"Waldo" <usenet739 at yahoo dot com dot au> wrote in message news:402819d4$0$1723$5a62ac22@freenews.iinet.net.au... > Hi, > > My apologies if this message is slightly off-topic, but I do believe that > many of you on the list can provide useful input. > > At a previous stage in my career, I worked extensively with SAS, for a total > of about 10 years. At the risk of sounding conceited, I think I was pretty > good at it. I am not, however, a statistician. For various reasons, I left > working with SAS in 1997 and pursued web technologies, first in e-commerce > and currently with web access control, single sign on, and user identity > management (all very "hot" areas). > > I find, however, that I miss SAS programming, and wish to return to a more > technical, coding career, rather than a systems architect role, where you > put the various bits together and configure them, but never have the > creativity of coding. > > My quandary is that I'm trying to compare a SAS career vs. a Java career. > While I do know Java, believe that I'm good at it, and like the language, my > on-the-job experience with it is limited - much less that SAS. I believe I > can return to SAS easily enough (i.e. get a job) but am unsure I can make > the switch to Java, even with accepting a substantial pay cut to get in the > door. But, if I'm ever going to try to make the switch to a Java career, > now is the time. In a few years time I would like to more toward contract > programming. > > Furthermore, if I do a job search on the job websites within my current > market (I live in Sydney, Australia), I get something like 25 hits for SAS > and 120-180 hits for Java. However, a knowledgeable friend here has said > that Java programmers have become more of a commodity, and that the pay for > a good SAS programmer is comparable to that of a good Java programmer. My > initial conclusion is that, while SAS may be a "niche" skill set, it is a > viable career path. But, I welcome your feeback. > > My questions to you: >

I live in the US, in New Jersey near Philadelphia, so conditions might be different, but here goes.

> * do you feel SAS has been a viable career path for you, with appropriate > room for growth and advancement?

I've been earning my living by doing SAS for something like 20 years. So I'd say yes to this one.

> * 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)

No.

> * 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 wouldn't know.

> * is not being a statistician a hinderance in a SAS career?

I've never met a statistician who wasn't familiar with SAS, That doesn't make them programmers by any stretch, at least in a production sense. I've known plenty of SAS programmers who don't know any statistics (starting with myself).

> * 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?

That's a little problematic. I've run into a lot of currently practicing SAS programmers who are, quite frankly, pretty lousy at SAS. They get the job done, their output is fine, but their code is execrable - the logs are full of errors, the processing inefficient, they're totally unaware of basic keywords and options. On the other hand, they have a current track record. I guess it would depend on just what experience the applicant had in the past and what was available to choose from, judged in relation to my needs. Oh, and what that applicant would want, pay-wise. It's easier to give someone a raise, even a hefty raise, than it is to get them to take a cut.

I wouldn't hire anyone who said, who gave me any reason to suspect, that s/he considered this job a stepping stone on the way to becoming a consultant.

> I'm sure I'll think of other questions after posting this message but those > are the ones that come to mind right now. Feel free to add any additional > thoughts you may have. > > If you wish to send a private reply, please send it to usenet739 at yahoo > dot com dot au.

I know one person who was in much the same boat - away from SAS for a decade or so - who managed to get back into it and is doing pretty well. What it took to get a foot in the door was a strong recommendation from someone the hiring manager knew and trusted, and an excellent set of interviewing skills. And the ability to follow through on the job from the start.

> Thanks, > Waldo > >