My NOC is 2161 (mathematicians/statisticians) and the minimum requirement stated on the CIC website for this NOC is a graduate degree in math/stat. However while getting my PhD I worked for 4 years (part time: 20 hrs/wk) as a Research Assistant statistical analyst. My dilemma is whether to count this as work experience in NOC 2161 even though for this NOC, CIC seems to only recognize work done AFTER a graduate degree has been earned. This all boils down to the question of whether you can count part-time work you did while earning a degree which is considered to be the minimum qualification for that line of work.