Art Carpenter
The measurement of time is an integral component of most of our data sets. We note the date of the patient’s visit and both the date and the time of the administration of a test. The accurate calculation of time intervals, such as the time between drug delivery and onset of an adverse event, becomes critically important. Fortunately SAS ships with a diverse set of tools for working with dates and times.
As SAS programmers and as users of SAS Software, time measurement is important, not only in the successful analysis of our data, but also as a gauge in the growth of our career. To be successful we must be able to measure and work with time values, but time is also a measure of the progression of our career. This paper introduces a number of measures of time, a variety of analytic techniques applied to date and time values, interwoven with a discussion of the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, and the continued growth of our professional knowledge.
Josh Horstman
While many statisticians and programmers are content with a traditional employment setting, others yearn for the freedom and flexibility that come with being an independent consultant. While this can be a tremendous benefit, there are many details to consider. This paper will provide an overview of consulting as a statistician or programmer. We'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of consulting, getting started, finding work, operating your business, and various legal, financial, and logistical issues.
Charu Shankar
By 2018 the United States could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions (source: Mckinsey report) This is a 50-60% gap between the supply and demand of people with deep analytical talent.
So it must come as no surprise that finding SAS work is the question I am asked the most. daily I am inundated with resumes, and requests to connect on Linkedin and offers of coffee, tea and dinner. SAS is a highly valued skill and everyone wants the juice on what steps to take to land work. Time magazine rated SAS as the # 1 career skill in the data world. http://time.com/money/4328180/most-valuable-career-skills/. SAS is also the #1 skill to land a bigger paycheck according to this study. http://career-services.monster.com/yahooarticle/best-paid-job-skills#WT.mc_n=yta_fpt_article_best_paid_job_skills
To help fill the gap, At SAS I started helping our users to land work by creating a 21-day SAS challenge to identify their strengths.
In this informative session I will share the 21 tips you can take away. I will also share tips from my own Job search and how I landed work as a SAS professional. At the end of this session you will also be provided an activity sheet for action items to do during the conference.
Janet Li and Aakar Shah
Have you ever found yourself searching tirelessly for documents as the lead programmer of a study when the previous study lead had already left? Or maybe you were in the shoes of a manager who wished for easier access to the status of the projects that your direct reports lead? Statistical programmers in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry work on interdisciplinary and cross-functional teams. A successful statistical programmer must not only have proficient programming knowledge, but also have strong organizational and communication skills. We should be keeping track of what we as programmers are doing ourselves but also what others on the study team and project are doing. We propose a project management and tracking tool to help manage ourselves, others, deliverables, and timelines at the study level. The tool includes but is not limited to study contact information, location of study files (i.e. raw datasets, SDTM, ADaM, mock-ups), future and completed deliverables, study highlights and risk management. A summary of study highlights can be pulled across the multiple study tracker files and be presented as an aggregate report to upper management, such as the head of programming. The tool we present can be updated to fit the needs of any statistical programming organization or team.
Richelle Serrano
Data science employs techniques and theories drawn from mathematics, statistics, information science, and computer science to understand and analyze a fact or situation. In the last 15-20 years data science has become an independent discipline. In 2012 the Harvard Business Review published the article "Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century. It’s no surprise the job of Data Scientist is growing faster than Statistician or Statistical Programmer. This paper will explore the role of a data scientist as defined today and the overlap with statisticians and statistical programmer’s traditional roles. Next the paper will discuss the skill set and knowledge needed for a statistical programmer to stay current in the evolving world of scientific data and information becoming increasingly available and accessible through open science and open source.
Deanna Schreiber-Gregory
It all started as an extra credit opportunity for undergraduates. She submitted her honors thesis to a SAS conference to get a little cushion for an upcoming exam. It was accepted for presentation and she was accepted as a student scholar. That was in 2011. Since then, she has moved from first-generation college student and student scholar / junior professional award winner from a small town in the MidWest to invited speaker, conference committee member, and statistical programming expert/data manager for the federal government. This presentation details the lessons learned and experiences gained through the presenter’s participation and growth as a SAS conference presenter and network member. In this presentation, you will learn the benefits of accepting challenges as they arise, writing and presenting SAS conference papers, networking, and just making the most out of your conference experience. Regardless of when and how you came into the SAS conference world, through proper utilization of its opportunities, you too can leverage your conference experiences to maximize its benefits to your growth as a professional!
Molly Hall
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most companies don’t publicly announce their job openings until they have exhausted every opportunity to fill them on their own. Instead, they reach out to current employees of the company, internal or external recruiters, former colleagues and friends. A job posting on Monster or Indeed usually doesn’t happen until after the hiring manager has tried every other possible vehicle for filling the opening. The term “hidden job market” refers to this phenomenon.
I have roughly 20 years of experience working as an Executive Recruiter in the SAS® marketplace. I’m going to share industry secrets with you. I will teach you how to get noticed, and how to avoid common pitfalls. We will explore networking channels that work, talk about the current job market, and delve into LinkedIn and other social media channels. Resumes, cover letters, and interview techniques will also be covered. By the end of this presentation you will understand how to tap into the hidden job market and take your career to the next level.