[jeeves sunil]

Hello friends,

Need ur help.give me 5 mins.

I am a mechanical engg, I am in consumer durable sales, Worked for diff organizations for over 2 yrs. I appeared cat twice, 70 Percentile 1 st attempt & 93 in last attempt. For reasons not know to me I dint get any major calls & what I got I dint convert, 2 I missed narrowly, may be my bad acads has a part in it.

Now the issues. I was in sales only becuz I need that experience for marketing major. despite that the fact I am good, (I mean good) at my job,( recos letters from regional managers) I am thinking in terms of dropping sales profile & Indian Mba plans altogether.( its v painful):confused: .As the colleges I will get into r only second rug & my Experiences are with good mnc’s…


So to move on.. I am seriously considering doing a training course in sap! Complete shift in profile!!!! even sap training will require me to quit my current job .:neutral:

Now here’s where I need major help!!!!!!!!!!:grab:
I know sap is a E r p software u need some functional exp .. to even begin training. so that’s helps me utilize time spent in sales, in all other software profile I begin from scratch. I am zilch in information technology & software……..though I am gud at initiating systems ( I was involved in launching of one brand in Mumbai Market, overall in charge of sales of a product)


I don’t Know what would life b after sap training?????:huh:


I don’t Know what is the future of sap, what is life like as a professional of sap?????????:huh:

What kind of aptitude is required to…. Excel here.???????????


For eg. At marketing enthusiasm, analysis, energy & people skills and certain amount of creativity is gud enough for any one to excel.

I also don’t Know the avenues of growth after that!!!!!


Now all coaching institutes will give biased view( after all they have to sell the product) I need a gud insight from you guys yaar……only then I would have knowledge to take a calculated risk.


A major career decision has to be made & your perspective is much valued for me.




Sunil

[Francesco CATtie]

Originally Posted by jeeves sunil

So to move on.. I am seriously considering doing a training course in sap! Complete shift in profile!!!! even sap training will require me to quit my current job .:neutral:

Because u said that u have experience in Sales, i reckon, u wudn't start as a fresher in SAP. Infact, u have a very good chance of starting your career as a Functional Consultant in Sales and Distribution (SD) Module or logistics (LO) Module of SAP.

I know sap is a E r p software u need some functional exp .. to even begin training.

says who ?? It only helps u if u have some before-hand functional experience, which infact, u have

I don’t Know what is the future of sap, what is life like as a professional of sap?????????:huh:

I donot find any point in u worrying about the future of SAP .
and life as a SAP Preofessional is gr8 and it fetches u lots of bucs

What kind of aptitude is required to…. Excel here.???????????

Simple common sense and knowledge of business processes of the client.

Vijay

[MANSOOR]

Right-ho Jeeves... Having a bit of experience in SAP, ill chip in a lil 'gyaan' here

To start with the good news..

If you are looking to break into SAP there couldn’t be a better time. The requirement for candidates with SAP experience is at an all time high. But there are not enough resources with genuine experience in the market. So companies are taking in people with domain(functional) experience, training them internally and placing them into projects.

The company I work for is doing this in a big way and if I am not mistaken so is Francesco’s. Others include, IBM, Cap Gemini, Wipro and even SAP.. So your best bet would be to get recruited by one of these organizations and get trained.


Future of SAP.
I wouldn’t worry on that front. After getting your initial break you could diversify into new dimension products like APO, BIW. These are all here to stay.

Life.
Life will be more like Software Engineer . With a lil exp youll be interacting with clients, understanding their requirements. But most of the time will be spent in front of a computer screen configuring and customizing.

Growth avenues.
You start of as a functional consultants and can progress up into management roles like functional team lead or project manager. You may even choose to remain out of management and become an SME in SD or APO.


And now to the not so good news..

Having a marketing background makes breaking into SAP just a tag bit tougher. Not because opportunities are any less. Its just that there are quite a lot of ppl with marketing background available. Experience in Finance, supply chain is sought after.


Some companies look for an MBA. Infact most of entry level functional guys are taking directly from MBA colleges. So you may rethink about chucking your MBA plans. Cap Gemini I know for sure recruits big time from symbiosis.


Overall SAP is a good career option. If you don’t like running around and prefer the comforts of a desk job youll fit in nicely. And of course you shouldn’t mind working late nights, chasing deadlines and all the other perils of a software job.

[jeeves sunil]

HI PG log

Thanks mansoor and fransico to find time to give detailed answers to my query,
i have been myself trying to find more...........
ur opinion definately are helping me built the big picture.

what i gather i can enter sap in following ways

1) Get hired by company , get trained in sap or other erp software. work.

Problem. A) i tried various job sites could not find any openings with any organisation listed.specifically asking functional background.no idea what i do now!!:x

Problem. B) 2.5 years experience in sales and marketing is not enough here, what people want is variety of roles played by canditate in various organisation at one function.super sap user and all...........

" i dont know whether this opinion is true or not!!!"


