25,000th SAS Credential Leads to New Job
Congratulations to Liu Du, who was awarded the 25,000th SAS professional credential. Du was having trouble finding a job in his industry. After earning SAS programming credentials, he’s landed a job as a SAS Analytical Programmer!

Riana Smit
London Fire Brigade, UK
Riana shares her experience with the innovative SAS UK training and preparation for SAS Certification at the 2009 SAS Professionals Convention. The 2010 SAS Professionals Convention will be held June 15-17 at SAS UK’s Headquarters in Marlow, UK.

Tell us how SAS credentials are empowering you and your organization to achieve success. Send your story along with your contact information to sascertificationnews@sas.com.

Credential Updates

Platform Administrator for SAS®9
The final release exam was available through Prometric and country testing events in mid-March. Learn more about exam topics and how to prepare.

DI Developer for SAS®9
The beta exam period ended March 31. The final release exam is in development and expected to be available May 11. Register on the Interest List and you will be notified when it becomes available.

Predictive Modeler Using SAS Enterprise Miner™ 6 Beginning May 1, the SAS Enterprise Miner 6 credential will be available. Look for testing events scheduled in your country.

Web Site Redesign for SAS Global Certification
After market research and your feedback, the SAS Global Certification Web site underwent a thorough scrutiny and the result is a redesigned site. Early Web metrics indicate that the team has achieved goals of a more user-friendly, intuitive site. Check it out and send your feedback to this newsletter editor.

US Prep Bundles Updated
The e-Learning portion of the Advanced SAS Programming certification prep package in the US was recently enhanced with the incorporation of SAS Programming 3, SAS Macro Language 1 and SAS SQL 1 e-Courses. If you’re seeking an Advanced Programming credential in the US, don’t miss the value that this bundled training and certification package provides.

SAS UK Wins "Innovation in Training" Award
SAS UK was presented with a silver award in the Institute of IT Training’s Innovation in Training category for its SAS Professionals Convention 2009. This event featured a pioneering approach to achieving SAS certification through social media, Live Web courses and collaborative study groups. If you have yet to try this new approach to becoming SAS certified, learn more about this year’s convention to be held June 15-17 at SAS UK’s headquarters in Marlow, UK. 

Base Programming

• See How a Forgotten Period Affects an Informat
  This video demonstrates the output produced when the period in an INFORMAT statement is omitted.
  

• SAS Evaluates All Expressions in Compound Expressions
  This usage note explains how SAS software evaluates expressions and how to avoid unexpected log errors.

Advanced Programming

• Get Certified as an Advanced SAS Programmer in Six Months or Less!
  This six-page paper from SAS Global Forum 2010 describes what it takes to get certified quickly.

• Using the Descriptor Portion of a SAS Data File
  Read this six-page paper from SAS Global Forum 2010 to learn how to leverage the descriptor portion of a SAS data set in your macro programming.

Predictive Modeling

• Discussion Thread: Predictive Modeling with SAS Enterprise Certification
  A candidate for the Predictive Modeler credential gets some advice about preparation methods for the exam in this support.sas.com discussion forum.

• Understanding Analytics
  What's the difference between data mining, predictive modeling and predictive analytics? Tonya Balan answers this and other analytics questions in her recent sascom® magazine article.

Platform Administrator

• Best Practices in Using Roles to Control Functionality in SAS 9.2
  Learn how to ensure the right people have access to the right application features (and not more!) in this 19-page paper from SAS Global Forum 2010.

• Using SAS 9.2 Metadata Security Reporting and Auditing Features
  This 15-page technical paper describes the SAS 9.2 security audit capabilities of the SAS Metadata Server and how to use this information.

Just Enough SAS: A Quick-Start Guide to SAS for Engineers
Not just for engineers! This Award of Excellence winner by Robert Rutledge, provides instruction, tips and techniques on a variety of topics that are useful for both seasoned and new SAS users.

PROC SQL by Example: Using SQL Within SAS
Author Howard Schreier has written a concise guide showing numerous examples using DATA step and SQL code. This Award of Excellence winner is ideal for SAS programmers looking to add PROC SQL to their SAS toolkits.

In addition to exams being administered by Prometric, numerous SAS Certification test events are held at local SAS offices throughout the year.

BELGIUM
All exams offered

• Tervuren – July 16 and Aug. 13

BRAZIL
Base and Advanced Programming exams

• Sao Paulo – April 30, May 28 and June 25

DENMARK
All exams offered

• Copenhagen – June 17 and Sept. 9

FRANCE
Programming and Predictive Modeling exams

• Vincennes – June 2 and 7

GERMANY
All exams offered

• Heidelberg – June 7 and Sept. 20
  

ITALY
Base Programming review training and exam (starting dates)

• Milan – May 17
• Rome – May 5
  

Advanced Programming review training and exam (starting dates)

• Milan – June 30
• Rome – June 7

KOREA
Base Programming review training classes (starting dates)

• Seoul – July 26

Advanced Programming review training classes (starting dates)

• Seoul – Aug. 23

All exams offered

• Seoul – May 26, June 23, July 28, Aug. 25 and Sept. 29

THE NETHERLANDS
Programming, Platform Administrator and Predictive Modeling exams offered

• Huizen – Aug. 24

NORWAY
All exams offered

• Oslo – July 2

POLAND
Programming and Predictive Modeling exams

• Warsaw – May 25 and Sept. 24
  

SWEDEN
Base and Advanced Programming exams

• Stockholm – May 18

Predictive Modeling exam

• Stockholm – May 21

UK
Base and Advanced Programming exams

• Glasgow – June 11
• Manchester – Aug. 20
• Marlow – May 5, July 23 and Sept. 3

Predictive Modeling exam

• Marlow – June 18, July 19, Aug. 23 and Sept. 20

Base Programming Certification Live Web Tutorial

• May 14, July 16, Aug. 16 and Sept. 13

Advanced Programming Certification Live Web Tutorial

• May 25, June 28, July 30, Aug. 23 and Sept. 30

UNITED STATES
All exams offered

• Cary, North Carolina – June 18 and Sept. 20
• Dallas, Texas – May 17and Aug. 23
• New York – July 19
  

F2010
June 7-8
SAS World Headquarters
Cary, NC
At F2010 the focus will be on the latest forecasting research and best practices in the field. Join hundreds of your peers at this conference to learn proven, real-world examples of business forecasting methods that really work.  

A2010
Sept. 2-3
Copenhagen, Denmark
Join SAS and leading analytics experts in Denmark for A2010, a conference that will draw delegates from across Europe and the rest of the world. A2010 brings together the intelligence, innovation and leadership of analytics professionals, in one place, at one time.

M2010
Oct. 25-26
Las Vegas
The world's largest data mining conference brings together industry thought leaders for two days of informative sessions on the latest trends in the industry. Attend early if you want to take the Predictive Modeling certification exam which will be offered on Oct. 24 at this conference.

We hope you enjoyed this issue of SAS Global Certification News. Have a question, comment or suggestion? Want to see something covered in the next SAS Global Certification News? Simply e-mail the editor.

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