Questions about certifications and opportunities!

[Bin2325]

Hello Everyone!
I am new to SAS and I have so many questions. I thought this is the best platform to ask all my questions. Please don’t mind me if you feel my questions are stupid. I am a pharmD graduate and also I have masters in information assurance. I don’t have any working experience. Recently I have started to learn SAS programming and I am planning to get Base and advanced certification. My question is it worth to give a test? And how long it will take to become proficient in SAS (I am a quick learner). Also I am confused with different types of certifications. Which certification will gives us more job opportunities?
Thank you in advance. 😊

[AnandVyas]

Hi @Bin2325,

Since every individual has their own learning pace, I don't think there is any definite answer on how long it can take to become proficient. With practice and great knowledge sharing here, you can definitely pick up faster.

I think giving certification is good challenge to yourself where in you can judge how good you are on a particular topic and it also adds great value to your profile for job opportunities.

Happy Learning!
Thanks!

[Bin2325]

Thank you Anand but I am still thinking which certification is best for my career. I couldn’t find much information and related opportunities about other certifications other than base/advanced certifications. Hope I will get all the answers one day 🙂 Thank you for the response!

[andreas_lds]

Certificates are nice, but i would not hire anybody who has certificates but hardly any real-life experience in using the things that are part of the certification. Me thinks that experience is always of higher value than some sheet of paper confirming that somebody was able to pass a test.

[Bin2325]

Sure. I got your point and that makes sense to me. So after my training it’s better start a career as a junior or entry level SAS programmer instead of investing money on certifications. I think that’s the only way to obtain experience. Thank you @Andreas_Ids

[FreelanceReinh]

Hello @Bin2325,

@andreas_lds wrote:

Me thinks that experience is always of higher value than some sheet of paper confirming that somebody was able to pass a test.

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I couldn't agree more with Andreas.

Ideally, you would get a first employment based on your other qualifications and the opportunity to learn and use SAS heavily on that job (plus take an introductory course). Then, after a few months you should feel quite comfortable with SAS programming. After one year your SAS skills and job experience could be interesting enough for other potential employers.

Quoting a highly esteemed expert in this forum, I can say: "I've been using SAS for over" 20 "years, but never bothered to take any of the certification exams."

Good luck and happy learning!

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Certifications are becoming a lot less reliable these days. There's too many test banks out there and too many people who study for the test but don't know how to program really devaluing the certificates. Skill sets and the ability to pass a certification exam are not correlated as highly as employers would like 🙂

Instead, these days, a portfolio is what most people are looking for. I usually see a URL on most of the data science/analytical positions I hire these days, either to a GitHub or a blog and that will include projects that a person has done and/or things they're learning. It's actually a great way to gauge someone's skill set. However, people can still cheat here as well - by copying code from others without fully understanding so I'll pick a project and have them walk me through it in the interview and I usually have them do a take home exercise to gauge technical skills. If I was applying to work at a specific location, the library for example, I'd find some data sets related to books and mock up quick EDA and/or visualization for them and show that to them. Obviously you can't do that for every job, but you have an interest in medical field so getting bio data and examples of working with that will help you out. You can find data on Kaggle for doing most types of analyses so data isn't an issue either. 

Good Luck.

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@Bin2325 wrote:
Hello Everyone!
I am new to SAS and I have so many questions. I thought this is the best platform to ask all my questions. Please don’t mind me if you feel my questions are stupid. I am a pharmD graduate and also I have masters in information assurance. I don’t have any working experience. Recently I have started to learn SAS programming and I am planning to get Base and advanced certification. My question is it worth to give a test? And how long it will take to become proficient in SAS (I am a quick learner). Also I am confused with different types of certifications. Which certification will gives us more job opportunities?
Thank you in advance. 😊

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[BeverlyBrown]

Hi @Bin2325, when I saw your post, I recalled a pretty robust discussion about this on our Certification Community earlier this year. After a little digging, I found the thread: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Certification/Certification-A-ticket-to-employment-vis-%C3%A0-vis... Lots of perspectives shared there, including someone from SAS. Hope that helps. Best of luck as you map your next steps! 

[Bin2325]

@Reeza thank you. Thats a good idea I will work on that idea. It will help me to get a job.

[Bin2325]

@BeverlyBrown Thank you so much for the link 😊