Interview Advice for the Aspiring SAS Programmer

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Last week on the SAS Training Facebook page, I answered a question about what to expect during a job interview. It’s a question I’ve seen before, since I speak with students about SAS Certification, and many of them seek certification in pursuit of a first job. And while certification can certainly validate your SAS technical skills, there are many skills that can’t be tested on a certification exam, such as work ethic, creativity, and interpersonal effectiveness.

When people ask me about what to expect during a job interview for SAS programmers, I’ll refer them to a paper from SUGI 25 by Neil Howard “The Ultimate Match Merge: Hiring the Best SAS Programmers.“  While this guide is intended to help hiring managers find SAS talent, it is also a great resource for job seekers.  It addresses resumes, phone interviews, face-to-face interviews and technical skill assessment. It is an entertaining read as well, as it contains some good interview horror stories such as the job candidate that ate his Big Mac and fries during the interview. So if you are seeking employment as a SAS programmer, I’d recommend a quick read of this paper. And maybe also get a cat?

This post was kindly contributed by The SAS Training Post - go there to comment and to read the full post.