SAP vs webapplication development

Question

i am a fresher just out of collge .Till now i have worked on java,Python,javascript,groovy,django and web application develop has been my only intrest.

But for a living i joined a company now and they are making me work on sap. Coming from a world of ORM and languages like python ,SAP and database tables doen't excite me on the first look .i am all new to sap and not much aware of what are the areas i can work on .BTW from what i can make out from the training is that i have to work on abap and i am being offered the job role titled Technical cunsultant.

Its been only a week since i joined and i am still undergoing a traning in ABAP but i can't find the passion for sap in me yet . What do u guys suggest, and whats the scope for the SAP work as compared to web application development.Is there a field in sap that i might be intrested in ??

Answer 1

Find a better gig as soon as possible or do you best to demonstrate how other free solutions can actually be better. If you don't like SAP then find a job that doesn't require you to use it.

Answer 2

Well SAP is using an old technology stack and is very business oriented. You get some very interesting insights of a companies business while doing SAP stuff. So if you are after the money... SAP is the one for you to take. SAP-Consultants are (at least here in Europe) the best paid people in the IT business.

So my advise is: finish the training and do at least one project. This way you get some experience and a good reference. After that if you still don't like it: just move on. And btw: there are many Jobs requiring SAP knowledge without having to do something in SAP directly.

EDIT:

There is also to tell you that the SAP world is very huge. You can dive deep into the ABAP coding or get a specialist in one or more of the Modules (like FI, HR etc.) or you do SAP BW (business warehouse).

Personaly I think that each Newbie should try to get some work experience as fast as possible by doing lots and lots of projects. This is, at the end of the day, what realy counts at the first 2-3 years. After that it is always possible to move into other directions.

Answer 3

I am an SAP consultant and if you are getting started I highly recommend you look at these tutorials by Thomas Jung http://enterprisegeeks.com/blog/2010/07/30/abap-freak-show-abap-tutorial-links/. There is also a good community on SDN (sdn.sap.com).

There are many ways to code ABAP and if you can learn to use ABAP Objects (Object Oriented) then you will be ahead of 90% of consultants right away. SAP also have a MVC web framework called Web Dynpro ABAP that you should learn as this now the standard for SAP UI development.

Good luck and let me know if you need any more advice.

Answer 4

Remember that "Breaking into SAP" is extremely hard on your own. Being with an employer that will give you the initial training will be immensly valuable if you do decide to stick with SAP.

My advice would also be to stay with it for one implementation at least. You will gain valuable skills to put on your resume and if you still want to change technologies you would not have lost much.

As Yves have said, in the SAP world the project you work on will probably be more interesting than the technology. But even the shiniest technology will get old really quickly if the environment you have to work in sucks.

Answer 5

You will soon discover that ABAP is a very convenient way to deal with large amounts of data stored in tables.
But if you are keen on web application developement: The "Business Server Pages" are a web Application Server built in SAP. You still have to code the Backend in ABAP but you can code the frontend in any given language wich is capable of contacting webservices and dealing with XML-data.
In this way you can combine the best of both worlds. So take your chance. Learn the language. Do at least one project and with your new gained knowledge look what the next project or job can offer you.