SAS and Windows 8

SAS and Windows 8

Figure 1

 

by Casey Thompson, SAS Technical Support  Windows 8 was officially released Friday October 26. This was Microsoft’s first operating system release since the introduction of Apple’s iPad and the subsequent surge in popularity of tablets. To align their OS with the new computing devices, Windows 8 has two interfaces to allow access from traditional desktops and laptops and make it more accessible for tablets:

1. The Start screen (Figure 1) takes the place of the Start button. Here, applications are invoked using the Tile associated with the application.
2. The Desktop screen is familiar to Windows XP and Windows 7 users, but it has one conspicuous absence – the Start button. This feature (or lack of) may cause the most confusion among Windows 8 users.

The tiles on the Start screen replace the Start button and its associated menu structure.  Most applications not designed for tablet use will start in the Desktop interface.

Four tips to help you navigate in Windows 8:

 

Figure 2: SAS shortcut tiles

Create Shortcuts on the Desktop interfaceby right clicking and selecting New->Shortcut (Figure 2).

Figure 3

Right click on the Desktop and select All Apps, which will display all of your installed applications (Figure 3).

Figure 4

Access Settings, Search and other control features by moving your mouse to the right side of the screen or press the Windows logo + C key combination to access the Window’s 8 Charms (Figure 4). Use the Windows logo key on your keyboard to easily toggle back and forth between interfaces. There are four editions each for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012:

• Windows 8
• Windows 8 Pro
• Windows 8 Enterprise
• Windows 8 RT
• Windows Server 2012  Foundation
• Windows Server 2012  Essential
• Windows Server 2012  Standard
• Windows Server 2012  Datacenter

The Windows 8 operating system with no suffix is the equivalent of a Home edition and the Windows 8 RT release is designed to run with the ARM chipset commonly found on many tablets – neither is supported by SAS at this time. All of the Windows 8 editions are available in 32 and 64 bit versions where the Windows Server 2012 editions are 64 bit only operating systems.

Take a look at the list of products that SAS supports with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

Additional resources: Windows 8 Project Application Compatibility List Microsoft “How Do I”

 

 

(courtesy: sasblogs)

 

Do I have to choose between Excel and SAS?

Do I have to choose between Excel and SAS?

 

 

“Is Microsoft Excel in direct competition with SAS?”

Not really.

I like to think of SAS as partnering with Excel. Because of the following Excel benefits and its synergy with SAS.

1. Excel has been around for years.
2. Many people are familiar and comfortable storing data in Excel.
3. It’s quite easy to read Excel data into SAS.

Having given you these reasons dear reader, I’m not suggesting you quit Excel altogether or advise your team to stop giving you files in Excel.

Rather my recommendation is to just do your analysis work in SAS because of the benefits—I’ll list just three here to match our Excel list:

1. Hands down, SAS has masterful data extraction and analysis capability. It can read virtually any data source. For example, it can easily join your native Excel table with a SAS dataset.
2. Other than these limitations that apply to the Windows operating systems, a SAS data set can be as large as the operating system will allow. While the new Excel does perform better with increased limits (starting in Excel 2007, the maximum number of rows per worksheet increased from 65,536 to over 1 million) these are limits nevertheless on large datasets. SAS is perfect for big data or high-performance analytics (while Excel wasn’t really designed for this type of extreme analysis).
3. SAS automatically documents your work creating an audit trail without your intervention.

Here’s what I recommended to this client who’s new to SAS. As a business expert, she doesn’t have to learn to write code. So I showed her data extraction and analysis in SAS Enterprise Guide. (You can learn more in our SAS Enterprise Guide training classes.)

Here are the steps I took:

1. Imported an existing Excel file into SAS EG. Currently the client has transactions stored in company proprietary software that converts data into Excel files for team use.
2. Shaped the data using the Summary Tables wizard. The client needs to do a lot of pivot table type reporting in Excel and is exhausted with the amount of manual work she does. The Summary tables task in SAS Enterprise Guide (PROC TABULATE in the background) does the work she wants very nicely, slicing and dicing data in different ways depending on team and management needs.
3. Sent the data back to Excel for those wishing to continue to see the summarized data in Excel.

The pros of working with both Excel and SAS:

1. Excel is used by those who are familiar with it and want to see data only in that format.
2. SAS does the high end analysis. With a few points and clicks, the client was well on her way to analysis victory. Comparing that to her hours of manual labour with Excel, she heaved a sigh of relief.
3. SAS EG also documents the steps very nicely along the way with data sources, tasks, results and arrows pointing to workflow. Whether this client is at work or not, someone else could easily get where she was going with this data flow.

• SAS EG packages the summarized data to Excel.

