If they are honest with me, even if it means they are clearly outlining, “Well, Wendy, you really have a lot of work to do, and here’s X-Y-Z that you need to do”- that is great. What do you think I should do?” This is a favorite of mine. If you have a current project, ask them “Here’s my scenario. “How do you create a BASE engine library?”.“What does SAS do with authentication domains?”.“What would you recommend I do for backing up my SAS environment?”.“Describe to me how I would add a new user and what permissions I can give that user”.“Describe to me how I would register a new table in SAS metadata”.Here are some questions to get them talking about their hands-on experience: I make sure I have candidates talk to me about the technical side of SAS administration, at least one story or explanation of how certain tasks are performed. You should quickly get a sense for the type of daily tasks the candidate is used to performing. The response to this question could be anything from kicking off jobs, restarting servers and backing up the environment to supporting users with coding questions. What level of support have you provided for your SAS users?įor example, did the candidate act as a first line of defense when users ran into problems? Do they work with their internal SAS user and SAS technical support where needed? Were they on call overnight, if that is a necessary part of the job requirements? How comfortable do they seem to be with troubleshooting a problem? Have candidates walk you through an example.ĭescribe the typical administrative tasks you perform each day. Have candidates designed any code, SAS Enterprise Guide projects, SAS Stored Processes or any other SAS content? From here, I recommend asking them to describe an example, such as "Walk me through the steps you took, from data management to analytics to reporting to sharing that information in the organization."
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Some SAS administrators are more comfortable with server administration, while others prefer a more involved level of customer service to their users.Īre you doing any SAS development in you current role? Any experience with SAS development? If not, are they open to doing so? You have to decide if this is a requirement for your open position- not every administrator wants to be customer-facing or has the needed skills, even if the customers are internal. If the company did not utilize metadata, what tasks did they perform in their administrator role? For business users, what is your role in pushing content out to them? For power users, how are you supporting your SAS developers?Īre you performing SAS product training for your SAS users? This question gives me a general idea of how much work they had to do to support their users. How many SAS users have you supported? Business users? Power users? If you are hiring to migrate from SAS Version 8 to SAS 9, ask if they have done that before. I would also follow up this question with “Have you installed SAS Hot Fixes before”?ĭo you have experience migrating content to new SAS versions?Īsk this question if necessary for your environment. Which SAS products have you installed and configured? In this scenario, I’m going to usually prefer some that has UNIX/LINUX experience if they also have the SAS experience.
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The more, the better! If I’m hiring for UNIX/LINUX and the candidate doesn’t have any experience outside of Windows, then I need to gauge how quickly they’ll pick it up. What operating system (OS) platforms have you used with SAS?
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Are they working with SAS metadata or not? The role of the SAS administrator became very important with SAS 9. This question lets me know the breadth of their administration experience. What SAS products and versions have you administered? I have hired good SAS admins using this personal guidebook: Some of these questions can be answered from their resume, but if I’m doing a phone screen without the benefit of a resume, I’ll ask all of them. How can you feel confident they know their stuff? Here is my personal list of interview questions.
COMPLEX SAS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS HOW TO
I get asked- a lot!- about how to find and to hire SAS administrators.
COMPLEX SAS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS SOFTWARE
Today, I work with SAS customers to help them find the best software for their business needs. I’ve been hired as a SAS administrator, and I have hired SAS administrators. I have been on both sides of the table during an interview to hire a SAS administrator.