School at SAS?

Post #8
Date: 7/23
Activities: Training Course Learning SAS Studio
Technical Information: SAS Studio 9

Reflection: I never would have thought that I would still be going to school during the summer. And I still haven't gone to school during the summer. But it sure felt like school when I went to take a course at SAS on SAS Studio 9 that was targeted towards interns. SAS loves to pamper their interns wieh SAS specific training courses and academies to encourage them to come work for SAS after they had graduated. It might seem a little evil, like SAS is trying to bribe these interns to come work for them, but after I really thought about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. SAS as a language is much different than other programming languages because it is specifically tailored towards mass computing and statistics. The type of education needed to use SAS software is not something that is easily taught everywhere, it is much easier to just train interns in the "art" of SAS programming and immediately recruit them after they finish their formal education because they already have the necessary tools to help advance the company.

I had no idea what to expect as I made my way to Building H, which is one of the two main training buildings, training for everything and for anyone, from customers to old employees. Was the class going to be huge or small, would I see anyone I knew? Turns out there were only like nine people in the class. I was the only high schooler, so I felt a little intimidated and sat in a little corner by myself. Most of the others were from NC State and some person went to a school outside of North Carolina. The instructor was very nice and informed us that she was also responsible for teaching SAS customers on how to use SAS software for over ten years, which I thought was impressive and neat. I had originally thought that the class would be a review class because I had already taken the SAS class at school, but I realized how much more sophisticated SAS Studio was. There were snippet functions (code templates already written out by former programmers) and other unique IDE workings that allowed the user to create bar graphs and detect data errors with the click of a few buttons. You didn't have to be a SAS expert in order to use the many powers of the IDE and the power of SAS. Overall the class was fun and exciting, and I was able to experience formal training in the work place.

This internship at SAS has truly opened my eyes and let me soak and absorb in more than I ever could have imagined. I've learned that I am a hard worker and that I've gotten better at handling my responsibilities and communicating with superiors that are older than me. I was able to become more independent and be held accountable for my actions. Having me work in IT was a really important experience for me because I realized that I like SAS the company and the language, but not the IT aspect of it. I wouldn't mind interning in the IT department in the future, but I would not like to work in IT full-time as a more permanent position/career. I was glad that I was able to understand that even though my customer and people skills were not entirely lacking, it is not what I'm interested in nor extremely strong at.

Alex and I got a large pizza for a discount and we each ate a whole half!