SAP or SAS training (applying, analysis, percentage, job)

[Blackhair]

Hi all,
I have M.S. in mol bio and 1 yr of industrial exp in chemistry testing and manufacturing. I quit my current job, cause I was the only one in company and didn't see much growth. I am looking for transition in my career. What is your opinion on SAP training. I am also considering SAS training. Kinda confused between the two. I did some research, talked to few ppl in the respective fields but still ain't able to make my mind. What is better in terms of job market, payscale, flexibility, level of understanding both the tools and in general the future in SAP/SAS? Any inputs are highly appreciated.

[Wartrace]

Originally Posted by Blackhair

Hi all,
I have M.S. in mol bio and 1 yr of industrial exp in chemistry testing and manufacturing. I quit my current job, cause I was the only one in company and didn't see much growth. I am looking for transition in my career. What is your opinion on SAP training. I am also considering SAS training. Kinda confused between the two. I did some research, talked to few ppl in the respective fields but still ain't able to make my mind. What is better in terms of job market, payscale, flexibility, level of understanding both the tools and in general the future in SAP/SAS? Any inputs are highly appreciated.

I am not sure but I am definitely going to follow this thread. I am getting involved with the new SAP business Bydesign ERP system as a consultant to complement my QuickBooks business (SAP ByDesign is an affordable option for upgrade).

I know there is demand for people with SAP Crystal reports experience. I have been using Crystal in my business for advanced reporting and there seems to be a lot of interest in people who can create reporting in this system. I bought the program (Crystal) to learn it, it was

I would suggest you go to Linkedin and join some of the SAP-SAS groups. Not only would there be more answers to your questions but you can get some really good specific advice.

[mizzourah2006]

I am fairly certain SAS is statistical analysis software, usually used for very large datasets (unless you are referring to something else).

SAP on the otherhand seems to be an overall business software.

I would think SAS would only be marketable if you had a statistics background and were applying for a very stats heavy job.

I have a small background in SAS and put it on my resume, but never got any bites strictly because of it and I am in a very data intensive field.

[MSchemist80]

Good luck I have a Chemistry/Mol Bio background and am dying to get out of this S__ty excuse for a profession.

[chet everett]

The prevalence of positions for those with skills in SAP is superficially about 5x greater than those with requirements for SAS, which is probably about 3x greater than Matlab.

That said I would caution that a VERY LARGE percentage of the ads recruiting for those SAP positions are seeking folks with installation and/or operations skills.

Further the "value proposition" than any firm looking to hire programmers or analysts with experience with any of the various SAP products (that include a whole family of software that ranges from ERP to Governnce, Risk & Compliance, electronic learning, HR/performance management, and Business Intelligence / Analytics) really depends far more on EXPERIENCE than training -- anyone can "read the friendly manual" for any of the SAP products but only through real world exposure to the kinds of pitfalls that exist with software designed to fit into nearly every aspect of a business can companies expect to avoid these pitfalls.

Conversely SAS is a more focused firm. The model they promote is more about data analysis /business intelligence. Since it is largely its own special little world, divorced from standard SQL or general purpose languages like Java it is a more specialized. While experience is important, the "oddness" of being either a total BI solution OR just a piece of a firms whole "analytics tool chest" gives somewhat less emphasis to raw experience. In some ways it is a competitor to offerings from Cognos, but it also has some similarly to the "vertical solutions" of SAP or Oracle's suite of Siebel tools...

I sometimes toss "Matlab" out as way to gain skills that work well in trading firms / financial industry as well as healthcare and life science, though each field also has ancillary demands -- if your skills in chemical /biological areas are something you want to continue to foster that is very different than having a desire to write high performance C code for low latency trading...

Since the OP has experience in a field that ought to have some "cross pollination" with pharma / bio-tech it might make sense to explore "health infomatics" or "bio informatics" perhaps combined with C.S. or MIS courses as well as project management disciplines. Those tend to be a smoother way to "transition" ones career than merely taking unfocused programming classes.