Merge Two Datasets

[rkarr5]

Hi Everyone, I attended an interview last week and got this question. I am not able to understand the question. Can someone please help in solving this.

He said, “Here is data set 1 and here is data set 2.  Give me the statement to merge these datasets and sum it by region for the months of January and February.”  I did not understand that the second dataset would have two separate variables (January and February on the same line). I was assuming that they would be on separate lines (as in most relational data bases). "

Thanks for the time.

Regards,

Ravi

[Reeza]

Did he show you any tables or the list of variables in the data set?

What questions did YOU ask?

There's many ways to do this, but a standard data set MERGE and SUM() would work. You could likely do it in a single PROC SQL step .

FYI - I would expect anyone saying they knew SAS BASE or to have passed SAS Base Certification would be able to answer this question. 

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@rkarr5 wrote:

Hi Everyone, I attended an interview last week and got this question. I am not able to understand the question. Can someone please help in solving this.

He said, “Here is data set 1 and here is data set 2.  Give me the statement to merge these datasets and sum it by region for the months of January and February.”  I did not understand that the second dataset would have two separate variables (January and February on the same line). I was assuming that they would be on separate lines (as in most relational data bases). "

Thanks for the time.

Regards,

Ravi

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[novinosrin]

Good afternoon @Reeza  "FYI - I would expect anyone saying they knew SAS BASE or to have passed SAS Base Certification would be able to answer this question. "

That only applies to honest individuals who have sincerely learned like you. SAS certification with dumps is unfortunately the norm for many(imagine this number runs into several thousands, if not more). Recently(just yesterday lol), met a few who have passed base and advance without knowing basic SAS and are willing to share that doc(dump) with me. But they know I am a kind who would rather sit in the pub with beer and burger all day watching football than doing that, so they didn't bother. And, i have never attempted certification yet. 

Just like many things that are not fair in life, that's a sad fact. 

PS the OP seems to just want to clarify the question with us as it appears the interviewer he/she may not SAS well enough and/or was feeling insecure. 

[Reeza]

@novinosrin agreed. I've seen that happen which is why I test candidates quite thoroughly. We've had a few hired before with only SAS certification but couldn't code anything unless they had very specific instructions. 

The only reason I stated that was to let the OP know it's a fair question, and how a candidate responds makes it easy to gauge their skill set. 

[novinosrin]

No need to mention "The only reason I stated that was to let the OP know it's a fair question, and how a candidate responds makes it easy to gauge their skill set" . Come on! I would never or never have doubted why you posted something. My post was just general and ranting feeling disheartened. That's all

[Reeza]

That was intended for the OP, not @novinosrin 😉 Sorry for the confusion. 

[rkarr5]

Hey Thanks for the response. This is a telephonic conversation. Even I am not able to understand the question. If it is merge I can do it easily using the merge and for the sum I can use the sum statement or function. But there is lot of confusion in the way he drafted the question. 

[Astounding]

So this company told you:

"Here is data set 1, but I'm not going to tell you what is in it.  Here is data set 2 but I not going to tell you what is in it.  We store our data using a poor structure, but we assume that everyone else would use that same poor structure.  So we won't even mention it."

Now the question becomes:  Why would you want to work there?

[Reeza]

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@Astounding wrote:

So this company told you:

"Here is data set 1, but I'm not going to tell you what is in it.  Here is data set 2 but I not going to tell you what is in it.  We store our data using a poor structure, but we assume that everyone else would use that same poor structure.  So we won't even mention it."

Now the question becomes:  Why would you want to work there?

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Assuming the question was phrased EXACTLY that way, I would suspect the interviewer was looking for two things:

1. What questions did the interviewee ask? This would indicate that to merge data, they knew to ask for a key joining variable and variable structure. 

2. That a user knows the difference between summarizing  data in rows using SUM() vs using PROC MEANS for data in a long format.

[rkarr5]

I need to work since I need to prove my skills and need money for my living. But as you said this is very dumbest situation given by the interviewer asking us to explore different things and he would say incorrect at last.

[Reeza]

@rkarr5  What do you think the chances are the interviewer is on here and seeing this post?

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@rkarr5 wrote:

I need to work since I need to prove my skills and need money for my living. But as you said this is very dumbest situation given by the interviewer asking us to explore different things and he would say incorrect at last.

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