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David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi everyone, 

Considering SAP Learnings' digital skills initiative going live at the close of 2022, I thought I would share a rough guideline for those out there who are starting from scratch or from non-traditional backgrounds toward their career path in the SAP ecosystem. 

The target role of this blog is going to be a consultant – specifically an SAP Certified Associate – Implementation Consultant - SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Editi...
, but I hope a lot of the other information on this blog will be helpful for other goals as well. 

Disclaimer: be sure to check your local job market to understand what specific skillsets are being sought – this may vary according to region and industry.  

There are two career situations that I would like to focus on, and they will modify your starting point: 

Starting from scratch 

  • You have no idea what SAP is 
  • You have never held a job in the tech or “white-collar” domain 
  • You didn’t graduate from a 4 year college  

Transitioning or laid-off 

  • You have experience in the tech industry and have been laid off or you’re looking for a change 

Starting from Scratch

If you find yourself in a situation with little to no white-collar job experience, it’s a good idea to start with the basics while exploring the more technical topics in parallel.  Jump back and forth between this content and the courses under the “Transitioning” section at your leisure.  

 What is SAP? 

The first thing you should figure out is what SAP is all about to determine if a job in the SAP ecosystem is right for you. (The SAP ecosystem encompasses SAP itself, partner companies that extend SAP’s reach globally and customer companies running SAP software. – All of whom may offer employment opportunities.) 

Hopefully with this information you can determine if you’d like to take steps toward upskilling for a job in this domain.  

If you still need a better understanding, I can attempt an analogy: Think of an amusement park and the magical experience it provides visitors with its rides, atmosphere, and fun experiences. Now think of what goes on behind the scenes of that experience – the carefully timed ballet of machines, electronics, music, art, food, and people that make it all happen. Most park visitors can only appreciate the experience being sold to them without giving the mechanism behind it all a second thought, but others are interested in looking a bit deeper, in understanding how it all works behind the scenes.  Can you see yourself being part of that second, more curious group?  

SAP is running the carefully timed ballet of behind-the-scenes processes that make some of the highest profile consumer brands run. Ask yourself if being one of the specialists who helps make this happen is an intriguing prospect.  

Pro tip: Do not say the word "sap" in interviews or networking events when referring to SAP. You can immediately be overlooked due to this simple mistake. Be sure to say each letter: S.A.P. 

 Soft skills and business acumen 

 Depending on your employment background, you may need to brush up on your soft skills and business acumen. These are the things the folks going the traditional path of 4-year universities and master’s degrees are going to have a bit more practice with. But not to worry; the resources on these topics can be found with your favorite internet search engine or coached via a large language model. Think of things like presentation skills, professional communication, problem solving, analysis etc. 

First things first – do you know how to learn? This may sound silly, but I am a product of memorization-based education where learning and study strategies were never taught. I can recommend learning how to learn if you also find yourself in this situation. 

Next, consider opening a free account at the Accenture Skills to Succeed Academy. Accenture is one of those companies in the SAP ecosystem that hires people like consultants – they know exactly what is needed to get the job done. You can find free courses on most critical soft skills that they are looking for in new hires. 

Some recommendations: 

 

 

 

Understand the job role 

Up until this point, everything covered is universal to all jobs across the SAP ecosystem. Let’s address the consulting role. Do you know what a consultant does? Are you sure you’d like to be one? 

I’ve personally interviewed a SAP S/4HANA Consultant on the SAP Learning Insights podcast, you can listen to our chat here. As a consultant, you will be working directly with an organization (your customer) who is working to implement an SAP solution. You will be working to understand their processes and how they fit into the SAP solution that you specialize in. There will be challenges and opportunities that you need to identify and communicate in your plan. You will need to be fast on your feet and adaptable to changing conditions and new information. 

Look at these resources for more insight: 

  • Consultant as a career overview 
  •  If you’ve got some money to spare, I can highly recommend the SAP Technology Consultant Professional Certificate. This is the one stop shop of almost everything someone lacking experience in this realm needs to get up to speed. The resources and case studies are provided by real SAP partners implementing real SAP projects. A reasonable study pace is 20 hours a month for three months to complete this. (It’s about $20 a month for those in the United States – if you study faster, you pay less.) 

If you do decide on a Coursera plus subscription, try out a few more skills: 

 Disclaimer 2: There is a very high barrier to entry for this role for new people. Most hiring companies want you to have experience in customer contact, project management and other consulting skills to get you on to the customer site ASAP.  You will generally need a combination of luck, skill and willingness to prove yourself in internships to get your big break. Keep an eye out for entry-level training programs being held by partner companies as a possible opportunity. Any role to get your foot in the door helps - be ready to work your way up from there.

Transitioning or laid off 

If you already have some experience in the tech sector, consider can starting here. If you are starting from scratch, you can already start exploring this as you cover the fundamentals listed at the start of this blog. 

