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.
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.
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