Our Storytellers: Wes Gelpi

Wes was ready for a change.

“I wasn’t happy in my previous role, and decided to embark on a job search. I came across the role at SAS on LinkedIn and immediately applied,” Wes recounts. “The position was perfectly aligned to my career goals and aspirations – it almost felt too good to be true.”

Fast forward to today; Wes is now living the #saslife as a Director in R&D, leading our Compute function and working with customers on their journey to the cloud.

Read on to hear about Wes’ journey to SAS and why he’s excited about the future.

The Gelpi family

Living the #saslife

“Every day is exciting for me,” Wes shares. “I’m working with a team of incredibly talented and smart people developing cutting-edge products that are truly container native.”

Wes also enjoys working with SAS’ customers: “In this role, I have the opportunity to work directly with our customers to solve their problems and help them migrate to the cloud with our Viya 4 solution,” he explains.

“My favorite part of the job is getting to develop and improve SAS’ products. I get to influence and drive the development of our products – what’s cooler than that?”

Experiencing SAS’ culture

Wes moved to the Triangle in 2015, so he’d heard about SAS’ reputation as a great place to work – but now, he’s experienced our culture firsthand: “SAS is a company that delivers on its promise of putting people first and empowering employees to create healthy work/life balance,” Wes shares. “The people I work with and for are tremendous and so smart, and SAS’ mission aligns with my passions and career interests. The opportunity to make a mark here is so apparent, and I’m inspired to do just that.”

Excited for the future

“When I began my job search, I knew I wanted to join a company with a bright future – so I did my research,” Wes explained. “I read articles from top researchers like Gartner and combed through GitHub projects and YouTube videos. The level of engagement and commentary got me excited about SAS’ future.”

A few years in, Wes’ research has only been confirmed: “Once I arrived here and learned more about our goals

Archie, Tikka and Quinn

surrounding Viya 4 and Kubernetes, I got really excited. It’s great to see SAS investing so much in becoming cloud native. SAS is a company with a strong legacy, and it’s reinventing itself with modern technology and practices.”

Outside the office

When he's not dabbling in the latest tech (Wes is currently learning Go and enjoys gaming), you’ll find Wes spending time with his wife, their two kids, and their three dogs. Wes also volunteers with his local JDRF chapter and enjoys working out and staying active.

Thanks, Wes, for sharing your story!

Interested in a new role in tech? Wes has a word of advice:

“Anyone looking to build a career in the most modern technologies and practices, from data science to Kubernetes, containers and programming languages owes it to themselves to give SAS the consideration it deserves. There’s a reason there are a lot of long-tenured people here, and it’s for all the right reasons. At SAS, you’ll build knowledge and skills that will rival any start-up or tech company, with the added benefit of a world-class culture.”

Explore open roles and learn more about the #saslife .