SAS Platform Administration SAS 9.0 and Viya Certification and job duties

[cosmid]

Hi,

I'm thinking about taking the SAS Platform Administration SAS 9.0 and Viya. Before I invest time on this, I just want to know:

Is a lot of SAS programming experience/knowledge required in order to take the certification (and able to complete job tasks in the future)? I'm asking this because I just went through the SAS Administration: Getting Started. It doesn't seem to involve anything from SAS Base/Advanced. I wouldn't consider myself a good programmer, so I thought this might be a good career change (if I pass the cert and get a job that is).

Also, would you recommend this certification?

Thanks in advance!

[beccagre · Accepted solution]

Hello,
I work on the SAS Global Certification team. Thanks for your post. I would recommend that you take a look at the information we have posted out on our website regarding the Platform Administration exams: https://www.sas.com/en_us/certification/credentials/administration/platform-administrator.html
and https://www.sas.com/en_us/certification/credentials/administration/viya-admin.html
We offer administration exams for both SAS 9 and for SAS Viya 3.5.
Be sure to download a copy of the Exam Content Guide. That guide is a blueprint of all the content covered on the exam and we also provide information about related training. We recommend that you have some practical work experience with the subject matter. Many of the questions on the exam ask you to apply the knowledge and skills that you've obtained through training and experience in order to answer the question so having some real world experience with being an administrator can be useful.
Pursuing a certification is a personal/professional choice but in my experience, having a certification in your chosen field can only enhance your resume and often distinguishes you from other candidates. Becoming certified can sometimes lead to an increase in your salary as well. I'd start by taking a look at the information we've provided for both credentials and then go from there. Best of luck to you and thanks for your questions.

Becky

[cosmid]

Hi Becky,

Thank you for your reply and the information. I appreciate it!

I just wanted to know if the tasks are much more different than programming because from the course overview it seems it's more of managing type of work.

Also, you said that practical work experience is recommended, so, for someone without any experience, is the e-Learning course sufficient to 'pass' the exam?

Thanks

[beccagre]

Hello, 

The tasks tested on the Administration exams are different than those tasks tested on the programming exams.  There aren't any programming tasks tested on the Administration exams.  I would say that it is not enough to take the e-learning and pass the exam. With the e-learning you get 50 hours of lab time.  My recommendation would be for you to utilize all of that lab time to practice all of the lab activities in the course.  The more exposure you have to performing the administrative tasks, the better. 

I hope this helps. 

Becky 

[Sajid01]

Hello @cosmid 
For your question "Is a lot of SAS programming experience/knowledge required in order to take the certification " The answer is no.
And for this part "and able to complete job tasks in the future" : One can survive with a minimal knowledge of programming.

But good knowledge of programming will give an edge.

As an administrator one comes across many service tickets/complaints saying that SAS is not working as expected or has degraded functionality whereas either its a clear programing error. If one has a knowledge programing then , can answer with confidence that it is a coding error.