What Kind of Training Should I Get For a Career Change Into SAP?

July 6th, 2007

by jon

Here’s my feeling about getting your first SAP training: I think most people waste their money by investing in SAP training before they understand the market. So many times, I hear about people who invested in a course for a skill area that is obsolete. Or, they invested in a training course in an area they think is "hot" without thinking about this hot area fits into their existing skill set.

I believe that anyone getting SAP training should start by reading some "foundational" books on SAP to get some general SAP know-how first. Then you can approach SAP training from a more strategic direction.

This way, you won’t have to spend your first SAP training in a broad "SAP 101" class, or, worse yet, realize later you got the wrong kind of training. SAP training classes are not cheap. That’s why I believe that your first real training class should be more focused on a particular specialty area. As to what that specialty area should be, that really depends on your overall background and industry expertise. You want to try to match your current skills with a growth area in SAP.

For example, folks with sales and marketing backgrounds might really benefit from SAP CRM training, those with accounting backgrounds should look into SAP Financials, etc. If you have a technical background, I’d pursue some relevant technical training, focused on some aspect of the new NetWeaver architecture, or perhaps web-based programming or Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).

If you can draw on what you’ve done before SAP as you move into the SAP marketplace, you’ll have an easier time breaking in. It’s important to strike a balance between learning an area that it "hot" and one that ties into your current skills. With some research into the SAP product line, you should be able to find that right training class. If people focused more on this type of skills inventory, and less on trying to obtain the hottest SAP skill of all time, they would fare better.

I’ve talked before about how people overestimate the value of SAP training and certification and I’ll get back to that topic with more real-life examples down the road. It’s not that I’m down on SAP training, in fact, I encourage it. I just feel like there should be a least one person holding up a yellow "think before you spend" light before plunking down that kind of money.

filed under All Entries, Training, Breaking Into SAP on Friday, July 6th, 2007.
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8 Responses to “What Kind of Training Should I Get For a Career Change Into SAP?”

ted responded:
March 7th, 2008 at 10:00 am...

hi, jon. i just bumped into this as a result of some extensive research i am doing before i commit myself to SAP.

i am a newbie- i aint even seen SAP, so i dont know what it looks like. however, I have an idea of what an ERP can do for a firm if its configured appropriately.

in nigeria, where i live, SAP is catching on quite a bit, and i would really like to be involved as much as i can for all the right reasons. i am currently MCSE-in-training, with a bias for networking & systems security. i hope to become an SAP security consultant of some sorts. how do i go about that, given that i have no experience?
Jon Reed responded:
March 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm...

Hi Ted.

I have written extensively on breaking into SAP. There is a lot of stuff on this site, and on other sites I have published on, that will help you on your way.

I like the idea of becoming an SAP Security consultant, as that follows the first principle of breaking into SAP, which is to target the area of SAP that fits in best with your current background so you can leverage your existing experience.

As far as how to break into SAP from your situation,
this piece on jumpstarting an SAP job search has a good methodology for prioritizing the kinds of openings you might find:

http://www.jonerp.com/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,20/p,34/

In addition,

check out the rest of the posts in my breaking into SAP category:

http://www.jonerp.com/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,20/cat,9/

also check out “guided tour” of how to get your SAP career questions answered:

http://www.trailfire.com/jonreed/marks/184239

make sure to check out my “best of the web” links also, especially the SearchSAP.com stuff, where I have answered a lot of questions on breaking into SAP, and the ERPGenie.com pieces:

http://www.jonerp.com/content/view/25/35/

read all the ERP Genie pieces,

http://www.erpgenie.com/scoop/index.htm

especially the one on breaking into SAP, that will really help you.

Good luck!

- Jon Reed -
m. leepin responded:
March 19th, 2008 at 12:57 am...

-I am from a non- info systems background.
-Work experience to date is finance / management, Study has been Business Management with an HR major, I have some exposure as a SAP user for business processes.
Like many,I am interested in a career change to ERP, I am considering some post-grad study to assist moving in this direction, would you recommend undertaking info systems & erp or erp alone?
regards
mleepin@hotmail.com
Jon Reed responded:
March 19th, 2008 at 3:56 am...

I recommend you read through more of my stuff and you’ll get a feeling for the strategy I recommend. You don’t have to have an information systems background to break into SAP.

So, whether or not you end up focusing on information systems or ERP or both depends on whether you want to be a technical or functional SAP consultant.

I suspect with your finance and management background, you’d want to target SAP Financials, so you might want to just focus on that aspect of ERP studies and see how far it takes you.

- Jon Reed -
M. Leepin responded:
March 20th, 2008 at 7:41 pm...

Jon

Thanks for the advice

regards

m.leepin
Jon Reed responded:
March 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pm...

Sure M. Leepin.

I write about different aspects of the SAP market as often as I can on this site. I post comments and responses to my blogs just about every day, so be sure to check back around.

I’m glad that this site has been helpful to you - hearing that is what makes it all worthwhile.

- Jon Reed -
temitope responded:
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 am...

Hello Jon,
Great work here

Pls i just wnat to know the carrers paths i fi take the SOA certification.Am interested in technical consulting ive gott an msc in info sys and apt on java
Jon Reed responded:
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm...

Hello Temitope.

SOA certification can open up a variety of career paths in SAP. SOA is a broad topic and I have written and podcasted about it from several angles already.

I recommend you listen to the webinar on my home page on Success in SAP Consulting. This was geared towards technical developers, and in the presentation, I talk about why SOA is here to stay and how to capitalize on some of the SOA trends.

Basically, this is just another evolution in object-oriented programming, with the addition of sexier new tools like modeling tools and SOA mashups and xApps. There is a lot to learn, but if you can figure out how to build a service and build composite applications leveraging NetWeaver, you should be in good shape on SAP client sites.

- Jon Reed -