Oliver Dormon - Government statistician

Having studied Population Sciences at the University of Southampton, I applied to work for the Office for National Statistics (ONS). I joined the ONS in 2008, and spent nearly three years working on the production and publication of internal migration statistics. This work was interesting and varied, and gave me the opportunity to manage a small team and be responsible for regular quality assurance and publication of outputs. I also developed my SAS skills during this time, having not used the program before joining the ONS.

Following this post I took part in a managed moved process and was moved to a post in the Methodology Division of ONS, where I am now part of a team working on editing and imputation of survey data. This role is quite different to my previous role and allows more time for research and a more statistical focus. The work can be challenging as we have to manage customer expectations of what the imputation methods can accomplish. Often it’s frustrating trying to work out why imputation has failed – or worse, worked, but failed to work as you expected – but the work is rewarding.

Take a look at our guide to becoming a government statistician.