Newcomer Training Recommendations

[AaronK]

I need some advice from the user community.  Please excuse me if this is not the right forum.

My background: degreed, senior leader in a great company, mid-career, currently over corporate intelligence, data management, analytics and computer mapping / visualization.  Versed in statistics, SPSS, modeling and predictive analytics, spatial analysis, SQL, GIS, and other fun stuff.

I have been curious about SAS for a long time and would like to one day be a strong user of the software.  I am starting from scratch and really know nothing about the different applications but want to learn as much as possible.  If feasible it would be nice to gain a SAS certification.

Knowing what you all know from the industry, the software and such...what would be your recommendation for training (and experience)?  If you were an SAS power user and you worked for me at my company, what would you expect me to know so that we can communicate and we are all happy and successful?

I have read all of the training and support stuff on the SAS website.  Are these different classes useful?  Maybe someone could explain to me the difference or pros/cons between programming SAS and using a GUI?  Are there colleges or outside organizations that also teach the software or is it just through the company?  Lastly, if your so inclined please tell me how you got your start, your career progression and your progression with the software.  This may be helpful in putting all of this in context.

Thank you.

Aaron K

akreag@enexp.com

[Stacie_SAS]

Hi Aaron.

I work in the SAS Education division and wanted to offer our assistance as well. First, I think your approach of reaching out to your peers via this forum is spot-on.  I look forward to seeing what kind of advice you receive.

You asked a question about the pros and cons of programming versus using the GUI in SAS Enterprise Guide. Chris Hemedinger, a technical architect at SAS and co-author of the popular SAS for Dummies book, http://support.sas.com/publishing/authors/hemedinger.html wrote this informative post http://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/2012/01/18/sasondemand-forpros/ in The SAS Dummy blog http://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/. He references some additional webinars and content that might be helpful as you make your decision.

One of the advtanges of SAS Enterprise Guide is that you have the ability to point and click using wizards or to program using the programming editor. In this blog post, SAS instructor, Stacey Syphus, explains how to write and submit SAS code in the SAS Enterprise Guide editor. http://blogs.sas.com/content/sastraining/2012/01/20/reading-your-mind-writing-sas-code-in-the-new-en...

If you are considering a training course, I suggest you watch this video http://support.sas.com/training/video/introcrs.html explaining the benefits and differences between the two getting started courses, SAS Programming 1: Essentials and SAS Enterprise Guide: 1: Querying and Reporting Writing, and your approach to using SAS. We also have Curriculum Consultants available at 800-333-7660 that can provide you with getting started advice.

I hope this information will help make your decision a little easier.

Stacie

[Doc_Duke]

AaronK,

In addition to Stacie's comments, I'd add this reference

http://analytics.ncsu.edu/sesug/2003/TD02-Stojanovic.pdf

I have taken several SAS courses and they were uniformly well taught.  It is a very good way to jump start the learning curve. 

Even though I am often considered a power user (having cut my teeth on TSO and SAS 5 back in the 70's), I have also taught SAS to physicians using base SAS, the Analyst Package, and, most recently, EGuide.  EGuide is a good product for getting results out quickly from clean data, but a bit clumsy for complicated data transformations and ETL type data cleaning (for those, you still need to write SAS Code).  See the comparisons that Stacie mentioned.

Other organizations do teach SAS.  Google <SAS software  training -sas.com> for a fairly extensive list.  Caveat emptor.

Doc Muhlbaier

Duke