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Contact: Markus Weick
Country: Germany
Award Category: SAS Analytics Explorers Advocate
How has SAS Analytics Explorers benefited your career?
As a Risk Management Professional turned IT-Consultant I found SAS Analytics Explorers especially helpful for the following aspects
- Support my lifelong learning
- Shape my personal brand and showing my commitment
- Extending my network
SAS Analytics Explorers is the starting point of my daily SAS activities. It provides me with wider SAS Knowledge and with the resources (points) for certifications. Together with activities in the SAS support communities I can grow contacts with other SAS users which have already lead to approaches for common work.
Secondary effects of the SAS Analytics Explorers offers are the showcasing of SAS compentencies via certifications, the SAS communities profile, Credly and LinkedIn, which helped me in getting project assignments externally as well a internally. For example I was assigned the task of supporting our new joiners in learning SAS.
And I think, that for instance the visibility due to my active involvement with the SAS Analytics Explorers helped with my promotion last year.
(And I have to admit, that it’s fun to get points for challenges about yourself. 😊)
What is your favorite challenge you've completed in the program?
There are quite a few candidates for the favorite role. Since I joined in November ’21 I participated in nearly all of the challenges and a few weeks ago I reached the 100.000 mark.
As can be seen when comparing my ranking in the different categories I especially like the whole Education category.
If I had to select a single one as favorite, it’s still the „Become an Analytics Thought Leader“ series, which prepared the article by Jack Phillips, Jason Larson (https://iianalytics.com/community/blog/six-must-have-mindsets-to-be-a-world-class-data-and-analytics...). It‘s setting the SAS offers into a wider context.
But I also like the programming challenges, especially if they have a fun component.
How have you shared the program with others at your organization?
I use several ways to share the program with others, not only at my organization. I love to wear my SAS Analytics Explorers hoodie in SAS related MS Teams meetings. It sometimes leads to explaining about SAS Analytics Explorers.
Another way is the introductionary SAS training for our new joiners, where I present SAS Analytics Explorers within the SAS context.
I also use the hashtag #SASAnalyticsExplorers when sharing SAS posts in the social networks.
In the SAS Suppurt Communities SAS Analytics Explorers are part of my profile.
Furthermore I am talking to SAS users outside my organization, clients for example, who I have referred successfully to the SAS Analytics Explorers program. Especially proud I am of last years award winner, a client of mine, whom I introduced to SAS Analytics Explorers:
So we could fly to last years SAS Innovate together.
As one of the team members said: „Markus, you are living the SAS Analytics Explorers“.
What SAS products do you use?
SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Studio
