If you're interested in being a statistician in the defense and aerospace industries, of course you need the proper education. Statisticians use mathematics to collect, analyze and present numerical data. They then take their statistical knowledge and use it to design experiments and surveys. When they do this, they collect, process, and analyze the data they get from those experiments and surveys and then interpret them.
This particular type of work is especially important in areas like military defense because without this type of information, decisions could not be made accurately, which could put lives at risk. For example, statisticians may be employed by national defense and work to determine how accurate new weapon developments are, or how effective defense strategies are going to be.
Working for the government
To start, you usually need at least a bachelor's degree to work for the federal government. In some cases, you'll need a Ph.D. or master's. To work in an entry-level job, you'll need a bachelor's degree and 15 semester hours of statistics, or a combination of mathematics and statistics. At least six hours of those combined hours have to be in statistics. If you want to become a mathematical statistician for the federal government, you'll need 24 semester hours in statistics and mathematics, with at least six hours in statistics and 12 hours in advanced mathematics like differential equations or calculus.
In some cases, if you wish, you can sign up for the Armed Forces and get your education through them while training for a career in the military. In fact, this is what many statisticians do. You will then be put to work once you graduate (all the while training even as you attend school) for the Armed Forces itself. This can be beneficial to you, too, because a large part of your schooling is paid for through your service to the Armed Forces, thus relieving you of this particular burden.
Computer roles
Increasingly, computers are taking on a very central role in the application of statistics, so that statisticians are also going to have to very strong background in computer science. The calculation and modeling with statistics is becoming increasingly easier because computers can do much of the analytical work previously done laboriously by hand. That said, though, statisticians need to stay on top of their game and keep up with emerging technologies so as to continue to perform well.
Statistics as a job become increasingly important in the areas of logistics and defense because they can help narrow down what needs to be done and where. As statistics becomes increasingly sophisticated, these kinds of jobs are going to be in more demand, and they will also be done with greater accuracy as well.
Getting the job
If you wish to work in the defense and aerospace logistics industry as a statistician, you should be able to be very focused and self-directed in your work, and you should like working with numbers. Because these two work areas particularly deal with the safety and effectiveness of the strategies and predictions developed, you'll also need to have a strong attention to detail and an exacting nature.
When you begin
When you began as a statistician for these industries, you'll usually begin at an entry-level; you can often start with just a bachelor's degree in statistics or a related field from an accredited university or college. You'll work under a more experienced statistician's supervision and will then move on to positions of greater responsibility. As you continue in your career, you may be required or least desire to get your master's and Ph.D. degrees. As alluded to previously, you'll also need to like to be independent in your work, because you're going to spend a lot of time engaging in research, often working in isolation or nearly so. You may also come up with new statistical methods during the course of your career.
You're also going to need good communication skills, because you're going to be working with teams of people, most of who won't have a specific background in statistics. Instead, you'll be working with engineers, defense personnel, aerospace personnel, or others specific to the field you work in, and you will have to be able to communicate clearly what statistical results mean in layman's terms.
Getting the job
Your school should be able to help you with job placement once you're ready to graduate. If you work for the government in the defense or aerospace industry right away, you may need to take civil service examinations before you can begin to work there. Government agencies as well can be applied directly to for work.
Compensation and outlook
Statisticians working for the government averaged about $86,000 as of 2007. Job prospects vary, but because of the strong emphasis on defense right now, prospects are better than usual.
