Breaking into SAP - Is it Too Late?

I'm amazed by how many people still dream of breaking into SAP. I'm even more amazed by how little homework these folks tend to do before they make their move. Over the years, I've written on how to break into SAP many times, but the questions keep rolling in. It's time to revisit the subject from the vantage point of the "NetWeaver era."

In my previous SAPGenie columns, I made the case that training and certification is not the key to career advancement in SAP. So how do people break into SAP? Is it pure luck, or is there a proven strategy that works every time? The answer is somewhere in the middle.

Don't do it for the money

One of the worst reasons to pursue SAP is for the money. SAP contract rates are still on the high end for IT and business application consultants, but the gold rush is over. SAP is a great career path, but it's a career path, not a get-rich-quick scheme. And make no mistake, it's a tough career path. These days, success as an SAP consultant requires constant diligence honing your skills and building your project references. You can count on competing for gigs against other consultants with the same amount of experience or more. It's not easy to separate yourself - the skills that will set you apart  require continual effort: communication skills, leadership experience, and special skills enhancements.

"Communication skills" may sound like a silly cliché, but it matters, and if there is reader interest I can cover that in more detail. The short way of putting it is that likeable people get hired more often, and those who know how to share their know-how with users and other team members are almost always going to have an edge. Maybe "communication skills" is a another way of saying that it helps to have an "educator's mindset" on projects.

But the most overlooked ingredient to long-term success in SAP is a passion for the product. SAP requires business process changes that some find fascinating and others find tedious. If your imagination is fueled by SAP's attempt to put out the most comprehensive business software in the world, then your likelihood for success is high. The best SAP consultants are passionate about the product. They may not always agree with where SAP is headed next, but you can bet they have a strong (and informed) opinion on it. They read up on SAP's latest stuff in hotel rooms and airport lounges not because they are insane, but because they are genuinely interested. Well, a few of them are actually insane. But their tactics work.

That's why I think the SAP "cash grab" is short-sighted. If money is what turns you on, I would suggest real estate investing or maybe a high-commissioned sales job. Sure, SAP pays better than other IT jobs and that's a bonus, but it shouldn't be the top consideration. Fact: I know a couple Java programmers who broke into SAP and got back out. The reason? The stress of "mission critical" enterprise programming wasn't worth the bump in pay. They are happier building smaller web sites in lower stress environments. Most folks in SAP thrive on building and changing business processes for some of the most successful companies in the world. But one person's adrenalin rush is another person's headache. The point is not to scare anyone from SAP. But choose SAP for the career path, not for the high rates you heard about.

The different avenues into SAP

One valid reason to pursue SAP is to switch from other ERP packages. The ERP market has become a pretty unstable place, and you get the sense that the flurry of mergers and acquisitions are not over. Unless you're an Oracle or SAP consultant, it's fair to wonder whether the software you specialize in will still be standing when the smoke clears. Moving from one ERP package to another is surprisingly difficult, but it's still an option to consider. However, I would caution against breaking into SAP because it is "stable." If SAP and Oracle are the most stable ERP players, it's a matter of degree. No ERP professional has the luxury of kicking back and letting the market come to them. The edge you earn is one you have to keep sharpening.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at the best ways to break into SAP in today's market. One of the big distinctions is that consulting firms are no longer useful when moving into SAP. In the mid-90s, the "Big Six" consulting firms jump-started a lot of SAP careers by placing "certification only" consultants on their first SAP projects. But SAP's customer base is much more sophisticated and demanding now, and they're not going to pay for a consultant's first SAP experience on their dime.

In rare cases, you can still get a break with a consulting firm if you have other skills that are relevant to ERP environments, but consulting firms don't usually come into play until you have SAP project experience under your belt. It is true that some firms will put you through SAP training, and if you get the chance, it never hurts to log some SAP training hours on your employer's dime. Just don't make the mistake of assuming you will then be placed on an SAP project.

