Hi Brian,

Hope you are doing great..

Catching up with you after a really long time.

 

How are you doing?

I am presently in US in Detroit on a short term project would be here till March.

Thanks & Regards,

Bhaswati

 

Hi Brain....
I guess you commented in your "Comment Wall" :)
Yes I did my post graduation in Statistics, apparently I did not use SAS in my college ...that ways I am pretty new in SAS programming but yes I do enjoy writing macros etc... :)

Well...yes I am working right now in India and indeed there is very good demand of quality work in SAS. RIght now I am not sure whether you can work as a freelancer or on voluntary basis in SAS because the first thing that comes to my mind in data analysis is Data integrtity and security which I know is strictly followed in most of the companies over here...howevr if I do come across anything like that woudl certainly let you know. What kind of work are you mainly dealing in presently? It would be nice to know....

Hi Brian,
In my company I have mostly used SAS for data manipulation/analysis etc...in risk analytics, marketing analytics, loss forecasting etc..
It is a good idea to go for certification but I guess the best is hands-on learning...
Anyways all best and thanks for the friend request!

Hi Brian,

We do not use SAS in my company. We have both an internal analytics platform that measures our entire sharing ecosystem (and fuels our external facing analytics platform) as well as Google Analytics and good old fashion Excel.

I got into web analytics from an organic perspective in that I did project management at USATODAY.com. In 2002 we implemented Visual Sciences (now known as Omniture Insights) and I ventured into being the in-house resident who knew the system best. Combine that with my financial analysis background and I was off and running. I went on to work for Visual Sciences directly and then went in-house leading a web analytics team at an ecommerce web site.

If you are trying to get started I would recommend several steps:

1. Have some sort of analysis background - operations, financials, accounting...any would work. I say this because if you aren't good with numbers then web analytics will be very hard.
2. Take one of the UBC courses.
3. READ! There are a ton of books and great web sites out there that will help you build a base of knowledge.
4. Interview a few web analysts so that you get a sense of the paths that they have taken.
5. Get familiar with the business models where web analytics are used the most (someone else wrote that below, but it is so true). For example, ecommerce sites with shopping carts versus content web sites that focus on registrations or content consumed. Understand how these sites make money and how web site analysis supports this effort.

A successful web analyst can move between web analytics tools (GA, Omniture, Unica, etc.) just as an accountant can move between accounting packages (Great Plains, Lawson, etc.). So SAS is certainly a good place to start, but don't limit yourself there.

Good luck in your pursuits!

Jodi

Hi Brian,
Thanks for the comment.
My company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in application development. We generally use this for website traffic analytics - marketing, sales, BI, etc.

I personally am not the most technically savvy person from a back-end perspective. Our developers handle the set up. I read and analyze the results. Sorry I could not be of more help to you. Steve's comment below looks like a good reference.

Occasionally, we get requests for staffing in these positions - but that would be the extent....

Thanks again,
Jamie