Date:         Fri, 2 Aug 2002 11:10:22 -0500
Reply-To:     Doug Zirbel <doug_zirbel@MSN.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Doug Zirbel <doug_zirbel@MSN.COM>
Subject:      Which SAS for which industry?

Gary McQuown sent me this reply to an earlier post (What experienced SAS
programmers need to know), and gave me permission to put it out here
publicly.  Others of you have given similar answers, namely, that

** the SAS you need to know depends in part on what business you're in. **

So, what are your thoughts on this?
* What SAS skills does *everyone* need to know?

* Are these industry skill subsets accurate?

* Are there other industries we should put in here?

* Can you rank the skills in order of descending importance?

>I am a consultant who teaches SAS as a side line, so I hear this type of
>question quite often.  I tell my students (and anyone else willing to
>listen) that it all depends upon who you work for and what they want out of
you.
>
>Everyone need to know base SAS: Merges, data management, and data
>manipulation.
>
>Pharmaceutical (clinical trials):
> SQL or Proc Merge
> Proc Report
> Formats
> Date Functions (intck, etc.)
> Reading Oracle/DB2 files
> Ability to follow written instructions well
> Mostly PC
>
>Social Science
> SQL or Proc Merge
> Input multiple file formats (CSV, XLS, TXT)
> Data cleaning
> Basic Statistics
> Proc Means / Proc Freq
> Ability to think for yourself and problem solve
> Text Functions (substr, index, etc.)
> Mostly PC, some UNIX and MVS
> Macros and arrays
>  Documentation
>
>Financial
> SQL or Proc Merge
> Reading Oracle/DB2 files
> Data _NULL_
> Proc Means / Proc Freq
> MVS, UNIX, PC
> Data Automation
> Ability to follow instructions
> Macros and arrays

Again, I plan to put your responses into a paper I'm finishing up for MWSUG
aimed at helping people improve / round out their SAS knowledge.