Last Friday I had the pleasure of spending a rewarding hour sitting with Jan Squillace, a technical support analyst for SAS. Jan actually reached out to Christine and me, inviting us to “sit in on an hour of Tech Support Phone Duty, just to see what happens in the real world!” Of course we took her up on the offer. Fitted with my piggyback headset, I was ready as the phone began ringing almost as soon as I sat down. Throughout the hour, I listened and watched as Jan deftly handled five or six calls (I lost count), with SAS users asking about everything from FORMCHAR options to macros to importing an enormous .csv file.

Although I was able to at least vaguely understand most of the users’ problems (except for that FORMCHAR thing), I would be at a complete loss as to how to solve any of them. I was so impressed with Jan’s level of knowledge and her ability to switch gears completely from one call to the other. And what a satisfying job, being able to take the time and follow up if need be to solve the callers’ issues. I thank Jan so much for inviting us to sit with her. I only hope that one day I’ll know a third of what she knows about SAS.

I think my visit with Jan is the spark I’ve needed, as I’ve not gotten back into the rhythm of studying since the holidays. It just seems so overwhelming at times, all the stuff I need to know for the exam. And—fortunately—we here at SAS Press are working on quite a few books right now that we hope to have ready for attendees at SAS Global Forum. So my study time is limited these days. But I’ve come too far to give up now. As always, words of encouragement are welcome!