 

Baseline technical knowledge behind SAP (22 Hours) 

This learning journey is going to begin laying out the big picture and prepare you for the more advanced role-specific training ahead: 

1. Introducing End-to-End Business Processes for the Intelligent Enterprise 

 

Detailed consultant technical skillset - prepare for the SAP Certification Exam (25 Hours)  

This is the start of your role-specific training. Understanding the product and your mission:

2. Exploring SAP Cloud ERP

 The how you will accomplish your mission. This is what your certification exam will be testing you on: 

3. Implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

 

Get certified (1.5 Hours) 

This is the exam that will add your first official SAP credential to your repertoire. You can buy a certification attempt here. If you are a student, buy a discounted attempt here. Or you can apply for a free certification attempt with the digital skills initiative.    

4. SAP Certified Associate – Implementation Consultant - SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

 Find instructions on how to schedule your exam here.

Apply for internship or job 

Check out the 5. Career Corner for job openings as well as other job boards. One cool thing about the career corner is that you can post questions about postings and get answers from the folks within the hiring company. Give it a try!  

What do you think? Anything missing here? Let me know and I add it!

Thanks for reading.

-David

43 Comments
CoCaptainHenri
Explorer

This is truly a very generous and welcoming introduction to S'A'P.  Thank you David. 

LJ_
Explorer

@David_Chaviano - Thank you for sharing your insightful post on how to start a consulting career in SAP. Your article has been very informative, and I appreciate the guidance you provided for aspiring consultants.

As a mentor to a graduating senior with a BS in Accounting, I was wondering if you could share any advice on possible career paths in SAP for a fresh accounting graduate who has no desire to code. While my mentee has a solid understanding of accounting principles, they are not particularly interested in pursuing a career in traditional accounting.

Additionally, if there are any paths with a great outlook unrelated to accounting (that does NOT require coding), I would love to hear your thoughts on those as well.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards,

LJ

PS. will the Coursera SAP Technology Consultant Professional Certificate hold any weight or should she stick to certifications within the SAP ecosystem 

 

JessicaWade
Explorer

Awesome and thanks for sharing this superb guide with us.

amauryvanespen
Active Participant

Hello @David_Chaviano 

thank you very much, very useful insights !

Cheers

Amaury

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

@LJ_  

Apologies for the delay! Certification in Finance/Accounting for beginners is tricky. On one hand, this is a high demand skill in the market - on the other SAP Learning is not yet ready to provide the full certification track for free to the public....

Here is the learning journey that we have which is free so far: https://learning.sap.com/learning-journey/overview-of-financials-in-sap-s-4hana

If she wants to certify, this is the best generalist code-free certification  she can pursue if she still wants to further her knowledge in Finance as well as all other lines of business:
https://learning.sap.com/learning-journey/explore-integrated-business-processes-in-sap-s-4hana-

For a future oriented certification - I would recommend the path in the blog!

The Coursera course is definitely the most practical for a newcomer, but I think the perception of the official SAP Certification in the ecosystem is higher.

Winner1000
Explorer

Hi thank you for your post. I have just completed my SAP Technology Consultant Professional Certificate on Coursera. Where can I find learning journey for SAP Material Management 

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

@Winner1000 - Well done!

SAP Material Management is a legacy topic for on-prem ERP. It's still a commercial offering and isnt free: https://learning-journeys-prod.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com/#/learning-journeys/learningJourney/500... 

THis is the closest modern equivalent that I can find for free: https://learning.sap.com/learning-journey/discovering-sap-fieldglass-services-procurement 

catalina212
Discoverer

Hi, David!

Thank you so much for this post.👍

I started with a Coursera program "Becoming a SAP Professional".

I'm a Linguist, I have a Master's Degree in Audiovisual Translation and I'm looking for a career change.

I moved from Spain to Antwerpen, Belgium, where the logistic sector is huge and I thought that learning SAP at a Key User level would be a great added value to my résumé.

My question is: I am at the Learning Hub and I want to start the self-paced course S4H00 - SAP S/4HANA Overview, but I can't find it anywhere. Is there another self-paced course that an absolute beginner can take to start from scratch?

Thank you!

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi @catalina212 ,

Sounds like quite the adventure you are on! 

Here is an overview course that also provides details across he full spectrum on how SAP S/4HANA works: https://learning.sap.com/learning-journey/explore-integrated-business-processes-in-sap-s-4hana- 

A modernized (Cloud oriented), more beginner friendly course is also available: Introducing End-to-End Business Processes for the Intelligent Enterprise. It's not quite fully published yet! But also provides a free practice system to get hands-on with.

catalina212
Discoverer

Thank you so much, David!

Fingers crossed!

mwarrenasint
Explorer

A ton of valuable content here. Thanks for sharing.

