help me please???????????/

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am a certified ABAP consultant from SIEMENS ,banglore.presently i m in USA with EAD as my status and looking for a ABAP job ASAP.I m graduated in 2005 ,married and came to USA.all these days i don't have status to do any kind of job.Actually speaking i don't have any real-time experience.

Can u suggest me how is the market for ABAP in USA?

Shall i join any consultancy for marketing?(so that i can attend mock interviews...)

OR anybody suggest me best consultancy in NEWYORK /NEWJERSY/CONNECTICUT areas so that i can take the further step.

OR anybody suggest me what should i do?I am also willing to relocate anywhere in USA.

Please answer my question ASAP.

[Wil_Wilstroth]

HI Ashwini,

I am not trying to depress you. All of us here have one way or another way to start SAP.

It's just that you should go to job employment agency or website. It will be much a better place.

Myself, I found SAP from a job search website. I started with zero experience and work hard all the way. Its been four years since and I am still doing it now.

Competition is everywhere irregardless US, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, India or Australia.

The market for ABAP is always there.

Why would you want to join consultancy for marketing and attend mock interviews... its sounds like someone not confident or not prepared for the job...

You should attend all interviews with confident and very important, don't lie in interviews.

Good Luck in your job finding...

William Wilstroth

Edited by: william wilstroth on Dec 18, 2007 12:40 PM

[Former Member]

Hi William

Can you check who you address to? I never said you 'depressed' me!

LOL

[Wil_Wilstroth]

Hi Ravi,

LOL... so sorry... I guess too much ABAP for that day... see the wrong lines...

its corrected now...

Thanks for the QA,

WIlliam Wilstroth

[Former Member]

My son would have said "What will sorry dooooo?"....

but I will accept it only if you promise to buy me a beer whenever you visit the land of the Roo....as they say here "No Worries Mate!"

Edited by: Ravi Dixit on Dec 19, 2007 10:26 AM

[Wil_Wilstroth]

HI Ravi...

Hahahaha... sure mate!

[ChrisSolomon]

Just my opinion (if it helps)......you really have two options (well, the third being, stay away from SAP all together and do something else, but that's not what you seem to want...haha). I am in the US and have worked in SAP (both from the SAP customer side and the consultant side) for the past 10-12 years now, so maybe I can share a bit of US-centric perspective for you...

(1) <b>Join a SAP customer company (ie. client).</b>

The ease of doing this will depend on your location....ie. how many SAP customers are near/around where you live and what the market is like in that area. For you in the northeast, this should not be a problem. Best bet is to check job boards, placement services(ie. head hunters), etc. unless you actually know someone in the companies that can get you into an interview. You will most likely looking to come in as an "entry level" employee. Your certifciation will help you over other candidates in that same level, but your lack of experience is what will keep you from being considered for higher levels. Make sure the position your are interviewing for will have SAP responsibilities. For example, I have had friends brought into companies to be the SAP functional analyst or what not and then they actually get over, they find that the IT group actually does all the config and development and that their position merely feeds business requirements over to IT.....they never get to do hands-on SAP work and thus slowly lose their SAP skills. Also, be aware of your role and set your expectations accordingly. You might be coming into a project implementation and work will be fast paced with lots of it. For those, you might get some exciting chances to learn/do the "new stuff". However, you might be coming in after the fact and handle support and maintenance with little chance of doing anything new in regards to SAP for a while (until your upgrade or implement new products). The best use of your time at this point is not only gaining hands-on expience with SAP but more importantly, learning the in's and out's of business processes. The business knowledge will be your most valuable asset to take with you later.

