SAP Career Dilemma

[Former Member]

Hello everyone,

I am about to make a major shift in my career, currently I am doing a master degree in SAP but I don't know exactly what to choose for specialization in SAP modules for a future career.

I have no previouse experience is SAP at all, I came from a technical backgroound with a little business experience, I am welling to learn anything that will really worth it. I have to choose one from the below modules to pursue my career:

1. Business processes in accounting (FI, CO)
2. Business processes in logistics (MM, PP, SD)
3. Software development using ABAP
4. SAP Supply chain management with APO
5. SAP Customer relationship management
6. Big data with SAP HANA

I kindly request an advise based on your experiences and for a future career in SAP.

Thanks a lot in advanced.

Best Regards,

Ashraf

[former_member182378]

Ashraf,

You don't have any experience in SAP or in business processes, yet you are doing masters in SAP

The major part of learning SAP is at a job. You grow by putting yourself through the business needs, issues, testing, reading theory (OSS notes etc.) while working in a SAP job.

Theory doesnot help that much...you spend say 1 or 2 hours on the chapter output determination, but at work you might spend a month on a business need related to output. So the in depth learning comes from work.

TW

[Former Member]

Hello TW,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I can totally understand your point of view, sure the real experience usually comes during a job time.

However here, I simply want to know what are the SAP modules that are currently in high demand in the market so as to focus on during my studies and to be well prepared for a real job exposure.

Thanks again,

Ashraf

[former_member182378]

Ashraf,

After having put my point that working in SAP is the best form of education, to answer your subsequent question - choose any module in which you are prepared to work hard for the long term (10 to 15 years).

All modules are in demand, but you can make money only when you have reasonable amount of expertise / experience in it. (say 5 years)

TW

[Former Member]

Yea sure,

Thanks a lot for, much appreciated.

Ashraf

[former_member331715]

Hi

I completely agree with TW. 98% of expertise of SAP comes by on job experience. However, I suggest SAP Certification ideally to get an entry into SAP world. I am not discouraging you, but MS may not make any additional difference to you.

As far as modules are concerned Order to Cash (SD) and Accounting to Reporting (FI) are going to be ever green and modules which are in demand. However, wait for release of S/4 HANA Simple Finance.

[Colleen]

Hi Ashraf

Why are you limited to those options? Is this based on your own shortlisting or someone/a company/university advising you?

What sort of technical background do you have? Ofyour list ABAP (programming) and HANA (technical aspects) are the closest technical areas.

Demand is a fickle topic. Unless a product is reaching end of life, asking about demand is quite difficult due to numerous variables (geographical location, industry, number of skilled workers already, how wide-used the product is, etc)

Regards

Colleen

[Former Member]

Hello Colleen,

Those options are only provided by the university but also "Data Warehouse and BI" will be offered next semester.  

I was working on an advanced analytical product using semantic technology, I have excellent programming skills, in PHP and MySQL.

My master is in Germany and thus my main focus is on the German market.

Regards,

Ashraf

[JL23]

what does "my master is in Germany" exactly mean?

do you have a contract with German company? or are you a German or EU citizen?

If you are a non-EU citizen and have no contract with a German company then you should check this one: Eu Blue Card

which has a pretty good FAQ, then think if you could get this required money as a fresher, and then evaluate your dreams again.

but I also recommend to read an article from our international TV channel to understand(or to wonder about) the discussions and political processes : http://www.dw.de/german-blue-card-to-simplify-immigration/a-15915424-1

Not to forget that Germany has currently hundred thousands of immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan who are looking for a job too, and many companies outsourced their development to off shore companies

[Colleen]

Hi Ashraf

Quite a few people have jumped in with good advise. Based on your background skills and self assessment, I would look into Data Warehouse and BI with HANA underpinning it.

Go to open.sap.com and look at the HANA and Big Data introductions to see what we are all talking about. These are free online MOOCs that will give you a good overview. You will then be able to decide if you want to study it.

If you have the opportunity to choose several subjects then picking a functional one would help for a good grounding of SAP - it might be a bit outside of your comfort zone if you do not have the business knowledge. From my own personal experience, I studied IT but chose a heap of business electives like Accounting to diversify my learning a bit. That decision was a big reason why I got my first job on a SAP Service Desk as a graduate.

Are you attending a University that is part of the University Alliance? If so, you might want to read up on that space in SCN to see what other students are doing.

Regards

Colleen

[Former Member]

Hi Ashraf,

As you are form technical background, its always better to get into Technical side of SAP. I have seen many examples, where in Technical guys have lots of open opportunities and scope of getting into functional side later on.

As I can see S4/HANA, & Fiori type of innovations coming up in SAP,  if you get into it, it will benifit you a lot.

Regards,

AMol

[former_member182575]

Actually I like to follow the 80/20 rule.  Focus on what you like and the other is as a back-up for you.

And note we have so many other areas too, like IOT, mobile, etc.

Regards

Waza

[Jelena_Perfiljeva]

I was working on an advanced analytical product using semantic technology, I have excellent programming skills, in PHP and MySQL. 

My master is in Germany and thus my main focus is on the German market.

To me it seems like "Big Data" would be a no-brainer choice simply because ABAP is dying and all other options don't seem to have much in common with "technical background". (Also don't know what happens with all the functional folks with the "guided configuration" - apparently we are all doomed.)

Regarding German market - read local job postings, visit a local DSAG meeting / networking events, talk to the recruiters, figure it out.

Advise based on my experience: just do your own research and make conclusions based on that. Even if you make a wrong choice, what's the worst thing that could happen? It's not like this is a life-or-death situation. If anything, you'll learn to do better research and to make better decisions. That's just part of growing up.