Date:         Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:45:22 -0500
Reply-To:     "Schechter, Robert S" <robert.schechter@ASTRAZENECA.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Schechter, Robert S" <robert.schechter@ASTRAZENECA.COM>
Subject:      Re: SAS experience vs. Clinical trial experience
Comments: To: Ma r k M <mark.mdme@JUNO.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Mark,

It's hard for me to defend because I'm not in total agreement, but it IS my
management's opinion that it's a lot easier to teach someone with even a
little programming experience how to write SAS code then it is to teach a
good SAS programmer all the rules and regs (GPP, GMP, GLP, GCP compliance)
of handling clinical trial data.

You end with the question "what specifically does the pharma experience
bring to the (pharma) table?" and the answer is pharma experience. If you're
required to produce an FDA DR report, do you know what that entails?

-----Original Message-----
From: Ma r k M [mailto:mark.mdme@JUNO.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:11 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: SAS experience vs. Clinical trial experience


I see a lot of SAS positions advertised in the pharmaceutical industry.

It seems most of them say something like:  "FDA submission experience is
desired." or "previous clinical trial experience" is desired.

For all in that industry:  Would you rather hire an top notch SAS
programmer with no pharma experience, or a competent programmer with some
experience, and why?

In other words, what specifically does the pharma experience bring to the
table?