Lastly and usually more common than any other departments, you will have exposure to consultants. Especially around SAP, you might hear from them about how much more they seem to earn, how interesting their projects sound, the cool places and people they encounter, etc. Their lives might seem great and you might think "why don't I leave here and become a consultant like those guys?". Keep in mind, "the grass is not always greener". Being a consultant comes with another long list of concerns which leads me into the next option....but keep in mind, unlike them, you get to go home to your own bed each night. 😃

(2) <b>Join a consulting firm.</b>

This might be an easy route since there are soooo many "firms" of various sizes around now and sad to say, many will hire just anyone off the street these days it seems. Even the large "Big 5/4/whatevers" will hire folks right out of college, train them up a bit and throw them into projects as "experts". Seen it all too many times. From your side of this, however, your best bet will be getting hired in as "entry level" (new to SAP and new to consulting). Due to this, you are very likely to get "used and abused" while you "pay your dues". What I mean by "used and abused" is that you will generally be paid very little compared to what you are billed at and/or you will be worked as much as possible. You might also be thrown onto projects with expectations upon you higher than your level of expertise (ie. the sales folks might have sold you onto a project as a "expert" when you are entry level.....again, sad, but it happens). However, this is again just "paying your dues"....which means you struggle through it and get your experience. If your smart, you just soak up as much as you can, actively learn from others more experienced than you and make a good name for yourself.

And then there's the travel.....ahhhhh the travel. A lot of folks go into consulting thinking this will be the easy part of their job and give it little thought....the "oh I love to travel" folks (haha). But it can be by far the hardest part of all....especially for those with families (or newlyweds or new parents most of all!) I think it is the travel....not the project work/stress....that burns people out the most as consultants. Now, how much/little you do will depend of course on the consulting company and projects. Thankfully, "remote" work is becoming more and more accepted, so that helps. Those are not so common right now, so don't rely on it. You might also get the chance to work "close to home"....within driving distance and to where you can go home each night. You might also have those that are driving distance but require stays away from home (3-4 hrs away....too close to justify the time and expense of flying). However in any event, just prepare yourself for lots of travel. As a consultant, you go to where the work is....WHERE EVER that might be. There might be projects where you travel cross country or several connections and you might end up traveling 16 hr or more a week getting to and from a client site. This on top of your 40-50 hr working week can be very taxing on you.....not to mention just the stress of getting to and from airports, dropping off/picking up rental cars, dealing with delays, weather, crowds etc. As I tell most everyone, the "airport part" of my job is the ONLY thing I absolutely hate about what I do.....I love to travel and see new places; I just can't stand the getting to/from there part. haha On the other side of this, I have heard of consulting companies that make the consultant (and family) move to where the project is....that's just crazy to me! Just pick up and leave and move to each place just to work a project that might last 1 yr or so?!?! I see/hear this more often from consultants not from this country, so I often wonder if they agree because they just don't know better. Personally, I love the fact that I can live anywhere I want. As long as there is an airport nearby, I can get to work. 😃

Lastly, a word of advice on negotiating your position with a consulting company as a "consultant in the trenches". Often they will offer a lower or mid-market salary, but they will hang the "golden carrot" of "utilization bonus" out in front of you as well. A "utilization bonus" sounds all great and fine, but I have NEVER seen one that actually ends up working out. Most will be something like "80% utilization" which on paper might sound easy (you will think "sure, if I just average 40 hr a week billable, then no problem!") However, you will do work that is either internal or non-billable or you will have bench time between projects (which should not be your fault but the fault of the sales folks not landing projects.....never understood that one) or you will be on projects that the client caps your billable time per week (meaning you might work 45-50 hrs but are only allowed to bill 40) or training time or whatever else that will NOT count towards your utilization, but will be a LOT of extra hours you end up working. Don't count on any bonuses when negotiating your salary. Get your money up front as part of your salary and look at the bonus as just a nice "extra" if it happens at all. Lastly, always make sure to ask about training. Many will say something like "oh yeh, we want our people up to date and well trained and you will may take training classes up to twice a year". This almost never happens unless you can manage to schedule it on your bench time. This of course is due to the fact that when your on a project, you are billable and making the company money. When you are in training, you are not. Also, while on projects, it is very hard to get away for a week or so of training while deep into project work and deadlines....even some clients will frown upon it as they were told (often in contracts), that the consulting company would provide a "full time project team".

