Did you miss the Ask the Expert session on becoming a premiere data scientist? Not to worry, you can catch it on-demand at your leisure.
Watch the webinar
During this webinar, I interviewed seasoned data scientist, Carlos Pinheiro. He shared how he’s seen the field evolve through a variety of industries around the world and the lessons he’s learned along the way. Whether you’re an experienced professional or just starting your career, you will learn how you can make the most of your resources to build in-demand skills to advance and lead in the technology-driven world of analytics. We shared information on SAS e-learning and SAS certification, helping you build a foundation for data science success. You’ll also learn about free resources to prepare you to sit for SAS certification exams.
You will learn:
- How to increase skills and productivity.
- What strategies enable you to dive deeper into the work you care about.
- What data scientists can do to increase job security and growth potential.
- How to set yourself apart from your peers.
Here are the questions from the Q&A segment held at the end of the webinar. The slides from the webinar are attached.
Can I try out the Academy for Data Science before I pay for it?
Yes, you can try it out for free for 30 days. Once you sign up for it, then you pay for annual access for the professional level certification you are preparing for.
Can I take exams without having been through the courses?
Yes, you can. The training courses are not required but recommended to pass the exam.
Do I have to have experience programming before taking classes in the Academy?
Yes, you should have programming experience. It doesn’t have to be in SAS. You need to understand how programs work and program logic. You need to be able to look at a program in another language and make sense of it.
Which part of the Academy should I do first?
You can start with whichever level you want to. Many people start with Data Curation, but that is not required.
Can you be a Data Scientist without R and Python but knowing only SAS?
You should be familiar with the languages that are best suited to what you are doing. Sometimes that's SAS, sometimes Python, sometimes R... in SAS you can program in all three of those languages and others, directly. We address this in the Academy for Data Science.
Can I be an AI & ML consultant by passing Data Curation and Advanced Analytics? If Yes, what do I need to know?
I would recommend the AI & Machine Learning professional certification for doing AI & ML consulting. In addition to training and certification, you should have project experience. A few small or pro bono projects early in your career can build the experience you need to gain a reputation in consulting.
I understood your advice for AI and ML but it’s a catch22 and I am not sure how well can I address it.
I understand this: How do you get experience, when experience is required? By having certification, you have what you need to start as a junior consultant on a team, and experience as a junior consultant gives you experience you need to lead projects. It's a challenging process, and you can do it.
It looks like I should take courses aligned to AI & ML and appear for certification exam and then start looking for SAS AI & ML Junior consultant either at SAS or SAS Customers.
The AI & ML training can prepare you for work in this area whether you are using SAS or not. But yes, looking at job postings that require SAS skills is a good idea.
Should I do both Advanced Analytics and AI/ML before I am considered a Data Scientist?
You can choose either Advanced Analytics or AI & ML to meet the analytical requirement of the SAS Certified Data Scientist. The Data requirement can be met with the Data Curation Professional or the Big Data Professional (an older certification).
Data curation is just data preparation, or does it involve many other techniques?
Data prep, information map, lineage, and so on. More than just data prep. Data curation involves much more data management than data prep. You may have multiple approaches in data prep depending on the model you are developing. Data curation means efficiently managing different data sources, multiple data inputs, a corporate data dictionary, etc. Everything will be used during analytical models development.
Would people take me seriously as a Data Scientist if I don't have a master’s degree?
Good question, and of course it depends on the market you are trying to work in, and where you are. In the US and Europe, I know some data scientists who have bachelor's degrees. They typically have another advantage, such as professional certification and job experience. In India, a master's degree seems to be a minimum requirement for entry level jobs.
Could we take the advanced analytics courses alone by themselves?
Yes, you can. Each individual course is on the web to register for.
So, for courses in data analytics, I do not need any other courses from data curation or AI?
If you just want to take the courses, then no, you don't have to take Data Curation or AI &ML course to take the Advanced Analytics courses. However, I would strongly recommend a good course in regression before starting the Advanced Analytics professional courses. We have a free Statistics 1 course online that can serve as a prerequisite.
For a beginner Data Scientist, which course would you recommend taking first?
For a true beginner data scientist, make sure you have a foundation in regression modeling. We have a free online course called Statistics 1: ANOVA, Regression, and Logistic Regression https://support.sas.com/edu/schedules.html?id=5235&ctry=US that can give you that foundation. We also recommend that you have a least 6 months of programming experience in some language. The Academy for Data Science is language neutral.
How can I apply the 30-day free trial to data analytics courses?
There are two different 30-day free trials that we offer. We have a SAS Learning subscription with over 100 courses. We have a 30-day free trial of that. That’s a great place to try out some courses. We also offer these classes on the web with live instructors.
Is certification required for a professor who is qualified and experienced with SAS tools and materials through the SAS hub?
If you are using the SAS Educator Portal, you don't have to have certification to get access to the courses and teach them to your students. I would recommend it. One nice thing about the certification is that it fully prepares you for teaching the classes. If you're already very familiar, then the certification shows that you know the content.
What kind of roadmap would one follow if they were a novice in SAS?
Here is a great website for starting out with SAS:
https://www.sas.com/en_us/learn.html
From there, you can access several free tutorials and courses to get you started.