 

(courtesy: sasblogs)

 

 

 

 

 

Career: Secrets from a Professional SAS Recruiter

Recently I spoke with Dick Smith, Talent Engagement Manager for PiTech Solutions, about some tips for working with recruiters. He’s an experienced technical recruiter so I think you’ll find this information particularly insightful. He offers a good mix of traditional job search strategies and ways to leverage social media for your job search.

Working with SAS Recruiters

As for working with SAS or specialty recruiters, the technology world is most times defined by skill sets or product expertise. In SAS for example, there is a big difference between a SAS/Stat Programmer and a SAS BI/Analytics skill set. For my money, the KISS method applies in either case. So to begin with, keep your resume simple and straightforward. Tell the reader what you can do, what your best expertise is, and what you are looking to do with your career next.

Our screening process here at PITech Solutions, for instance, has a focus on the individual. Of greatest importance to us is to clearly understand what kind of position you are really looking for, or put another way – what is the ideal job for you? What do you see as your strongest expertise in the IT field at this point in your career?

Recruiters Seek Keywords Then Candidates

Courtesy of Free Digital Photos (click image to go to site)

Recruiters today for the most part work with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and a job description that is loaded with skills (keywords). They are hardly, if at all, trained in knowing what those skills mean or represent; their boss tells them to find somebody who has [keyword] skill. So, if the keyword search in their ATS doesn’t find a matching skillset, there’s never a phone call made.

Any potential candidates are passed over almost immediately. Some recruiters might invest a moment or two to review a resume regardless. However, if they cannot quickly (30 seconds or so) find the information they want; they are off to the next prospect. [More about using keywords in your LinkedIn profile.]

Secrets for Resume Preparation

Here’s some tips for resume preparation:

• Make sure your true skills are represented in your resume (e.g. SAS BI Reporting, SAS/Graph, SAS Enterprise BI Server, etc.) You cannot be all things to all people.
• Don’t be afraid to tell the recruiter what you define as your ideal job.
• Be prepared to discuss how your expertise fits the need. Remember you might be talking to someone who hasn’t a clue as to what you do or are capable of doing.
• Work hard to reach the actual hiring authority at a company versus a recruiter. Very contrary to what I do for a living [See free article download below].
• Have a profile on LinkedIn and join relevant technologies groups, such as SAS Analytics & BI. They post jobs and have discussion groups.
• Create your own pay-it-forward blog and publish your work on the internet.
• Make sure your resume is posted on credible job boards. Stay away from spammers and mass resume distributors.
• In general, limit the number of recruiters you work with (maybe a half dozen at a time). Drop recruiters who do not communicate with you on a frequent basis.

Truthfully, smart aggressive recruiters will find you. The technology tools for sourcing people is ever expanding. The internet and cyberspace are remarkable.  In summary, it’s all about meeting expectations – yours, the clients and ours. If you cannot do that – then how can you ever hope to make a deal?

 

(courtesy: sasblogs)

 

Students are you ready to get SAS certified?

Students are you ready to get SAS certified?

SAS has a long history of supporting the academic community in a variety of ways and that certainly includes support from the SAS Global Certification  program.  Did you know that students, faculty and staff of academic institutions can qualify for a 50% discount when taking a SAS exam?  When you are ready to take your exam attempt, you can submit a request for an Academic Discount by following the directions at http://support.sas.com/certify/discounts/detail.html#acad.  Just make sure you receive approval for the discount before you register to take the exam. Why do we offer a discount to students?  Simple – we see it as a win-win situation.  Students can attempt a SAS exam at a lower price than the general public.  And when students go through the process of preparing for a SAS exam, SAS benefits by having a more knowledgeable group of future SAS users. Most new SAS Global Certification exam candidates begin with the Base Programming for SAS 9  exam. Successful candidates will demonstrate the ability to:

• import and export raw data files
• manipulate and transform data
• combine SAS data sets
• create basic detail and summary reports using SAS procedures
• identify and correct data syntax and programming logic errors

If you pass the exam, you are awarded the credential of SAS Certified Base Programmer for SAS 9.  Many university students have earned this credential but until just recently it was rare for a High School student to even attempt this exam.  That is changing as we have seen software programming skills become more and more advanced at younger levels and the number of High Schools offering curriculums in SAS have increased. It’s a great time to focus on SAS and grow with us.  We have awarded over 49,000 SAS credentials to people all over the world and the program is still expanding rapidly.  This is a reflection of the global demand for SAS professionals – just go to any major job board and search for SAS Programmer.  The opportunities are limited only by your imagination.

(courtesy: sasblogs)

Pattern:

No. of Qstns: 70 
Duration: 120 minutes
To qualify : 65%  (Minimum 46 answers out of 70 should be correct )
No negative marks

For training and material related queries 
contact arvind.dama@gmail.com 

ALL THE BEST !!!