So anyways....thats just some things to think about if going the consultant route. I don't mean to sound negative. I have been a consultant for more years now than not. I could write quite a lot about all of the positive and wonderful parts of the job, but I don't want to sugar coat it for you and how rough it can be. Aside from my experiences, I have heard all manner of horror stories from other folks but just as many wonderful stories as well. Consulting is just a different world to jump into and takes a different kind of person to succeed in it over the long haul. (keep in mind most consultants last about 3 yrs before burning out and moving into perm. positions).

Hope this long winded post has helped. I just had too much free time on my hands this morning. haha

[Former Member]

I guessed so, after your Bollywood post!

[bhavesh_kantilal]

loved reading this post ,esp the rant thrown in between about people being showcased as so called experts, sigh if only we lived in a ideal world.

Great Post!

[Wil_Wilstroth]

Hi all,

Everytime when i see a person asking how to get a job in SDN makes me have this kind of feeling... feeling like 'I don't know whether to cry or to laugh...'

The right place to go is : job employment websites or newspapers or employment agency. I am very sure there are openings in SAP positions in all these employement agencies.

On one note which Ashwini was asking about the market for ABAP, if you are confident enough on your skills, you shouldn't worry about ABAP market in US.

Anyway, this is my opinion.

William Wilstroth

Message was edited by:

william wilstroth

[Former Member]

i didn't ask u to cry or laugh...........

i just asked the advice.i m not begging a job in SDN,i am stepping new into SAP ABAP environment.i don't have real time experience.so i asked u experts how to take the step.

don't depress me.suggest me good idea.

[Former Member]

in New Jersey/NY you have an SAP consultancy after every 1-2 blocks,lolz:))

why not get in touch with any of them and see what they offer you,as far as good consultancies are concerned,i guess they actually look more for experiece rather than certification,as a matter of fact i have heard clients saying that certification is the last thing they look at,so try to get into some start up/fresher position based only upon your certification

Thanx

Aamir

[Former Member]

eleven question marks in the subject and finishing the post with ASAP?

boy, you know how to make friends.

do you really believe that the 'best consultancy' is sitting and waiting for someone with no real-time experience? I mean, I am not from the US, so maybe things are just different there.

[Former Member]

eleven question marks indicate that i m need of the correct answer ASAP.

and i think every body in the universe will not start the job with real-time experience.i just asked u to suggest the advice so that i can take the further step.

i m literally very new to the environment.so plz...........suggest me good idea.don;t depress me.

[Former Member]

You'll find if you read the <a href="https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/x/FgQ">rules of engagement</a> and follow the advice there you'll get a more positive response.

When people see unnecessary question marks etc it undermines the credibility of your question. When you ask a question looking for advice on the future direction of your career and the state of the SAP job market it's hard to see how this can be urgent.

These forums are cheapened by people using them as a substitute for real experience or training, and people can be fairly critical if they perceive this is happening.

I don't think anyone set out to depress you, and I think at the core of your post is a reasonable question. I don't have a view of the US SAP market, but expressed in the right way you are more likely to find your answer.

Regards,

Nick

[Former Member]

well i m not really into ABAP so can't say with 100% gurantee about the market in ABAP,but in general market in US gets better after Jan.

right now everybody is in holiday mood( including me:)) so they are not too excited about starting new projects or hiring new guys,ofcourse if urgent need comes in people are hired.

as you still have more than a month i would suggest you to explore a bit more about the consultancies around you,in the mean time keep on sharpening your skill set,most important part is that you should know your stuffs.

just my point of view

Thanx

Aamir

Pl:Don't worry too much,enjoy the Ball drop at Times Square:)

[Former Member]

Err...what does the forward slash at the end indicate?