statistics.com PASS certificates?

[weatherman]

Hello everyone, glad to be part of this community! :wave:

My background is in math and I am currently doing a post-doc in healthcare related research.

I often do statistical analyses for work but have no formal education in statistics, therefore for my personal development and to show my potential next employer that I have some knowledge of statistics I was looking for online certificates in biostatistics.

I came across the statistics.com certificates and must say that the reasonable pricing and time flexibility seem to fit my situation quite well. Not having to write a master thesis is also a plus. So my question is: does statistics.com have any credibility at all in industry? Has anyone taken a class or certificate there and can recommend it? Any good alternatives?
Perhaps I should stress that biostatistics are not and probably won't be the primary focus of my job.

Sorry if a similar question has been asked before (I couldn't find it), if so please post me the link.
Thank you!

 

[Mean Joe]

My relevant background/disclaimer: I've taken a couple of statistics.com classes, but not to get a certificate. It is a good option, I would say. I don't have enough experience outside my own job to speak for "the" industry at large.

I think it's good that you already have a job that gives you some statistics experience. I'm not sure how much more an "online university" (pardon if my nomenclature is incorrect) certificate would help. imo university is where people went to find themselves. If they already knew what they wanted to do, the best thing would be to go get job experience, even better than academic learning. I'm not going to knock academic learning, but imo you get broad learning (not saying this is a bad thing!) -- you learn stuff that may be applicable today and also learn stuff that might help you shape the future of "the industry". Whereas in the job, you won't need such broad knowledge (I guess it depends on "the" industry).

I would say statistics.com has credibility, but this is my opinion: when you go for an interview, and the boss looks at your schooling, it is also to form some kind of bond. "Hey you went to Stanford too, just like me". I wouldn't say a Stanford statistician knows better stats than another university statistician. (I know you said you got your degree in math). I don't know if you can form a bond with an employer over statistics.com. But maybe that will change in the future.

There's more to say still, that you may want to keep pursuing statistics.com. An employer may be impressed, and would understand, that you continued on statistics.com while holding your real stats job.

Another option I'll throw out there besides statistics.com, is Coursera. You can take classes for free, and classes are taught by professors from prestigious universities. If you follow the argument that making the bond with an employer is something worthwhile. You can at least say you took some courses from Stanford professors (hopefully the employer likes Stanford!). You can do this in addition to statistics.com, because it's free.

Another option, if you really want to show an employer that you know stats: make a website and do statistical analysis there. Of course, you'll need to find some data -- maybe you can find some data that is related to the industry you're interested in? Then do your work there. I think that would be impressive and really show your interest. What kind of nut goes looking for biostats data in his free time, and runs a website?