2) DO SAP certified training, seek placement from these firms.

Problem A) Placement specifically in SD module!!!!! i dont know yaar. information is very limited, thanks mansoors ur input here was bang on.

Problem B) I dont know what is compition like in sap sd module, i mean other professional with qualification of sd module. What is the average profile of such people??


PRoblem with a capital P: Even if u risk the money to do a certification course, DO job hunting. what can be the worst case scenario!!!!! okay i dont get sap job, i revert back to sales job!!!!!!!! but how do i explain gap in work profile......
motive for aplying is very important part of assesment in sales jobs.:huh:

finally what i realise is that the worst case scenario is ............shit scary!!!!!

so if i get into sap course...no looking back .
I GOT TO HAVE A SAP JOB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

emmm . so option one is the best bet.. but resource for such search not know to me.. will try getting more info.

option 2 is expensive but, atleast it will get me started fast. one of my close pals in software tells me sap certified professionals are sure to land up jobs ( and SAP exam is not that easy to clear) ....mansoor & fransisco d' conia ur opinion sought here!!!

but one thing is clear .. enter SAP. Exit sales. end of road for sales.

What say guys ........?????

Sunil

[Francesco CATtie]

Originally Posted by jeeves sunil

& fransisco d' conia

Francesco CATtie

Originally Posted by jeeves sunil

option 2 is expensive but, atleast it will get me started fast. one of my close pals in software tells me sap certified professionals are sure to land up jobs ( and SAP exam is not that easy to clear) ....mansoor & Francesco CATtie ur opinion sought here!!!

but one thing is clear .. enter SAP. Exit sales. end of road for sales.

What say guys ........?????

Sunil

The option 2 is expensive for sure
but if u are hell bent over shifting to SAP, u can safely vouch for it.

Problem. A) i tried various job sites could not find any openings with any organisation listed.specifically asking functional background.no idea what i do now!!:x

Problem. B) 2.5 years experience in sales and marketing is not enough here, what people want is variety of roles played by canditate in various organisation at one function.super sap user and all...........

" i dont know whether this opinion is true or not!!!"

For A), in fact iam really surprised to hear that. but u can always send u'r resume to all the companies working on ERP packages, and to be least surprised, u may get an interview call too.

For B) ... what do they mean by variety of roles ??
2.5 years of experience is pretty good for working on SD module.

shall get back to u more on this after confirming from a few Functional consultants coz i donot have complete information on this.

Vijay

[jeeves sunil]

well,

i went to this SAP certification centre in mumbai.

I was joining the 2.5 LAkhs rupees course to be a Functional consultant.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 hours at the institute labs changed all that .

there were guys in sales and distribution module-certified on 26 th april- and still unemployed in august.the worst was they could only manage to get interview calls from only 2 companies.SO job scene is surely not Good.

what i realized subsequently that there have been 3 batches of 11-12 with no one placed.
further more batch before april is also half placed...

further queries with consultants have revealed...in SAP u now need not just training but ......... implementation experience which is..............u know what
how do u get experience when u dont get break.

there are spurious operatives in the market which charge fees to show u fake experience from fake companies. i am sure u could know the value of same.

Dude without experience its not worth chucking ur current job>
thats what the SAP instructor told me candidly.

mind u i did ask the unemployed guys about there qualifications - they were mainly a mixtures of MBA( 1 frm somiaya other was from MIT-PUNE, couple of people with dubai experience) and functional experience guys.


I have concluded to be very cautious about SAP plans.

i think untill one has an experience or opportunity to tske experience no point in certification or quiting ur current JOB.- inview of the job scenario

[CATBLAKI]

I am interested in MM module of SAP as functional consultant but Genovate system in mumbai is too costly when i researced on net I found two other institute one is PAC computers www.paccusa.net and other is Growel software both located at mumbai.

Pls let me know whether is it worth to do course from these institute and what are the approx charges for the course.

I heard they also give some kind of job garuntee how true is it.
Existing students of these institutes also can help

thanks

[gaurav200x]

Well this might be an odd questions to ask.... but could could anyone give me an insight in ERP and SAP..

What is ERP and what is SAP?

[The Gr8 One]

Originally Posted by Francesco CATtie

Francesco CATtie

>>>

Vijay

dear vijay,

i was quite interested in this thread and did a little bit of reading up...
and as far as i could gather, u always had the answers when it came to SAP

if i'm not mistaken i'd read somewhere on PG that infy took freshers and trained them in SAP &amp (i heard hyd), if so, was it a swlwcted group or was it ppl who were interviewed for the same?...

Gyaan required please...

SAM

[abhishek1711]

guys im going to icfai gurgn and it has started a sap training module free for students...im wondering wqht this sap is and how i can help me if i specialise in marketing+finance???am just trying to know if i can take this free training to atleast get value of the 7 lacs im paying for the coursse!!!!!

so a bit more gyaan on wht this sap is all abt.im a bcom grad n have no idea abt all these.

thnks

abhishek