SAS Career Guidance

Question

hi,

I've 3+ years experience working as a SAS Programmer in a pharmaceutical industry. But I feel my professional growth is limited because of non-statistical background. Are there any other areas in SAS (Business Intelligence, data modelling etc.) where statistics background is not required and which can lead me to senior level position?

I would really appreciate if you can guide me in deciding career path in SAS.

Thank You.

Answer 1

This may seem like a non-answer, but why not just learn more statistics?

Answer 2

You could branch into other toolsets in a B.I. development capacity or look for SAS work elsewhere. Your background in pharmaceuticals will be a strength if you continue to work in that industry, but you could just as easily work in another. As the other poster says, you could also bring up your statistics. There are a couple of Stackoverflow discussions on B.I. careers here and here.

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply..Confused regarding learning statistics. Do you recommend Masters/short term courses.

Answer 4

MOST SAS jobs only require a teeny tiny amount of statistics. SAS' penetration into the corporate world is pretty pervasive.

To make yourself more valuable in the SAS world without getting a Masters or PhD in Stats...

Learn BI concepts

• Learn Data Warehousing Concepts
• Learn SAS/Base, SAS/Graph and SAS/Access!! (You don't REALLY need to focus on the vertical solutions unless you're planning on a specific application -- almost 100% of the functionality in SAS' "Solutions" can be implemented with Base/Graph/Stat with a little thought and work).
• KNOW SAS/SQL LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR HAND!!!
• Keep up with the latest released functionality (newest features in DB interfaces, newest features in XML interfaces, etc.)
• Read "The Little SAS Book" if you haven't already.
• To get up to speed on basic stats, get "The Cartoon Guide to Statistics"

Answer 5

Seriously, most programmers in pharms do not have a stats background. My degree was marine biology and I know excellent pharms sas folks with backgrounds as diverse as music and hairdressing. Some scientific or computing background is useful but not essential. If it's professional growth you are looking for can I assume you mean promotion to senior levels, project lead and onto group manager type roles? Make sure your base, macro, sql and graph knowledge is top notch for now and then it's just a case of taking on more responsibility and leadership roles, switching therapeutic areas and clinical phases if you can for more experience.. possibly get involved on a departmental level on new initiatives, technical projects, standardisation activities etc and then push on until promotion comes your way. Or go contracting.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Hi, computer courses are helpful for getting a job in IT or software firms. SAS is related to quality checking and data management. Hence you should meet career counseling firm before get admission.