Do you work with consultants who don't have SCN profile?

[TuncayKaraca]

Hi,

A simple question: Do you work with consultants who don't have SCN profile?

You can think the same thing for Linkedin profile! You have resumes of consultants that show they a lot of experience but they don't have SCN profile, Linkedin profile, twitter, etc..!

What do you think?

Thanks,
Tuncay Karaca

[former_member13738 · Accepted solution]

Of course Tuncay. There are many consultants who don't have these profiles. These profiles Linkedin, twitter are only for socializing. There is no hard rule that you should have these profiles or one should socialize in these profiles. It depends on individuals. But I can tell you can survive in consulting without Linkedin, twitter profiles. Regarding SCN profile, the same rule applies. Have you seen all the consultants with  whom you work with have SCN profiles. I can clearly say no here. Most people would come here only when they face a problem they cannot solve within their company/team. Also there are people clever enough to gather information with documents and internet search in SCN. You don't need an SCN profile to search the SCN knowledge base.

Regards,

Leon

[TuncayKaraca · Accepted solution]

You are right! There is no hard rule, but I think if a consultant has a Linkedin account and s/he lists all project history on Linkedin publicly, it shows s/he is confident about his/her experiences. Otherwise you get just project history on the resume, but how do you ensure everything is correct?

About SCN profile, even though if somebody just gets information, - no giving at all - in my opinion the person should have a SCN profile.

As you said there is no hard rule, but Linkedin and SCN profiles can help project managers, employers...

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

Different employers or clients view SCN differently. Especially with regard to a contracted consultant.  For instance:  "Why am I paying you if you have to get all your answers from a website?" 

"If I see you're active in SCN how do I know your not screwing off playing around there all day?"

"Whose paying you?  Me or SCN?"

"Is that where you learned everything?  From SCN?"

It's not to say you can't be active on your own time but not all clients view it that way.  Employers are a bit better in that they can justify it as part of their employees "self-improvement" plan as part of their yearly evaluations. (something I don't miss since becoming independent!).

As SCN becomes more viewed as a social application instead of a technical forum, I see it becoming even more of an issue.  On the other hand, I can see how growing your "brand" (as opposed to just collecting points), could be a valuable professional assest.

LinkedIn is a bit different. It can be a good source for clients to review work history and verify it.I can see a prospective employer asking to be included into your network so they can see who your connections are and if they match your resumes work history.  I might have a privacy issue with this personally as not all the folks I'm connected with are JUST business connections.  I have some friends and family connected there as well.  It can be hard to draw the line at who to network with on something like Linkedin.  Especially if you have some family members or friends who are also in the same, or similar industry.

So I wouldn't judge anyone, especially a consultant, based on their participation or non-participation on SCN.

Anonymously yours,

FF

[Lukas_Weigelt · Accepted solution]

Couldn't have said it any better, FF.

Also, if you have certain expertise which inevitably defines how "valuable" you can be for your 'hypothetical' clients (for example as a freelancing consultant), why share the knowledge for free on the web? This wouldn't make sense from a monetary point of view...

Cheers, Lukas

[former_member42743 · Accepted solution]

I've heard that argument from others in the past about why NOT to contribute to SCN.  I think I thought that way a bit too.  My biggest grip was the idea I was helping along consultants who had no business consulting in the area they were.  The ones that ask the most basic questions without reading help files and such really get to me.  I've gotten grief on occasion because I'll just post a help file link and not give the specific info.  Then what really gets me is someone that comes in after me, uses my link file and posts the EXACT steps for the person to resolve their problem.  They get the points and I don't even get a thank you.

You don't help people by spoon feeding them the answers.

But in my opinion a true SAP consultant is not just measured by their technical abilities.  It is their ability to take that technical knowledge and provide innovative and creative solutions to their clients with it.  I know a ton of people that can technically set up classifications.  But only a handful of true consultants that can actually help a client design their classes and the characteristics that should or should not be in them, and which materials get assigned to what.  For a company new to SAP the whole classification concept can be daunting.

Creating inspection plans is easy.  Getting a client to redesign how they handle product specifications in a new SAP system and unifying specs across multiple plants and countries can be an almost impossible task.  The novice, technical guy in QM won't get that.  Nor will the MM or SD guy that dabbles with QM.  So I no longer worry about providing technical help.  Cause I know that the technical knowledge is only a small portion of what I bring to the table.

FF

[TuncayKaraca]

Thank you for all.

It depends on case that how we can evaluate consultants' online presence.