Path from ABAP to FIORI

[ricky_shaw]

Hello friends, I am a good ABAP developer with 15 yrs exp. Now since ABAP is becoming old and the opportunities are dying, should i get into FIORI or HANA? I am assuming that FIORI is based on Java development .I don't know Java or Java Script. Also i don't feel like learning JAVA/JAVASCRIPT. I am old enough & don't feel like learn new coding.

[ricky_shaw]

Please suggest me friends

[agentry_src]

Discussion successfully moved from SAP Fiori to Career Center

as the more appropriate community for this topic. 

BTW, it does not matter which direction you go, you will have to learn something new.  It's the nature of the beast. 

Regards, Mike (Moderator)

SAP Technology RIG

[Jocelyn_Dart]

Hi Ricky

Ok well fully appreciate that learning new things takes effort ..so well done for biting the bullet & recognizing the necessity to learn something new. 

Don't worry about Java vs JavaScript...they are actually quite different from each other. As a rule Fiori uses JavaScript but not Java.

The question I would suggest you start with is this:

Do I want to be a front end (working with people) developer or a backend (working with systems) developer?

If frontend....go the Fiori route.  Start with the open.sap.com courses BYO Fiori  2016 & SAPUI5 courses.

If backend...go the HANA route. Start with learning about CDS views & other ABAP in Eclipse approaches

Either route will give you a path forward into S/4HANA

if you really fancy a change of pace you might consider building skills in UX design (frontend) or OData modelling (the crossover point between frontend and backend).

Whichever you choose I wish you all the best...and keep using SCN. There's a wealth of material here to support both learning curves

Rgds

Jocelyn

[Vasilis]

Hi Ricky,

additional to what Jocelyn said, I would like to say that you can also learn to implement the standard Fiori apps without knowing SAPUI5, Javascript etc.

As it is based on SAP Gateway (ABAP) you can learn to setup, configure and install any standard Fiori app.

Even for the extension of a Fiori app, you can do the half work in backend (BADIs, oData enhacements) using ABAP and someone else can do the UI modification.

Regards,

Vasilis

[Jelena_Perfiljeva]

If you feel like not learning anything anymore then perhaps you should rather consider shifting your career to management. All you'd need to do is play golf and schmooze with the senior management until you become a CEO. Then just do nothing, land on your "golden parachute" and then retire or become a politician. These folks never learn anything from what I see, so it should be a perfect fit.

In Fiori / HANA / any IT subject really daily learning is involved. Actually I learn new things about ABAP all the time. And I haven't heard about SAP rewriting S/4HANA in Java, so ABAP will be around for a while. I mostly see Fiori and stuff as a parallel path for ABAPers.

[ricky_shaw]

Nice answer. I wish your answer for ABAP should always be  true.

[Jelena_Perfiljeva]

ABAP is not eternal, of course. But even S/4HANA is, essentially, still written in ABAP. So somewhere underground it'll survive for quite some time, like Gollum, and will jump out to scare the heck out of the Millennial programmers.

[GrahamRobbo]

Hi Ricky,

"I am old enough & don't feel like learn new coding."

Did you mean to say that out loud? If so I admire your honesty - but I am not sure any potential new boss (or your current one) would appreciate this statement.

Perhaps what you meant to say was something like "learning new stuff is hard so I want to make the best choices about what I put my effort towards"?

Or maybe you are just out of practise at learning new things? A bit like fitness - you start slowly and build up over time with more and more training.

There is a saying I like from the mountaineering world when people are worried if they can make it to the summit. "It's not the altitude that matters - it's the attitude".

I hope you take this response in the constructive way it is intended. Good luck.

Cheers

Graham Robbo

p.s.

[Matt_Fraser]

Graham, I like the way you rephrased Ricky's statement. Based upon his responses in comments, I suspect he did indeed mean something like "I would prefer to focus my efforts and not waste my time."

Doubtless he also doesn't want to feel that his 15 years of ABAP is now wasted, but as Jelena points out, that's unlikely to be the case, whether he continues to code in ABAP or he uses that experience to inform how he approaches projects on a new platform.

Ricky, think of it this way. There are zero HANA or Fiori developers with 15 years of HANA or Fiori experience. There are plenty of HANA and Fiori developers with just 1-2 years of experience. There are fewer HANA and Fiori developers, however, with 1-2 years of HANA/Fiori experience backed by 15 years of ABAP experience.