Geert-Jan Klaps

[StephanieMarley]

About Geert-Jan

• Tienen, Belgium

• SAP Mentor since 2021

Geert-Jan has a passion for 'everything tech', and he continues to strive to keep up. He has a strong technical background (+13 years of experience) and as SAP Innovation Architect as well as an SAP Mentor. His focus is on the latest SAP (cloud) technologies. 

Over the past decade Geert-Jan has been involved in customer projects, where he implemented multiple innovative technologies and frameworks. As of 2022, he was part of the Innovation & Competence Management unit at TheValueChain, where his main focus has been on technical architecture and development for partner industry solutions on top of SAP Business Technology Platform.

 Next to his thorough hands-on expertise, he has a strong focus on keeping up with SAP's technology strategy and guidelines. (e.g. keep the core clean methodology)

As SAP Mentor he is also part of the SAP Inside Track Belgium organizing team and has presented technology-related topics at several events. (e.g. SAP TechEd, SAP Inside Track, ...)

Topics of interest: SAP BTP, SAP Build Code / SAP Business Application Studio, Partner Industry Solution development, SAP Cloud Application Programming Model, SAP Restful ABAP Programming Model, SAPUI5 / Fiori, S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, S/4HANA Cloud, private edition/private cloud

Geert-Jan, what inspired you to become an SAP Mentor?

I've always been passionate about technology in general and ever since I've started my career in the SAP ecosystem, I've been focused on keeping up with all that's been moving in the SAP Technology space.

Keeping up with new technologies means a lot of questions, which made me turn to the SAP Community early in my career. (which also introduced me to the SAP Mentors program for the first time)

What started out as me asking a lot of questions, ended up with me answering a lot of questions and writing my own blogposts about several technology related topics.

In terms of what inspired me: seeing Mentors helping out people in the community, organizing community events and having the chance to provide feedback to SAP Product Teams directly.

What is a piece of advice that you would like to share with other SAP community members?

Always follow your dreams and passions, that's where you'll excel! If you're passionate about technology like me, there are so many resources out there to get you up to speed!

My personal top three tips: start by reading blogposts, gain some hands-on experience (e.g. through SAP Learning site) & follow people on social media that are writing about your areas of interest.

Bonus tip: get certified in your primary area of interest! Proving you know what you're talking about is always a big added value!