- In Gartner’s 2016 Magic Quadrant, SAS has been ranked the best in terms of ‘ability to execute’ the 10th year in a row.
- According to an extensive study (2016) from Payscale.com, which analyzed 54 million job profiles across the US, SAS Analytics is the most valuable skillset to have in today's job market. According to the same survey, a data analyst equipped with SAS skills can earn 17% more than analysts without the skill.
- According to a 2015 IDC report, SAS leads the global predictive analytics and agile BI market, with a market share of 33.3%.
- According to McKinsey Global Institute's Report on Big Data, demand for analytical talent in the United States could be 50% - 60% higher than its projected supply by 2018
- In India, SAS holds an astounding 70% of the analytics market share (Forbes)
These impressive figures are a testament to the fact that SAS has been the undisputed market leader in the commercial analytics space.
The platform offers a huge array of statistical functions and is the most commonly used tool in the analytics industry. Easy-to-learn, SAS skills open up a multitude of career paths for aspiring Big Data professionals. As global business takes a giant leap forward, SAS-based analytics is driving the engine of growth.
Eager to get started in your SAS career? We’ve laid out a roadmap for you.
SAS Roadmap
1. Download SAS University Edition
The SAS university edition is a high starting point. It’s seamless, easy to explore, and helps you build a solid foundational understanding of SAS. It’s free to download, so get your copy here.
Remember that the free version has limited functionality, and SAS’s advanced features are behind a pay-wall. Pricing from vendors like SAS is typically confidential and client-specific so that you can get a sense of the edition cost from SAS's site, but the subscription is between $7k and $9k a year for the underlying Windows analytics package.
2. Brush Up Your SQL Know-how and Other Statistical Skills
SQL, regression modeling, time series analysis, ANOVA, and many other statistical skills are essential when you work with SAS. Get up to speed in these areas before you delve into the nitty-gritty of SAS itself.
3. Books, Tutorials, Videos – Explore Them All
There are tons of free resources available over the internet for looking to learn SAS.
For practice, visit developer hubs like GitHub. Benchmark your creations against sample code-shared by SAS learners around the world. ‘The Little SAS Book’ is another useful resource for SAS learners.
Simplilearn’s online library has a vast collection of articles and resources on SAS and related topics. Visit the blog to explore.
4. Consider a SAS Certification
Once you have a sound understanding of the basics, it’s time to explore advanced topics. While freely-available resources will help you get started with SAS, formal training is indispensable for those looking to build a career in the field. SAS certification courses include hands-on practice with live industry projects and give you the experience you need to enter the industry.
Inferential statistics, logistic regression, clustering and segmentation, decision trees, PROC IML, PROC SQL are all powerful techniques that lie within the ambit of SAS, and there is no better way to gain a working knowledge of these tools than to enroll in a SAS certification training program.
The following are a few SAS certification courses for learners:
- SAS Certified Base Programmer for SAS 9
- SAS Certified Advanced Programmer for SAS 9
- SAS Certified Clinical Trials Programmer Using SAS 9
- SAS Certified Predictive Modeler Using SAS Enterprise Miner 7
- SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling
- SAS Certified BI Content Developer for SAS 9
- SAS Certified Data Integration Developer for SAS 9
- SAS Certified Platform Administrator for SAS 9
Conclusion
Simplilearn offers a Data Science courses tailored to your needs and mentored by the best leaders in the industry. Actual coding examples and demos make learning comprehensive and interactive, while industry projects help you gain hands-on work experience.
