Building Your Career as a Statistician: A Practical Guide to Longevity, Happiness and Accomplishments
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The title of this edited book, Building your career as a statistician: A practical guide to longevity, happiness and accomplishments, looks very tempting for a statistician. As the name suggests, this book focuses on nonstatistical aspects crucial for a successful career in statistics, which is a notable strength. For a statistician, while technical skills are essential, the emphasis on productivity, communication, leadership, and other soft skills is valuable, which is the motivation of this book. Quite a few books are written for building careers in other professions, but this is the first book I have seen on building a career as a statistician. However, I am still not convinced about how this book is a practical guide for longevity, happiness, and accomplishments as a statistician! The book is broadly divided into four sections. The first section, dealing with ‘working with self,’ consists of five chapters on productivity, communication, creativity, and innovation, which could be helpful in improving individual skills. It also addresses individual factors responsible for critical thinking and decision-making under uncertainty. The second section, on ‘working with others,’ consists of three chapters on group and organizational factors, influence and leadership, and effective work relationships, which focus on the skills needed to work with others. The third section advises readers on career planning and continued learning. The last section consists of chapters contributed by practicing statisticians who have shared their ideas on career development as statisticians. They reinforce some of the views expressed in the earlier chapters of the book. Each chapter covers both foundational principles and practical applications, although the application has nothing to do with statistics. Overall, I have no hesitation in saying that this book is a comprehensive guide for developing essential nonstatistical skills in statistics. However, it is not very clear how the book’s principles have been successfully applied in the field. I strongly recommend this book to all statisticians and the library.
Author: Kuldeep Kumar
Institution: Bond University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4403204805