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Ask HN: Market for SAS/R developers?

5 points by canadiancreed ↗ HN
So I was informed by my current employer that one of the things on their todo list is to have me do SAS and/or R programming along with the PHP/Java that I'm doing now. While it's great to have more languages on the ole resume, I'm wondering what the market for these languages are like? Is there crazy demand for them out there, or is it as useful as saying your'e a HTML programmer?

8 comments

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laughfactory
SAS and R are heavily used for data and statistical analysis. As such, they're very employable "languages." SAS especially can pull down big bucks, but R is the better language/platform. I worked with SAS extensively (and learned R in college) and really disliked SAS. It is widely used but felt very archaic and poorly thought-out. The interface is ugly as sin and the SAS language is a mess. After using it for a year it blows my mind that companies pay so much to use it.

But employable? Definitely.

SkipP
SAS is huge in financial services. I have come across it quite a bit. I have statistics knowledge, but not programming skills really. I know of many jobs requiring SAS. I have never seen a HTML programming job listing. R is mostly used in academia. I do not know of anyone in the private sector using it.
rankam
Many companies that employ Data Scientists in NYC use R for their stats and ML work. While I personally prefer Python over R for ML related tasks, R does seem to be gaining traction in the private sector. I recommend ML for Hackers if you're interested in learning more about R - the author is very knowledgable and works as a Data Scientist for Facebook.

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018483.do

jdale27
Not sure what domain you're in, but here's the view from mine...

SAS is extremely common in pharma companies. Basically, any company that has anything to do with a clinical drug trial will be using SAS.

In the basic research / tool development parts of the biotech industry, R is common as well. Today, basically every biotech company has some kind of "data science" component (though they won't necessarily have adopted that buzzword).

Either way, in my view this is a far more specific and valuable skill than "HTML programmer".

canadiancreed
Ya I should have specified my domain when posting this. I'm currently in the healthcare field for one of the larger hospitals here in Toronto. One of the reasons for this posting was to gauge how useful it'd be for the private sector, as it's both my preference and it's only a year long contract.
ig1
If you want to go into more statistical type of roles in the future (data science, analytical marketing, etc.) than they're very useful.

Outside of that they're of less use.

dagw
I have a couple of friends who do portfolio and risk management at two different pension funds, and both of those places use a lot of SAS.

That being said neither of my friends knew SAS when they where hired and I doubt there are many places that hire people because they know SAS. They hire people because they know statistics and risk analysis and then send them on a 4 day SAS course if necessary.

dagw
Knowing SAS/R in isolation is worth very little. Knowing statistics and data analysis is worth a lot and SAS/R are pretty good tools for doing statistics and data analysis. Unless you're also willing to learn the underlying statistics and data analysis there isn't much demand for SAS or R programmers. However there is massive demand for competent data analysts capable using SAS or R.