Support analyst offers free training for students
SAS certification can be key to getting a job in the research field.
Published March 2, 2007
Many future graduates wonder how they are going to get a job once they graduate. Ray Bacon is trying to solve that problem by training students to use SAS software.
SAS is analytic software that helps companies learn more about their customers. It is fast-growing software that has increased its usage in companies by double-digit percentages for the last 29 years, making it the largest privately held company in the world, according to its Web site.
SAS software is among other major computer software titles in its field, which includes Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Oracle.
Training in SAS software is especially important for students with a bachelor's degree in statistics or a master's degree in an applied social science who are going into the research field, said Ray Bacon, a user support analyst for the Social Science Statistics Center. The center provides statistical software support and statistical consulting from various people on campus.
Statistics graduate student Huan Liu has taken the training program and said she is grateful for it.
"Before I could do programming in SAS, but I would have statistical errors," Liu said. "The training helped me understand how SAS exactly works and now I can debug and program better."
Bacon has been leading this training for the past three years and continues it to date.
The SAS training lasts for eight days and covers Program I: Essentials and Program and Program II: Manipulating Data with the DATA Step.
Bacon said there are typically about 32 students who start out the session. By the end of the eight days, approximately 24 students are left and nine of the students go on to take the SAS certification test.
Students pass the test at a 75 percent rate when they take it after the training.
Since August, 14 people have been certified.
Jobs that require SAS certification are quickly becoming hot.
Bacon said if students were to take the same courses through the SAS Web site, it would cost $1,425 per program.
"Here at the university, what other opportunity will you have to take (the) ...course for free?" Bacon said. "Students should take advantage of resources while they have them."
Bacon said he would encourage students to take this training so they can have an easier time finding a job once they graduate.
"I think students who enter the job market need every leg up they can get to make their résumé stand out," he said. "For people entering the research profession, SAS certification is the best thing they can hold."