I'm not going to get into training and certification in much detail in this article, but let's be clear: you need more than certification to bust into today's SAP market. Certification is a "nice to have," but I actually think that certification is a bigger help to experienced SAP consultants looking to expand their skills than it is to those with no SAP experience. In ERP environments, hands-on skills on live projects are the key. Until you have this kind of experience under your belt, all the certifications in the world mean nothing. The mission for any "want-to-be" SAP consultant (notice how I avoided that cruel term "wannabe") is to obtain that all-important first project and break the "no experience" cycle.

Certification was once a viable way to break that cycle, but those days are long gone. Certification can certainly play a role in your "break-into-SAP" strategy, but please don't spend your life savings on it and then complain to the good folks at ERPGenie.COM if it doesn't pay off. These days, the best thing aspiring SAP types can get from training classes is industry contacts. Getting to know people inside the SAP world is incredibly valuable. But skills are won on project sites, not in classroom sessions.

Another avenue into SAP that is more difficult now is switching into SAP as an independent consultant. In the past, I have known consultants who have managed to transfer into SAP from related areas, such as business process consulting, while billing their client along the way. These days, it's hard to get paid a good hourly rate to learn SAP on a client's clock. The exceptions are senior SAP consultants who have found clever ways of getting paid to expand their skills while being paid to utilize their current SAP know-how. But that's a story for another column.

Right now, our focus is on getting that first SAP break. And if all those avenues are closed, then how are people getting in? Most folks are still getting their first SAP break by "being in the right place at the right time," i.e. working full time for an employer that decides to implement SAP and pulls them onto the project. There's an obvious problem recommending a strategy that seems to be based on luck. But as it turns out, there are ways of getting hired onto such projects that are not a matter of luck at all.

Five keys to breaking in

The five keys to breaking into today's SAP market are:

1. Understand the mentality of today's "what can you do for me today?" employer. This means knowing how to sell employers on your existing skills rather than your desire to get trained in SAP.

2. Do your homework on SAP and how the market is evolving. It's easier to break into an emerging area of SAP where nobody can claim to have deep experience. Impress your employers with your motivation to master SAP and your commitment to self-education. Consider SAP training and certification as a way to expand your knowledge and market contacts, but not as a quick-fix solution to breaking into SAP. Try to anticipate where SAP is going next: it's always better to place yourself where SAP is headed than to chase it from behind. For example, it may make more sense to master Java and XML than ABAP.

3. Do an inventory of your current skills and determine how your skills are relevant in SAP environments. Try to identify two areas where your skills "match up": a core area of SAP and an emerging area. In the core area, there are likely to be more jobs, but also more competition from experienced consultants. The emerging area is where there will be less seasoned consultants, but also less product usage (and thus less demand). Your hope is that the demand will pick up as you move toward it, and you can fall back on your core area in the meantime.

4. Apply for jobs at companies implementing or running on SAP, emphasizing your current skills and how you can make a difference on day one in their environment. It's always easier to move into SAP "from within," so even if you join a company by taking a non-SAP job, as long as they are running on SAP, you may be able to make a move from the inside later.

5. Persevere (and stay flexible). Remember that self-marketing is an ongoing process and doesn't necessarily yield a quick result. Breaking into today's SAP market is not for the innocent. The final key is to remain flexible: SAP is not the only way forward professionally - go where the opportunities lie.

More on Step 1: understanding the employer

Let's take a closer look at a few of these steps.

Step 1, "Understanding the mentality of today's employer," is the area where many SAP hopefuls go awry. Many seem to think that if you get trained in SAP and let future employers know you want an SAP job they'll welcome you with a smile and put you right on the project. This is not how today's hiring managers think about "want to bes" at all, which is a shame, because many people who are ruled out for SAP positions could be up to speed quickly with a few weeks of training. Unfortunately, hiring managers are reluctant to hire folks who need upfront training because of the "free agent mentality" of today's workforce. Sometimes, companies feel like they are just training their future competition. That's why they won't invest in skills re-training until you've already paid dues for them.

