USER STORIES

Take the business along the Data Science journey

Jean Murray De Villiers’ career journey is proof that regular upskilling matters.

TOP 3 LESSONS

  • Take the business along the Data Science journey. This creates a sense of shared ownership and aligned expectations.
  • Understand your audience, and utilize the power of storytelling when sharing findings with them. It's important that your story is told in such a way that everyone, including your six-year-old niece, gets it.
  • It's not so much about the tools, but more about the value that you create with them.

THE JOURNEY

Undergraduate degree
in Business with a focus on Statistics, Marketing, and Economics.

Got Certified 
Developed skills starting with Base SAS to Advanced Programmer and Statistical Business Analyst.

Masters Degree 
in Business Mathematics and Informatics at North-West University (BMI Centre) in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Data Scientist
Joined Africa’s largest pay-tv service provider and used the next two and a half years to build up solid work experience. It was during this period that I also completed the SAS Academy for Data Science, offered online, and passed all five SAS certification exams to become a SAS Certified Data Scientist.

SEE THE BENEFITS


ON LEARNING SAS® 

SAS certifications provide you with the foundation needed to build a career in Data Science. I found that the knowledge obtained doing SAS certification can be applied to open-source platforms as the Data Science fundamentals stay the same.


#1
SAS is rated one of the top skills to have in today's analytics job market.


ON CERTIFICATION

SAS certifications makes you more attractive for employers and provide you with the foundation needed to build a career in Data Science.

Find projects that fascinate you and that you feel passionate about. This will help you put 110% into it and the results will show for themselves. Headshot of Jean Murray de Villiers

MY STORY

Q: Being a Data Scientist - it is something very trendy now and there is still a great gap between university graduates and demand from the market – when did you decide you want to go in this direction?

In 2013 while working for a SAS partner in South Africa selling Analytics software, with limited career prospects.

Read more of Jean's story

There is no substitute for experience, so get involved in anything that will help you apply what you learned.

TOOLS FOR SUCCESS

SAS® Academic Programs

Innovation starts with education.

Free Training

Upgrade your skills with a range of courses to help you get started learning SAS.

SAS® Academy for Data Science

Master the skills you need to become a data scientist with in-depth training and professional certifications.

Landing a job

There is a big demand for industry-related Data Science skills in the market. At the time of graduation, I had numerous job offers/opportunities to choose from.

Workplace Experience

There is no substitute for experience, so get involved in anything that will help you apply what you learned.

Keeping skills sharp

Be comfortable with regular upskilling to stay relevant in the market. Data Science is at the epicenter of the data revolution and is very fast-moving, it's important to remain ahead of the curve.

Explore Amazing Careers in Analytics

Whether they just landed their first job or decided to pivot midcareer, these data scientists, developers, educators and analysts all found their way to careers they love. Find out how they got there.