A few weeks after I applied, I received a call from an HR specialist. No advance email - just an unscheduled call to do a screening then. She mostly provided an overview of the company and a very long pitch about the benefits. She asked several questions, too. The job description that she sent was vague. It didn't mention the specific product line (there are hundreds of SAS products), and she didn't share that information either. She scheduled an interview with the hiring manager but didn't provide her name in the interview invite. She didn't provide any information about the hiring process (like the next steps) or details about the role. I tried to ask about their hybrid policy because I don't drive, but she had another meeting. She said the salary for the role was $90K to $100K, which is less than my current role. I thought I could make that work if the hybrid requirement was one or two days a week, even with the cost of Uber, but I wasn't able to confirm how many days per week.
I did the best I could to research the technical documentation, but without knowing which products this role supported, I focused on the wrong products. The interview just didn't go smoothly. The hiring manager was friendly and seemed like she would be a great manager, but she spent a lot of time describing the structure of their documentation division. Except for several questions about AI usage in creating developer docs, she didn't ask any questions about me or my background, which I found frustrating. She kept asking me if I had questions, instead of asking me about what I could do for SAS or my background. Due to budget reasons, the toolset at my current role doesn't have tools that use AI to streamline content creation, so I wasn't able to provide the answer she wanted. My department is being dismantled by a RIF, so we aren't investing in new AI tools.
What wasn't included in the job description was that the product areas that this role supports were IoT and Risk Analytics. Since not all of SAS's technical documentation, this documentation may not been available for review. I write API documentation, but not specifically for these types of products. (I wish this role had been for SAS for Microsoft 365 or SAS Enterprise because I think I would have done much better in the interview, but I didn't have questions because I am not familiar with either product line.)
If you are applying for a technical documentation role like this, note that the Documentation Division is housed under Technical Support. There are at least four different groups of technical writers in the Documentation Division. Right now, they have about 85 technical writers. Based on one of the few questions that I was asked, I think that technical writers are expected to be able to write code samples in one or more languages. However, I wasn't told what kind of tools they use, other than they are looking for those who use AI to streamline content creation in their work environment.
One thing that wasn't mentioned was the layoffs that happened in 2024 as they work their way toward an IPO. (Expected in 2024 but delayed until later this year or next). There are several newspaper articles published in the past six months about the possibility of more layoffs occurring as the company aligns itself with likely investor expectations. I think once the IPO occurs, SAS will be a good company to work for.
