Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 17:48:35 -0700
Reply-To: Jack Hamilton <JackHamilton@FIRSTHEALTH.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Jack Hamilton <JackHamilton@FIRSTHEALTH.COM>
Subject: Re: Contemplating career change: SAS vs. Java
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Waldo <usenet739.at.yahoo.dot.com.dot.au@CRONKITE.CC.UGA.EDU> wroe:
>* do you feel SAS has been a viable career path for you, with
>appropriate room for growth and advancement?
Yes, but that's partly because I've always viewed SAS as a way to learn
something about the business, or at least about other systems.
>* do you ever wish you'd specialized in a more broad-based
>language, such as C++ or Java, which might have more room
>for growth (more job opportunities)
10 years ago, that might have been "Do you ever wish you'd specialized
in a more broad-based language, such as COBOL?"
No, because it's been my experience that most jobs requiring COBOL are
not jobs I'd want to do. That's probably less true of Java, but still,
I'm not interested in any language that requires so much housekeeping to
do the simplest thing. If I had to switch, I'd see if I could use Perl
or Python.
>* can you validate my friend's perception that SAS pays as
>well as Java (I know pay isn't everything but I do like both
>languages)
I think that's true here, but only because we don't have the division
between programmers and analysts that many places seem to have. We
don't have a group of people who write specs, and another group of
people who code to the spec. We have people who figure out what needs
to be done, and then do it. If all you do is code in SAS, with no
thought about what it means, your salary would be somewhat limited
here.
>* is not being a statistician a hinderance in a SAS career?
Not to me. There's a lot that SAS can do without ever touching
statistics.
>* if you are a hiring manager, would you hire someone
>who has been away from SAS for 7 years, but with 10
>years of solid SAS experience?
Only if they had applicable business experience. If we were hiring
someone whose strength was in programming, they'd have to know something
about web design, ODS, and PROC REPORT.
--
JackHamilton@FirstHealth.com
Manager, Technical Development
Metrics Department, First Health
West Sacramento, California USA
