistics 1st year; statistics + advanced statistical + computational statistics 2nd year, econometrics + math fin valuation + quantitative finance seminar + data science for economists + ML for product application + intro to ML in finance 3rd ear; quantitative finance + statistical data analysis + panel data analysis + ML course will be in the 4th year).
First it was just an obligatory course but then I found out about its application in finance, fin tech etc. and decided to study in that direction. Quantitative analysis is a way to apply statistical methods to finance instruments modeling, analysis of fin markets using advanced maths and programming. Main goal - find imperfections in markets and gain profit by eliminating them.

[u/Kyleog7 → u/Proud_Satisfaction_7]

Very nice, what degree? QF? Also interested to hear what area you are working in at the moment.

[u/Proud_Satisfaction_7 → u/Kyleog7]

I’m currently studying economics and finance in ICEF faculty. Wanna get masters in the US, in QF. I’m currently working on studying entropy.

[u/WolfVanZandt]

Briefly in high school but most of the college curricula when I was working through college had their own stat courses and since I did work in three majors I got plenty there.

[u/efrique]

There were several stats and prob classes in my first degree. I enjoyed them. Did okay, but didn't really focus on them. Did a second undergrad degree while working, picked up more stats. Hit the right class, suddenly got what I'd been doing in all the previous classes, and realized that was what I wanted to be doing

Now, well, I guess it's both work and one of my hobbies.

[u/DataPastor]

I started with business statistics in college, where I majored in marketing, and continued at graduate school with an MSc in Data Analytics—essentially a master’s degree in statistics.

[u/Kyleog7]

First year, In Econ undergrad. Stats 1, then Econometrics with a hint of R programming. Now working in SNA Statistics.

[u/ChubbyFruit]

Didn't understand statistics in high school dropped the class, then in my second year of college it all kind of clicked on a data science course and I've been focusing on it ever since.

The why is cause to me it's the best skill set to understand the world around me.

[u/baileyarzate]

I was studying math. I was close to graduating and realized I had no marketable skills other than proving theorems.

So I stayed an additional year in my undergrad to get two minors, one in statistics and another computer science. Took regression analysis and fell in love. Then worked as a government statistician for a few years.

Now I’m an applied scientist at a defense tech startup in silicon beach. Currently studying CS (ML) at Georgia Tech (OMSCS).

Taking graduate time series analysis, specifically learning GARCH modeling, has made me consider then getting a masters in financial engineering in the future and moving to fintech/quant.