Solved: Help with career change into SAP

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 04

Hi,

I work as a System administrator. My day to day job role is in windows administration.. basic Cisco administration and Linux administration... I also gained knowledge in middleware products..

I want to shift my career to SAP. I know the hot SAP jobs are in BI. I am not sure how hard will this be for me. Will it be easy for me to make a shift to SAP.. and if yes, which module would you suggest I learn. Please guide me by giving me a career path..

Thank you for all your valuable advises..

Kalyan

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 04

Before I discovered the world of SAP, my background was the same as yours - Unix, Windows and Mac systems admin, with a bit of networking thrown in. I had also done some programming. The place I started in the SAP world was with Basis (called NetWeaver these days...). That's the area of SAP work that will most closely match your existing skill set.

There are many other areas within the world of SAP, obviously. You already mentioned you know about BI. Most of them, though, require business knowledge. That's not to say that a techie can't get that knowledge. On the contrary, I have. But I started in Basis and learned from there, and it took a while.

Of course, I know almost nothing about you, your abilities and your skills. Based purely on the few sentences you've written above, I'd suggest you start in an area that most closely matches your existing skills - Basis - and use that as a way to learn about other areas and see if any appeal to you.

But it is hard to make a good recommendation with so little knowledge. Bear that in mind when reading this and any other comments you may get.

Steve.

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 04

Before I discovered the world of SAP, my background was the same as yours - Unix, Windows and Mac systems admin, with a bit of networking thrown in. I had also done some programming. The place I started in the SAP world was with Basis (called NetWeaver these days...). That's the area of SAP work that will most closely match your existing skill set.

There are many other areas within the world of SAP, obviously. You already mentioned you know about BI. Most of them, though, require business knowledge. That's not to say that a techie can't get that knowledge. On the contrary, I have. But I started in Basis and learned from there, and it took a while.

Of course, I know almost nothing about you, your abilities and your skills. Based purely on the few sentences you've written above, I'd suggest you start in an area that most closely matches your existing skills - Basis - and use that as a way to learn about other areas and see if any appeal to you.

But it is hard to make a good recommendation with so little knowledge. Bear that in mind when reading this and any other comments you may get.

Steve.

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 05

I appreciate your advise. I did more research after I posted the question.. i found that I should start with Basis and then go from there..

I am in the process of getting my Red Hat Certified Engineer cert.. I am not sure if i should stop that and move or finish that and them start with SAP Basis training... I m not sure if Red hat cert helps for SAP..

Another question is is SAP installed on Linux or Windows? or is it either?? what is the most common OS where it is installed in big companies.. or does it totally depends on the company??

Thank you very much for your advise..

Kalyan

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 05

SAP runs on Windows, Linux and several flavours of Unix. Which a company uses depends on many factors. Cost and existing skillsets are the two main factors.

Should you finish the Red Hat cert? I would say that's up to you. Some companies have a large enough Basis team that they can split into OS, DB and SAP specialties. Some are smaller and have people doing all of it. The cert might help you find a job, but if you are looking to get into "proper" Basis it won't help a lot with that, in my opinion.

Steve.

Reagan · ‎2014 Oct 04


I am not sure how hard will this be for me. Will it be easy for me to make a shift to SAP.. and if yes, which module would you suggest I learn. Please guide me by giving me a career path..

It all depends on you. In addition to what Steve mentioned above Basis/NetWeaver is into administration of SAP systems, basically a mix of SAP, OS and DB administration. If you really like to stick with administration then Basis is the one.

RB

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 05

Thank you for your reply..

having DB administration is a must for SAP administration or is it something you learn on the job.. I have basic DB administration knowledge..

Former Member · ‎2014 Oct 05

There are SAP-specific DB tools that take away the need for detailed DB knowledge in standard operations. Expert knowledge is helpful in some cases though. Most Basis teams will have at least one DB expert. It isn't essential to get started, though.

"basic DB administration knowledge" is more than I had when I started

Steve.