Dear Reader,
Last month I had one of those "I must be getting old" moments. As the winter band concert at my daughter's middle school was about to begin, the administration took a moment to introduce themselves to the audience. Much to my surprise, the assistant principal assigned to my daughter's grade was, more than 20 years ago, my high school guidance counselor. After the concert I took a few minutes to catch up with Mr. Tillman, who was a favorite to most of us seniors because he was young and cool and loved to joke around. Incredibly, Mr. T. ("I pity the fool" who doesn't get why that nickname was funny in 1987) not only remembered me, but remembered what college I applied to and that I had been accepted.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. T.; though he let us joke around with him, he was serious about pushing us to reach our full potential, probably riding us the hardest during the college application process. “Everyone who applies to top-tier universities comes to the table with similar profiles,” he lectured.  “They are all near the top of their class, they all volunteer, and they all have tons of extracurricular activities on their applications. What you have to do is distinguish yourself. Figure out what makes you stand out from these other exceptional kids.” Most importantly, Mr. T. wouldn’t settle for my first response: “Well, I can juggle and walk on my hands…though, sadly, not at the same time.”

As a SAS user, you have valuable skills that are in high demand. (I bet you can make sense of huge amounts of data while standing on your head, and I know you constantly juggle competing demands for your time.) Occasionally, though, you probably find yourself looking for a way to expand your knowledge of SAS, improve your career opportunities, and distinguish yourself from other analytical professionals. Luckily SAS Education has made it easier for you to grow your SAS skills or to study for a SAS certification. SAS OnDemand for Professionals: Enterprise Guide (now available in the US and Canada) offers an affordable way to access SASfor learning purposes. Essentially, you use a supplied version of SAS^® Enterprise Guide^® running on "the cloud."

The software includes an extensive collection of sample data from SAS' most popular courses and books, so you can explore everything SAS has to offer, from the basics of SAS reporting to advanced procedures that allow you to perform complex analyses. Whether you point-and-click, program in SAS or a mix of each, it provides a good learning environment to practice your SAS skills.

If you want to hone your skills to sit for a SAS programming certification, the software includes practice data from both the base and advanced certification preparation guides to help you prepare.

So if you’re ready to master the basics of the software, take your SAS skills to the next level, get SAS Certified, or simply need access to SAS software to practice along with a course or book, check out SAS OnDemand for Professionals. It just might provide the edge you need to find yourself on Mr. T's A-team.

Thanks for reading,
Larry LaRusso
Editor, SAS Training Report