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-enterprise-guide-editor/ 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
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