Why Intern at SAS?

Post #1
Dates: 6/15/15 - 8/21/15
Activities: Spending my summer at SAS
Technical Information: Using the Internet and certain internal applications (e.g. Computer Manager, etc.)

Reflection: Although I knew that I was probably one of the best candidates for getting the SAS internship, there was still a seed of doubt about getting the internship. Getting past the initial screening was the easy part, because I had a pretty solid resume and academic achievements. When the candidates were narrowed down to 12 of us, and only five were going to be chosen, I felt skeptical. People may say that I am good at interviews, but I personally felt that many of the other candidates were far more superior in regards to how they presented themselves. I silently held my breath for the entire time after the interview until I got the news that I got the internship. And it only went downhill from there... in the most amazing way possible.

SAS's intern program coordinators, Kayla and Whitney, were extremely helpful and friendly. The emails they sent regarding important forms and procedures were clear and it was easy to email them with any questions that I had. Training day was pretty sweet as well. Not only did we get paid for listening to speakers come in and talk about SAS, we got free food and were able to connect with the other interns. Out of about 150 interns here at SAS, only about 20 of them are high schoolers! During orientation we were able to learn about the benefits of working at SAS and some of the more intricate inner workings of the company, like it's history and the 20+ buildings on 900 acres of land. It was surprising to see how SAS was a company active on social media and trying to spread its influence globally. However, even after getting to meet our managers for the first time in person, none of us still had ANY idea of what we would be doing, and that was all part of the fun.

Statistical Analysis Software, or SAS, is one of the most powerful analysis software ever created. SAS Institute, the company who created SAS, was founded by Dr. Jim Goodnight, who is currently the richest man in North Carolina. SAS software is capable of massive data computation and analysis, from the millions of customers that banks like Wells Fargo have to the even greater millions of customer transactions of a general merchandise store like Staples. SAS helps to organize the information and help organize it into a coherent and understandable manner so that the management of these corporations can have a concrete idea of how their business is doing. SAS is also great at helping management anticipate trends in the future and what steps it needs to take in order to improve and expand their company and respective industry. I would be part of the Information Technology team, helping SAS employees fix their problems, but more on that later...