SAS Academy for Data Science has been churning out high quality of data scientists for a quite few years thereby full filling the demand supply gap that exists in the area. It enables career seekers to enhance their skills and known worldwide by obtaining SAS Credentials and SAS Digital Badges , it enables already existing analytical professional to update their skills with the most recent developments and expand their personal or organizational goals, even for new-comers SAS provides easy way to hunt for the jobs through acclaim.
In this blog, I would like to share experiences of one of SAS Data Science pass-outs, Neeraj S Phanse. (Please do check out his badge) . A variety of interesting insights can be obtained. Following are the excerpts from his interview:
a) Tell us about yourself. What were you doing prior to coming to the SAS Academy for Data?
Before I joined DSA batch, I was working in a manufacturing sector, precisely in GRP Ltd., looking after rubber manufacturing plants across various cities in India. I had been in the rubber industry for past 5.5 years.
b) Why did you decide to join the SAS Academy for Data Science?
Like I mentioned above, having spent more than 5 years in manufacturing sector while doing production and inventory planning for them, I was looking for some platform that would help me enhance my analytical skills. That’s when I came across the name SAS from a friend. Apart from this, I also explored a lot on internet about all options of getting into the world of Data Science and could not find better brand than SAS who is a global leader.
c) What is your advice to other young people that want a career in working with data?
Well, I’ve completed the course of data scientist in spite of not having background of statistics and computer science which are two major arms of the field of data science. I can confidently say that you too can enter this field if you want to. One has to be in love with numbers and talk to them.
d) What do you like about working with data?
Personally I like playing with numbers and digging something informative from sheer numbers which are mere digits for others, is fun! But honestly decision making on the basis of data and not someone’s gut feeling is so very important in today’s data driven world.
e) What are your career goals?
I want to end up being a CEO of a company, don’t know how but I will reach there eventually.
f) Is there anything else you’d like to share?
As I have mentioned earlier also that one has to be well versed with statistics and coding. But this is something you’d get to hear a lot from everyone. Apart from this, I’d want to emphasize on participating in competitions like Kaagle. Two biggest advantages of this would be, you will be competing on a global platform with the best in the business which in itself leaves us with immense opportunity of learning and you’d be using tools such as R and Python which is kind of blessing in disguise in today’s competitive world.
g) Can you describe about your journey while learning Data Science with SAS ?
My journey has been nothing short of roller coaster. One of the best things that happened to me during the course was my classmates. I had classmates of different ages, who were from different background who enriched me with their vast experiences and knowledge. And this reminds me of Mr. Patil ( Data Scientist, US Federal Government ) who said in one his presentations that more diverse your team of data scientist is, better it would be for you. I consider myself fortunate to have opted for SAS to do this course. The kind of infrastructure SAS has, it only does justice to this kind of rigorous program. Be it recordings of the theory sessions or be it the virtual environment for practicing and improving on skills, the whole setup was very well conducted.
h) What did you like best about the course?
So many things to enlist here but I’m afraid if I remember half of them, Let me give my best shot. Virtual learning environment is surely right at the top of this list. It was absolutely new experience for me and I totally loved it. An opportunity to practice exercises and perform case studies in this virtual environment was fun experience.
As all of us were working professionals, it was just a matter of time that somebody would miss out on theory sessions due to work load or some other reason. Even if we attended the sessions physically, it’s humanly impossible to have concentration throughout the day on the lecture. So recordings of these sessions certainly helped me. I did use these recordings extensively. Faculties were few of unsung heroes of our journey. They were more generous listeners than they were good teachers. Not only did they motivated us to ask more and more questions, but they also inspired and guided us to tackle practical difficulties we face in the world of data science.
What goes unnoticed is the efforts of the planning and coordinating of the theory sessions and practice and certifications exams, which were almost perfectly orchestrated by admin team. Team also helped me when it came to making payments by being flexible about it.
We wish him all the best in his career and readers are further invited to the Free Trial of SAS Data Science Academy.
