Graduate Student Programs for SAP Certification - Seeking Advice

[Kavyasri04913]

Hello SAP Community,

I'm currently pursuing my Master's in Information Systems and have about 5 years of experience as an ABAP Developer.

As I continue my academic journey, I'm looking to enhance my credentials with the SAP Certified Associate - Back-End Developer - ABAP Cloud  and SAP Fiori Application Developer certification. I'm specifically interested in:

• Are there any special programs or discounts available for graduate students pursuing SAP certifications
• Does SAP offer any university alliance programs that provide certification opportunities?
• Has anyone here completed this certification while being a student? If so, what was your experience like?
• Any recommendations on the best preparation resources for this certification that are budget-friendly for students?
• Are there any mentorship programs available for students aiming to specialize in SAP development?

Additionally, if there are any specific grants, scholarships, or corporate sponsorship programs that support SAP certification for graduate students, I'd appreciate that information as well.

I believe this certification would strengthen my professional credentials and prior industry experience, making me more competitive in the job market as I advance my career in SAP development.

Thank you in advance for your insights and advice!

Best regards,
Kavyasri

[TomCenens · Accepted solution]

Hi Kavyasri

There are initiatives, if you search for SAP University Alliance you find the below:

https://www.sap.com/belgie/about/company/innovation/next-gen-innovation-platform/university-alliance... 

The link goes to my country so you might be better off going through Google.

If you search for SAP Learning Hub for students, you find the below: 

https://learning.sap.com/students 

I see that page even includes a link to career options as well. It looks like you can be eligible as a student for a free certification.

We have a Whatsapp group with SAP Champions and SAP Mentors where the below URL was also shared:

CERS01 - SAP Certification Exam, One Attempt for Students | SAP Training

If Udemy offers a set of additional questions for the certification exam you are about to take, it can be worthwhile since it’s low budget and it is a trusted site / resource.

I completed my first certification within the first half year that I started working in the SAP ecosystem as a junior. I started straight from school without any prior SAP knowledge. I started studying course material while I went on vacation to Tunis with a bunch of relatives. I was by the poolside with heaps of papers learning SAP courses. I certified a rather large certificate back then that had many SAP courses included in it for SAP Netweaver Administration including Oracle database administration. I passed it on the first attempt, it wasn’t particularly easy though because it was multiple choice based and sometimes the questions could be tricky in terms of answers being closely related and only slightly different. 

As a newcomer / junior it did give me an edge compared to others because the customers would at least know that I had a good amount of theoretical knowledge. I was also lucky to end of starting in a large team where I could learn from everybody.

I used to start extremely early, somewhere between 5 and 6AM and I used to stay late to learn from anyone in the team. If they had special operations to be done after working hours, I would ask them if I could stick around and to watch with them and learn. 

I was able to progress quickly. I did give management some concerns about potentially burning out but it never happened. 

Good mentors can definitely help you to progress faster. A team and the right project can have a similar effect, you can have a large influence yourself in terms of mindset, attitude, willingness to learn, taking small steps to grow and thrive, taking initiative to propose pro-actively to a customer or a project what can be of interest to them. Interesting work can come your way due to your own initiatives. 

Books can also help you to grow, get ideas, get an edge, I’m fond of reading business books and I believe they have helped me on my journey. I started with Purple Cow from Seth Godin after having the feeling I was stuck in my role as expert consultant.

The ideas that came out of reading that book leaded me to becoming a very active SAP Community Member. That led to becoming a SAP Mentor a couple of years later. That led to an enormous growth path. All of the above led to starting my own company, then starting a second company. Ever since I have been thriving and I still wake up early and stop late. I still have the passion I found in the beginning to solve complex issues using technology.

Another recommended read would be “the power of pull”. It discusses why community is important and how sharing and learning can make you thrive. So my suggestion would also be to share knowledge to the community. Blog about aspects you’ve learned. Aim for sharing interesting (new) content. Share your thoughts; potentially on how it could be further improved or what was challenging. Through comments and connections you should notice that you’ll learn in addition to what you already learned. You’ll also notice you will go into more depth if you write about it because you don’t want to write information that is wrong to start with. 

One last piece of advice is learn to use AI. It is here to stay and it going to be everywhere in the future. You want to start today already with building up knowledge and knowing how to leverage it. 

Prompting chatgpt for example:

im a student who has learned to develop sap abap coding. I want to certify and find work in this space, what are your recommendations for my next steps?

Luckily the answer is not yet as profound as mine haha but it can help to find additional sources of information. The AI will probably pick up this comment in the future 😉

Hope this helps.

Best regards

Tom

[ArunJacob]

Hi Kavyasri,

It's recommended to consult your university's office (where you are pursuing Masters) and explore SAP's official channels(tie-ups) for the most current information on available programs.

Yes, SAP Certified Associate - Back-End Developer - ABAP Cloud and SAP Certified Associate - SAP Fiori Application Developer certifications can significantly enhance your credentials in SAP.

Discount on Certification: SAP offers the CERS01 - One SAP Certification Exam for Students, providing a discounted exam attempt for current students and instructors of higher academic institutions. Eligibility requires submission of a valid matriculation document. link

And like Tom had mentioned above, Learning Hub offers great start on lot of recent offerings (combined with developer tutorials, link)

Also, here at SCN, practice questions and study tips are available.

For the feedback on experience, please see the related postings on some networking platforms, example

Thanks,

Jakes