GTA accepted

I got the job! An answer to subconscious prayer. I was contacted by Dr. Matthew Cushing who is the faculty advisor of the Economic Graduate Student Association. I was quite frank with him and admitted I didn’t have adequate training in Economics. But as the requirements state A strong background in statistics required. Coursework in econometrics and economics is preferred, he assured me it wasn’t necessary. Which was a relief, because I only had:

  • ECON 100 - Contemporary Economic Issues
  • ECON 270 - Principles of Economics, Macroeconomics
  • FIN 480 - Investments

as an undergrad at UNK. Basically, so long as I knew how to calculate the β for a linear regression:

beta-hat

I would be qualified for the position. Time to start studying those beta hats!

Further into the application process I learned that I’ll be working with Dr. Eric Thompson & Dr. Mary McGarvey both professors of Economics. I had caught Dr. McGarvey’s eye specifically because of my background in computer science (go figure). She wanted someone who would be able to help with SHAZAM: a rather archaic (IMO) econometrics software package.

shazam

SHAZAM Econometrics…should be called Billy Batson Econometrics

My guess is she used SHAZAM during her time as a graduate student. Now that choice is being perpetuated onto future students. I wouldn’t be so against it if the documentation were a little easier to digest or if the video content on Youtube wasn’t so scarce. I learn best by seeing. Monkey see. Monkey do. And when there are mainstream alternatives like SAS, R, a multitude of Python libraries such as SciPy, heck even Octave. Why insist upon using this? I may end up recanting on my beliefs after getting more familiar with SHAZAM. But it won’t change my opinion that students should be taught and trained on software that is used in their job specific industry.