Start entry level in SAP

[Former Member]

Dear SAP Community members,

I really would like to start my career in SAP, but I don't know where to start as i don't have any experience in this area.

what i have done so far is:

1. bachelor degree in IT networking , Master degree in information systems (within my master study, i picked up a SAP subject to get an understanding of different models in SAP)

2. four years working experience as a helpdesk then system administrator role

I did lots of research myself, but the more i look the more confused i become. shall I go for the certification first?

I am wondering if someone from more SAP backgrounds could point me to the right direction here ? 

thanks in advance for all the help

[Former Member]

Hi Rex,

Based on your academics and work experience a technical module goes well but it is not necessary that you should take a technical module to pursue. Since you have already done some research then by now you would know that SAP has technical and functional modules and a few are both.

If you are inclined to pursue a technical module in SAP then you may consider BASIS as your networking and sysadmin knowledge/experience will be useful here. A company when wants to implement SAP then it definitely needs BASIS consultants and to maintain and manage the SAP Infrastructure it needs BASIS consultants.

To find out about the availability in BASIS module you should do some search in all the well known job portals and talk to consultants who recruit candidates with SAP knowledge.

Cheers,

Nagarajan

[Former Member]

Hi Nagarajan,

Thanks for the reply, SAP BASIS dose sounds like a good option. but I saw lots of SAP BI/BW is needed on the market. I am wondering if BI/BW a functional or Technical?  and do you think its a good idea if i want to start on that area ?

thanks,

[Former Member]

Hi Rex,

Like I mentioned previously, when a company implements a new module it would need consultants for implementation, integration, and support.

The size of the BASIS team depends upon how big the company is and how big is it's SAP Infrastructure as well as how much work is required to be done and availability.

At the moment there may be a high demand in a specific module but it keeps changing. If you have explored BI/BW then you would have had an idea by now about what it is and if you are interested in it then they are also good modules to pursue. I would say BI/BW - they are technical and involve working with data and database imports, generating reports for different stakeholders from business.

Now a days BI/BW + HANA is very popular and HANA is more popular because it is a in-memory database which makes the runtime of query very less and information retrieval very faster compared to the traditional database.

Cheers,

Nagarajan

[Former Member]

This message was moderated.

[Former Member]

Hi Giri,

thanks for the fast reply, I am wondering if it is a good idea for me to start learning from BI/BW in SAP ? 

[Former Member]

Why you wanted to go for BI/BW. ?

As Giri suggested you BASIS will help you to use your old experience, because you are a administrative person. 

[Former Member]

Hi Rex,

I don't think so as BI is a Technofunctional module it will take hardly 6 months to 1 year for getting a fresher in industry to get a job in Sap BI module depending on your efforts and interest it might vary.you need to have some tehcnical and functional knowledge and i am providing detail info and prerequesties and  who can learn BI.

go  through below link once.

http://scn.sap.com/community/data-warehousing/netweaver-bw/blog/2012/10/11/learning-sap-bw-everythin...

My better suggestion will be best to choose BASIS Module u can learn and implement easily .

Regards,
Giri

[Former Member]

Hi Chandra,

thanks for the reply, the reason i asked for BI/BW is because when i looked at the job portal in Australia, i can hardly find any jobs in regards to BASIS. most of jobs on the market requires knowledge about BI/BW. am I looking at the wrong place ? can you please advice ?

[Former Member]

Hi Giri,

thanks for the reply again , the reason i asked for BI/BW is because when i looked at the job portal in Australia, i can hardly find any jobs in regards to BASIS. most of jobs on the market requires knowledge about BI/BW. am I looking at the wrong place ? can you please advice ?

[Former Member]

Hi rex,

Go through below threads once you will get clear idea about BASIS.

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3184501

http://www.saptraininghq.com/how-to-become-a-sap-basis-administrator-and-what-you-need-to-know

http://scn.sap.com/community/netweaver-administrator/blog/2010/05/11/back-to-basis

it is not mandatory to have knowledge in BI/BW for a basis consultant , u need to know only system architecture and how it behaves.

in above links you will get clear idea about basis  consultant what he will do.

Regards,

Giri

[Former Member]

Hi Giri,

thanks for all the info, i will have a read tho. many thanks!

[Former Member]

Hi Rex,

Welcome to SCN!

Its good to know that you are interested to start a career in SAP. First of all, I would like to tell you that SAP is an ocean, and you cannot browse and get some specific information if you just use the word 'SAP'. You first need to figure out which area in SAP suits you. As per my knowledge, SAP mainly has 3 areas : Administration, Technical & Functional. There are techno-functional consultants too!

If you are interested in the administration side which includes installation, configuration, maintenance and backup of the system, then SAP BASIS is what you need to learn.

If you are interested in the technical side which consists of the programming part, you need to learn ABAP first.

And if you want to be a functional consultant, there are many functional modules in SAP like SD, MM,FI etc, for which you can browse and get the details. In this case, you will have to choose a particular module according to your interest and learn that first.

Once you have decided what to learn, you need to find a good SAP training institute which is the best way to learn. It is good to go for a certification, but not mandatory according to me in the starting of your career. You need to learn the concepts clearly and be capable to implement those practically which you will gain through experience.

Hope this helps you. I am just a learner here. There are many experts in this community who could guide you better. You may wait for their comments too.. SCN is a great place!

All the best!

Regards,

Varun V

[Former Member]

Hi Varun,

Thanks for your summary there, its really helpful. I do like Administration part of SAP, but i found there aren't many jobs listed in regards to SAP BASIS in Australia that i can find. maybe I wasn't looking at the right place. could you please point me to the right direction if you had any knowledge in regards to SAP jobs in Australia?

thanks