SAS develops analytics training business in Brazil
Analytics giant SAS is further developing its education programs as local technology professionals seek to enhance their market attractiveness in the current recession.
Following its creation in the US in January, SAS Brazil introduced the Academy for Data Science Academy in June and had to create a second group due to high demand.
The 14-month, classroom-based program is designed for career transition and re-skilling for professionals looking for a career upgrade, but cannot commit to a graduate degree in data science.
The course encompasses lectures, development of case studies, team projects and exams. To achieve a SAS Data Scientist Certification, students will have to complete the Certification in Big Data, which is followed by the Advanced Analytics Professional Certification.
To enrol in the program, candidates must have a minimum of six months programming experience languages such as SAS and others. The firm recommends that students also have business knowledge in the market in which they operate or plan to operate, as well as applied mathematics and fluent English skills in order to handle the tools and most advanced programming languages that will be used in the course.
While some basic course material will be made available free of charge and in the e-learning formats, students will need to invest R$25,000 ($7,566) in the overall program. The cost of the program, while not necessarily cheap, is compatible with what top Brazilian universities are charging for similar courses.
Separately to the data analytics program, the company launched another education initiative earlier this year with short, free of charge courses designed to help Brazilian technology professionals find a new job, in areas including SAS programming, data mining, statistics, business intelligence and visual analytics.