Do I have to learn SAS if I want to go into industry? I am currently a PhD student in Biostatistics (finishing my 2nd year). My original goal when entering graduate school was to go into academia. Recently I have been debating this choice and wondering if perhaps industry will be a better fit. 
I come from a strong programming background. I love using R because it is a lot more similar to the programming languages that I grew up with, and is even able to interface with them. 
I abhor SAS. Whenever I am forced to use it, I feel like I am wearing 2 left shoes that are 3 sizes too small. 
I know that SAS is predominant in industry however. Do you guys think I will just have to suck it up and learn SAS proficiently, or will I be able to get by with R? 
 A: SAS is extremely expensive as an enterprise wide solution. It is used by some large organisations specially in banking and insurance. Many companies today are taking a different approach, looking for less expensive and scalable solutions. Open source is getting a lot of traction even in large organisations.
I would start with R programming and maybe Python. Once you have enough exposure to these, and if you decide to learn SAS, it will be a lot easier to digest.
A: you have to figure what is that you're interested in: 


*

*programming statistics in R 

*programming statistics

*statistics

*programming


If your answer is 2-4, then it shouldn't matter which language you use. if you already know R and don't want to learn SAS, then get certified in SAS. this will increase your chances of getting employed at places where they require SAS. once employed, you'll learn SAS and use it, and it wouldn't bother you at all.
Only if your answer is 1., you're in a tough spot regardless of the industry. I frankly don't understand personal attachments to particular languages and tools, especially for a young guy in the beginning of a career. it makes a sense for 60 year old dude who simply doesn't want to spend his precious time on learning something new when he can simply ride on what he already learned during his long life. learn SAS, Stata, Gauss, Python... you have plenty of time ahead.