End result: people are generally hired to do the exact things they have already done. This is the "experience required" catch 22 that so many aspiring SAP professionals have bemoaned over the years. The irony, of course, is that the "one foot out the door" mentality of today's workers was actually created by companies that set the tone with outsourcing and downsizing. The message was clear: no job is safe.

Employees got that message and started making their own pro-active moves. This in turn led to the "experience only" mentality of today's hiring manager. This short-term mentality towards employment means that people are typically hired not on the basis of their personal character and long-term potential, but on a more superficial verification of existing skills. This may or may not be fair - I happen to think the current "rules of the hiring game" are deeply flawed - but we do ourselves no favors by ignoring them.

The way to make a positive impression on today's employers is to target positions that play to your strengths. The goal is to present your current skills in a way that is highly relevant to a company's immediate needs (which you have cleverly researched and identified). Hiring is a game; even if both manager and job seeker are ultimately thinking short-term, to play the game right, you still have to say the right things about looking for a long-term employer where you can "make a difference." But what's even more important than saying the right things is doing that gritty research. I would advise applying to five companies you have carefully studied over twenty-five companies you barely know.

Your chances go up dramatically when you can tell a company that you understand their business strategy, where they are in their IT implementation, and how your skills can specifically impact them from the day you walk in the door. Your interest in SAP is something you can save for the end of an interview, after you have already established your "skills appeal" to the manager in question. Of course, the companies you are applying for do need to be SAP environments, and no, there is no list of such companies readily available (though they can be had on the black market for the cost of a few weeks of SAP training... but I didn't tell you that). This is where the homework comes in, as well as the perseverance mentioned in step 5.

More on Steps 2 and 3: do your homework and do an inventory

Steps 2 and 3, doing your homework on SAP and doing an inventory of your own skills, are closely related. They are also the keys to the entire process. The biggest mistake aspiring SAP consultants make is falling for the trap of chasing what they think is "hot." If you hear that APO is hot, but your background is in Java, then there is no logical connection between what you're chasing and the skills you currently have. This is a gross violation of step 1. Sure, you want to target an emerging area of SAP, but I'd refine it this way: pursue the hottest area of SAP that has a direct link to your current skill set.

Another key: you can only make one skill shift at a time. The shift from (non-SAP) Java to APO is actually two moves disguised as one. If I talked to someone who was determined to get from Java to APO, I'd tell them to break that transition down into two distinct phases: first, break into SAP on the Java side, and then, from within SAP, look into moving from a technical to functional role. This might even involve three phases: from Java to SAP, Java to APO development, to APO functional work. Breaking down the big jumps into steps will help tremendously. Employers rarely let you take more than one skill step at a time.

As you're mapping your current skills into SAP, avoid the mistake of writing off entire areas of the SAP product as "unmarketable." True, as a general rule, ABAP programming is a bad area to target due to the low rates and reality of outsourcing (see my previous SAPScoop article on outsourcing for more on that), but today's SAP market is what I call a "winners and losers" market.

There are consultants succeeding in every aspect of SAP today (including ABAP) and there are consultants struggling to find work in all areas of SAP. True, some aspects of SAP are hotter than others, but constantly chasing "what's hot" is not going to provide long-term security. The key is to pursue growth areas that logically extend from your current skills. This will maximize your rates without disrupting the continuity of your skills progression.

Tying your current skills into SAP: a case study

To get a sense of how to apply this, let's return to the example of our Java programmer. Lucky for him or her, Java is one of the best entry points into SAP right now. There are so many SAP web projects right now that if you have a handle on Java, you might even be able to find employers who will look beyond your lack of SAP experience. That's because a lot of ABAP programmers don't have any Java or web programming background.

