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EDUCATION PROFILE
Name: Charu Shankar
Location: Toronto
Company: SAS Canada
SAS® History: My
first job out of university was as a programmer. Then I landed my
dream job in the UNESCO field office in New Delhi, training staff
in software use and designing a library information and retrieval
system. Since moving to Canada, I’ve worked in various training environments,
teaching software skills, business communication skills and soft
skills, to name a few. I’m very new to SAS; September 4th was my
second month anniversary. My interests are Foundation SAS programming
and business intelligence.
Partner/Family: My
family is in India and California.
Pets: None
for now, but I like dogs a lot so am hoping I’ll get to take care
of Cookie, my friend’s golden retriever.
Sports/Hobbies: Singing,
sewing, dancing, reading, writing, horseback riding, gardening, meeting
friends, traveling, going to the ROM, watching a funny Bollywood movie,
anything to do with the arts (though the last one may not quite be
art for some ?). Growing up, I was surrounded by parks and gardens
and still love to go for hikes and long walks. And SHOPPING. I love
markets and am constantly discovering new places – new for me, anyway
– like Kensington market, with its amazing fresh fruit markets and
the shopkeepers’ willingness to bargain!
Favourite Foods: Mango
and peach salad; potatoes in any form!
My ideal weekend: Spending
time with friends and family would rate at the very top of my list.
A group of friends and families get together every weekend. It’s absolute
chaos, with kids running all over the place excited to see each other
after a full week, but we really look forward to catching up on news
over good food, great music and pleasant conversation.
If I could be anything
at all (besides a SAS programmer),
I would be: A musician….or
a teacher or a dancer. I love
to express myself with language,
and I love singing. My music
is Carnatic, a form of Indian
classical music which is from
the south of India. If you’ve
never heard this musical form,
I’ll give you a quick glimpse.
Picture yourself on the shores
of the Indian ocean: cool
sea breeze, fresh coconut
water, the sun warming your back, musicians in their
bright and vibrant clothes, the fragrance of lotus
flowers, and in the distance you can hear the sounds
of temple bells. Now imagine a violinist, three drummers
and a singer creating music in this setting. This
would be the closest I can describe the music in a
physical sense. It can be quite mathematical in its
sequential patterns. I love how the musician is free
to create pieces on the spot within the chosen scale.
There’s also an extensive
lyrical and poetic component.
If you want to learn more,
you can visit my Web site: www.handicareintl.org/pankaja.
When I’m not programming in SAS,
I like to: Teach; I’ll teach anything.
I love to take concepts and explain them in a simple way to my audience.
My youngest learner was 4 and the oldest 79! I teach singing and also
a weekend community program on human values to 9- to 12-year-olds.
One
thing every
SAS programmer
should know: Here
is a simple
tip, which
I thought
was an elegant
way to display
information
by using
the transpose
procedure.
Suppose
your company
is in a
hiring frenzy with 40
new hires.
Your manager
wants to
be able
to manage
salaries
of all staff
at one glance. He wants to see the salaries
horizontally displayed so he can
make instant
comparisons.
You would like to indulge your manager; he’s always been good
to you. But you are also practical. You don’t want to tamper with
your original data. Tomorrow he may have a need for it in the original
form. You would like to show him salaries of the current eight
employees. How would you do this?
Simple enough. You invoke the Transpose procedure,
which may ring a bell for Excel
Pivot Table users.
Transpose is a powerful procedure, which
rotates your data for you, changing
observations into variables
and vice versa.
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