Can I sign up for multiple classes at the same time during the 30-day free trial?
Yes, you can take as many of the courses in the Academy for Data Science or the Learning Subscription as you would like during the 30-day trial.
Are examination fees covered in the $1,295 annual access for data curation course?
Yes, one certification exam voucher is included.
How much time per week do you recommend a person allocate to this program?
That depends on how fast you want to be ready to take exams. For most people, 5-7 hours a week for a year, of studying and learning suffices to prepare to take the exams within a year.
Is there a discount to the academy if you're a student? I'm just starting my PhD journey.
Yes! Students get a 50% discount. You can see all the discounts here: https://www.sas.com/en_us/training/academy-data-science/ai-machine-learning-certification.html#disco...
If I only do the Advanced Analytics curriculum, would I not be certified as a data scientist?
No, you would be able to earn the Advanced Analytics Professional certification.
After the 30 days and you have not completed, what will happen?
Your access will expire automatically. At that time, you will be eligible for a 25% discount off the annual license price. It is not an automatic transition- you must sign up for the annual license.
For marketers who are interested in data analytics but not preparing to be a data scientist, what is your recommended course?
We have a curriculum of courses that can be very useful for market research and analysts- you will likely find many courses that interest you in the Learning Subscription:
https://www.sas.com/en_us/training/programs/learning-subscription.html
The Learning Subscription also has a 30-day free trial.
I work at a state government... and have been using SAS since 1993. A majority of people still use SAS here... but lately newcomers prefer using R. What are your thoughts on the analytical software perspective?
We actually embrace open source tools. You can develop your model in R or Python and add them in the pipeline in Model Studio and even compare their performance against SAS models. We can also deploy them using Model Manager. We have a free course in using SAS for R programmers, https://support.sas.com/edu/schedules.html?id=3033&ctry=US as well as extensive documentation on coding in SAS with R.
How would you compare R/Python to SAS regarding data science? For example, the size of the community, the availability of packages, computing efficiency, presentation of results etc.
I would say the size of community of course is bigger in open source, as well as availability of packages. Just noticed that there is a great overlap in terms of algorithms in different packages. SAS offers algorithms in a wide spectrum of disciplines, like statistical analysis, machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning, computer vision, optimization, network analysis, forecast, econometrics, among others. The great benefit is to have all of this in a single environment, where you can combine multiple techniques, from different disciplines, to solve a complex business problem. Efficiency and presentation are key factors for SAS and these are our major differences. SAS is very efficient, particularly in Viya and its in-memory distributed environment. Visualization is also a major topic in SAS and we have interactive visualization tools that enrich any analytical results.
How much is an umbrella subscription to cover all our staff?
Depending on your country and number of users, it varies. Please reach out to your SAS rep for information.
What is the eligibility for certification in data curation course?
You must pass the Data Curation Professional exam.
How much is the subscription?
Each program is $1,295 per year for the annual subscription. There are three different subscriptions: Data Curation, Advanced Analytics, and AI & Machine Learning.
What are prerequisites for these courses?
Make sure you have a foundation in regression modeling. We have a free online course called Statistics 1: ANOVA, Regression, and Logistic Regression https://support.sas.com/edu/schedules.html?id=5235&ctry=US that can give you that foundation. We also recommend that you have a least 6 months of programming experience in some language.
You mentioned Hadoop, pig, etc. Does SAS have and provide its own data warehouse?
Data warehouse is not just a database to store historical information. It is a set of solutions including data storage, data management, data ingestion and visualization. SAS offers solutions in all these areas, but the important thing here is the ability to work with multiple vendors and solutions to get the most of your data warehouse. You can find more information about this here: https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/data-management/data-warehouse.html.
Approximately how long will it take to complete all 3 courses?
Each professional certification program is comprised of multiple courses, and to complete all three professional training modules is approximately 350 hours.
What are the prerequisites for this journey?
Make sure you have a foundation in regression modeling. We have a free online course called Statistics 1: ANOVA, Regression, and Logistic Regression https://support.sas.com/edu/schedules.html?id=5235&ctry=US that can give you that foundation. We also recommend that you have a least 6 months of programming experience in some language.
What is the duration of the course?
Each professional certification program is comprised of multiple courses, and to complete all three professional training modules is approximately 350 hours.
Is a PhD required for these programs?
No
How does the SAS platform work in terms of analytics and programming?
You have a visual interface like point and click to create models, another visual interface to create the flow of steps in terms of data prep, transformation, feature extraction, model selection, model comparison, etc. And you have SAS Studio to code. The same algorithms work in all these 3 interfaces.
How did you fund the courses and certification test to be considered a premier data scientist?
I did it while I was a SAS employee.
What are some challenges common to a premiere data scientist?
Be curious. Don’t be afraid to tryout and experiment with traditional and brand-new solutions. Evaluate simple and very complex models and be ready to combine different knowledge (eventually from different people) and distinct disciplines to solve business problems. Be elegant in the solution, clearly communicate the results, and always pursue the simpler models.
Recommended Resources
SAS Academy for Data Science
SAS Academy for Data Science Brochure
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