So there are definitely entry points into SAP from the Java side. If you want to learn more about SAP's web development tools, there are all kinds of free online resources that will point you in the right direction. Most Java-related resumes I have seen in SAP relate to custom Portals development, but that's changing. More and more NetWeaver components are drawing on web-based development standards. (And if you don't have a handle on NetWeaver, that's more research to do before you start firing that resume off.)

For a Java programmer, the obvious roles to pursue are in SAP technical environments. Simply asking employers what version of SAP they are running on will tell you a lot. If you're a Java programmer, you want to work with employers running on at least 4.7, and maybe even the mySAP ERP version of SAP, which is helpful to think of as version 5.0. If a company is on an early 4.x release or even 3.1, chances are your Java skills won't be pulled into the SAP environment until they upgrade their SAP system. What surprises me is the Java programmers who decide, as in my previous APO example, that they want to become functional SAP consultants because they "don't want to be outsourced."

Sure, over time, you can become a functional consultant, but the next step is just to break into SAP. Moving into SAP is hard enough without trying to switch onto the functional side as well. Java skills are not enough to secure a functional SAP role. Simply taking a functional training course won't do the trick. Break into SAP on the technical side first, then worry about the functional transition. (Yes, there are some successful techno-functional consultants out there, but the best consultants focus on one side or the other, maintaining about an 80/20 mix.)

Whenever you're chasing hot skills, you want to be able to explain how they fit into the story of where your career is headed for the long term. Jumping from technical to functional and back again makes for a confusing resume. If you make a jump from one side to the other, make it intentionally, and don't do it because you fear outsourcing, do it because you crave a challenge. I know some SAP programmers who are doing great right now - for example, a Portals developer who has now broken into Mobile Development. This guy is right on the cutting edge and he's not about to get outsourced. He's not letting outsourcing statistics scare him into running from what he's good at.

It bears repeating: your success in SAP is tied to your passion for the area you are pursuing. The people who are most successful in SAP have three qualities: (1) industry background in a certain area; (2) strong SAP implementation experience focused on that same area; and (3) a passion to learn as much as they can about their specialty.

A classic example is a functional CRM project leader I know. He has been involved in sales and marketing for the last fifteen years. For the last eight, he was an SAP consultant, starting in the Sales and Distribution area. A few years ago, his firm was moving into SAP CRM and paid for his training in basic CRM classes. His first class was in the Internet Sales area. In recent years, he has mastered the latest CRM functionality. He is very experienced in Mobile Sales implementation, and is also skilled in the new Opportunity Management functionality. He's also moved into team lead and project lead roles. This consultant has a very cohesive skillset, and his clients appreciate that he has a deep knowledge of the business process fundamentals underneath the functionality he is implementing.

Breaking into SAP: applying this article to two skills profiles

Not all of us can aspire to such a coherent career path, myself included. Sometimes we have to make serious changes based on market shifts or our changing interests. But we should keep this kind of profile in mind, and think about how we would explain our background and long-term career goals to future employers. Now, let's look at how to apply this kind of "big picture" career planning to breaking into SAP.

Example one: What would I say to a supply chain consultant with no SAP background who wanted to break into SAP CRM because CRM is having a hot year? First, I would first point out they are really making two shifts: one into SAP, and one from supply chain to CRM.

CRM and SCM are related areas, so it's possible this "two step move" could be done in one job change, but I'd suggest breaking into the supply chain side of SAP first and then pursue CRM opportunities from the inside. Since I ask people to identify a core skill area as well as an emerging area, I would recommend this type of person to target SD/MM for their core, as well as looking into emerging APO opportunities. The only catch is that APO has not been hot lately, so maybe there's a different emerging area to target. Supplier Relationship Management has been pretty hot - it's possible that a bit of skills tweaking could lead to work in online marketplaces and live auctions, which in turn might link into CRM's vendor management functionality. This person's skills map into some nice areas of SAP, but they should stay focused on the supply chain side of CRM as opposed to the sales and marketing side in order to leverage their industry background.

