Comments on: Google’s prediction: What will be the “sexy” job in the next ten years?

By: Cynthia CLotzman

Cynthia CLotzman — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:40:58 +0000

For those of us that have gone to the trouble of calculating the lifetime value of a customer there is no going back. I have been making my living in the direct marketing discipline for over 15 years, and I have never worried about getting a job – ESPECIALLY in hard economic times. When you think about it, lifetime value is a proxy for stock price. Wall Street folks would love to get the numbers we direct marketers get to play with.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:31:42 +0000

I found this article very interesting and insightful. My wife recently received her PhD in Social Science and was required to take many graduate-level statistics classes. Often times during our conversations, we find correlations between how she analyzes research data and how I analyzes Web user data.

By: Sprachreisen

Sprachreisen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:59:37 +0000

Although I worked as a number cruncher myself and this experience helps in running by small ‘business’ on the web, I wouldn’t overrate the analysis part.

Making decisions purely on based on data can also go into the wrong direction – I query my users quite often and adjust my content to the feedback I receive (if possible).

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:42:48 +0000

What Dave said earlier about the R project was right on…it’s a great free stats software that can do what you want (unlike SPSS and SAS), given you are willing to take the time to learn it.

On another note, it is very important to realize that giving the data to some cheap stats laborers will get you what you pay for…analysis independent of its vital context. Stats is all about the big picture, and even if a person is great at the details in the number crunching, if he/she doesn’t keep the big picture in mind, you are not going to get what you need from the analysis. That’s why it seems like there is a gap between the stats nerds who do number crunching on oDesk for a living and those who work in research using stats as a leveraging tool…and you will rarely see the two parties meet in the middle.

Stats is powerful, but with great power comes great responsibility! Use it carefully and wisely and it will open doors to the future…use it carelessly, and you will see why stats can seem more like an experimental science than an exact math…

By: Alan Mitchell

Alan Mitchell — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:18:55 +0000

I think analytics and data modeling technology has evolved massively over the last decade. But being able to align all this fantastic technology with business objectives, and being able spot insightful trends under mounds of information – without succumbing to ‘analysis paralysis’ – is a skillset which I agree will become increasingly sought after.

By: alex

alex — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:35:41 +0000

I think that’s right. All Harvard Students are also taught to work with studies of data and analytics and they get taught to work with this data. And the most growing business on the stock are companies with Harvard. But don’t tell everybody. ;)

By: Peter Vo

Peter Vo — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:16:10 +0000

Hello there conversion rate squirrels!

What advice do you have for a university graduate looking to get into this field?

I’m a fresh grad that’s just started a career in web analytics. I’m a junior web analyst at one of Australia’s largest online publishers. I have about 1-2 years of SEO/PPC experience under my belt, but a specialisation in website/conversion rate optimisation I’ve always wanted to pursue.

You guys might also want to join over in the conversation over here. Eagerly awaiting your thoughts. Thank you.

By: How to Speak Japanese

How to Speak Japanese — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:52:55 +0000

>>Interesting and insightful article. Wish you guys would send more of this to my email<<

I copy on that – the articles you post (when you post) are always helpful and add a significant value to understand the inner workings of my business. Please, don’t leave us in the dark – bring more interesting posts like this one to your blog. Thx

By: Santa Claus

Santa Claus — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:52:01 +0000

It is true that we log more and more data from more and more sources. This quite often leads to false interpretations and statistics that do not match. IMHO there is need for decent understanding of the data and its various sources, but no real statistician is needed for analyzing a website.

I can do without them – I have a horde of Elvs that analyze the millions of letters I receive from kids around the world every year – and the results are always well received :) Ho Ho Ho

By: Virtuoso

Virtuoso — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:25:17 +0000

Great and so true!