What about an Oracle DBA who wants to become a BW consultant? Again, that's really two shifts rather than one. Since so many SAP instances run on Oracle databases, there's an obvious move into SAP systems administration from the Oracle DBA side. That means targeting Oracle DBA roles in an SAP environment, so I would recommend focusing on larger SAP installs (smaller SAP customers might combine the DBA function with other Basis tasks and would likely prefer to hire someone with previous Basis experience).

Once an Oracle DBA position is obtained within an SAP environment, there should be opportunities down the road to move into the BW side, from the vantage point of BW installation, administration, and security. In this person's case, the core skill would be SAP systems administration and DBA work. The "emerging skill" would be BW, though BW is rapidly becoming a bread and butter type of skill. Probably some type of BW specialization would be in order - BW security would make a nice "emerging skill" for someone with this type of background to pursue.

Hopefully these two skills profiles illustrate the philosophy of mapping your skills into SAP and identifying a core and emerging skill area. There are countless more scenarios, which is why it's so important to study up on SAP and apply it directly to the particulars of your own experience.

Switching to SAP from another ERP package: what are the chances?

Let's now return to the question of switching into SAP from other ERP packages. With all the instability in the ERP market, we're seeing more of this situation these days. For example, in the last six months, I've run into several JD Edwards consultants who are sick of merger mania and eager to move into SAP roles. You would think that experience in one ERP package would translate into another, and I would agree with that. I've known consultants who made the switch from one ERP system to another, and they've told me that no matter the name on the label, it's the same stuff on the inside. The exception is that SAP, and to a certain degree Oracle, tend to be more complex than smaller ERP packages, containing more tables of functionality to tackle. But overall, there is a great deal of commonality between ERP systems.

But here's the catch: hiring managers don't tend to see it that way - not until you get up to the higher levels of project management. If you look at IT executive positions on job boards, many list multiple ERP packages' skills they will consider. They might state a preference, but they'll bend if the rest of the CIO skill set is there. That's not the case at the hands-on level. It's extremely rare to see a hands-on SAP position that will consider someone with a PeopleSoft background as well.

This is a frustrating situation if you're looking to switch packages. People in this position may find that consulting firms offer the best chance. Consulting firms have some savvy ways of repackaging the skills of their bench, and if you have relevant ERP background, they may be able to cross-train you and present you to the client in an appealing light. And of course, just as consultants are looking to switch ERP packages, some customers are doing the same. It might be feasible to "upgrade" from one ERP system to another while working for an end user that is also fed up with the instability of their current ERP provider.

The last word - for now

I wish I could offer a foolproof strategy for skills enhancement, but this type of market doesn't make for easy advice. Busting into today's SAP market requires a "by any means necessary" attitude. Don't limit yourself to my recommendations - leave no stone unturned until you land that first project. Another problem: even if you manage to complete one project, that doesn't guarantee much.

Most SAP jobs require at least five years of SAP experience, so one project isn't going to get you there. You'll have to maintain that pro-active mentality going forward, pursuing the right SAP projects for your background. When you do get that first project under your belt, that's this time when additional training and certification may help to set you apart. Keep researching the latest SAP technologies relating to your focus area, and stay on the lookout for any way to make yourself more visible and appealing as a consultant. Everything from obtaining an MBA to publishing SAP articles should be considered.

Sometimes SAP can seem totally impenetrable. I've known a lot of folks who tried to break in and just gave up. On the happier side, SAP looks like it's good for another decade of compelling project opportunities - and that's about as much of a guarantee as you can find in today's market. This article was not intend to squelch your desire - the goal was to give you some tools to hone your SAP career strategy. Desire alone is not enough. A good career plan is your steering wheel, and your desire to excel is your accelerator. One without the other and you're either stalled out or heading into a wall. But bring the two elements together and chances are good you'll get to where you want to go.