LJ_
Explorer

@David_Chaviano  - Thank you for your response.

The upcoming accounting graduate, who is not interested in traditional accounting, is now considering three code-free SAP career paths: Activate Project Manager, Application Associate, and Financials for S/4HANA.

Can you rank and compare these paths based on difficulty to obtain, demand, compensation, and 2030 outlook?

Your valuable insights will help start a career journey.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards,

LJ

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi @LJ_ ,

Thanks for the question!

Take a look at the associated learning journeys for the topics here:

Activate Project Manager

Application Associate - Application  associate in what?

Financials for S/4HANA 

As a general rule the finance topics will be more difficult and in higher demand. However, this depends on your local job market - it really requires you to do your own research in terms of searching for job openings in your area.

Both of the above topics require you to pay for the learning content. If you want a free alternative, try this learning journey. Keep in mind the certification exam still needs to be purchased.

Jennifer_RV
Associate
Associate

Hello @David_Chaviano thank you for this great information.  Let's keep in contact.  

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

@former_member142010 - I'm afraid your message has been cut off. I can't determine what are are looking to do.

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi @former_member142010 ,

The best route would certainly be SAP Certified Application Associate - SAP S/4HANA for Financial Accounting Associates, 

However, if you explore the content behind this certification, you will find that you need a SAP Learning Hub subscription for it. 
If you want a free certification path, try these:

Explore Integrated Business Processes in SAP S/4HANA

or

Project Manage an SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition Implementation 

I hope this helps!

Regards,

David

great content, very detail in each step.  i have experience in SAP projects and i am looking for get a Certification.

F_M
Participant

Thank you for this awesome post. As a very detailed guide for everyone, irrespective of their background (either white, blue, or no collar), one will boldly find a route to follow with the guidelines provided by David@David_Chaviano in this post. Following the guide in each link is more than enough to start the SAP journey from scratch SAP Learning Solution 

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

@former_member148032 and @F_M -Thanks for the kind words. Knowing this has helped at least a few people is the highlight of the work week!

kalyaniguna
Discoverer

Hi David,

Big thanks to you for assisting us.

My query is related to SAP Analytics Cloud. I want to complete learning journeys related to SAP Analytics cloud. Does this course qualify for free certification once I complete all the learning journeys and share the screenshot to SAP digital skills? Kindly help me

Regards,

Kaly

Kabeer_a
Newcomer

Hi David,

I identify as a person in the below categories:

    • People in remote or underserved locations that may be not have access to the same economic opportunities as their urban or more privileged counterparts 
    • Minorities who may not have equal opportunity in their geographic location 
    • First generation college students
    • People looking to switch their careers mid-life

I am Excited to learn more about SAP and to undergo the rigors of studying for SAP Certification. I Currently work with Dangote Cement Plc in Nigeria as SAP end user. 

Thank you.

Kabir Auwal 

 

Aimanedif
Discoverer

Dear David ;

am a recent graduate from university, holding a Master's degree in Information and Communication Technologies and Management. Through this course, I aim to enhance and deepen my understanding of ERP systems, especially the SAP product which is one of the most important systems utilized by companies, especially in my country, Algeria. My goal is to become an SAP consultant, and I see this course as the crucial first step towards achieving that objective. I am very enthusiastic about participating and obtaining an accredited SAP certification.

Regards

behoaho
Discoverer

I'm Hoa Ho, I'm woman and  studying for a master's degree in finance. I am writing to inquire about the possibility of obtaining a voucher code for the SAP B1 certification exam.
 
As you may know, I have been working as a SAP B1 solution consultant for the past 4 years and have recently completed a short course at SAP Learning Hub. I believe that obtaining the certification will
greatly enhance my career prospects and help me secure better job opportunities.

I would be extremely grateful if you could provide me with a voucher code that I can use to register for the certification exam. Your support in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and consideration

ID: P2007264023 my email: behoaho6365@gmail.com
nkesaankia
Newcomer

Hi @David_Chaviano Thanks a lot for generously and meticulously sharing the basics of SAP to us. I am a graduate in Maritime Transport but lately  I have been pursuing trainings and qualifications in Traditional and Agile Project Management. My goal is to follow through the career path of an IT Project Manager. I recently completed the SAP Technology Consultant Professional Certificate and I am presently taking the IBT IT Project Manager Professional Certificate. 

I wish to know where to start from in light of SAP. Which SAP Certification is most appriopriate to start with, given that I am starting from scratch?

Thank you in advance;

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

@nkesaankia , Definitely look into Onboarding with SAP Activate for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition!

Good luck!

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

@behoaho - Invite sent!

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

@kalyaniguna -Yes it does!

maithienchi
Discoverer

Hello @David_Chaviano ,

Thank you so much for your sharing, It is more powerful for me for grow up acknowledge about SAP.

Thank you in advance;

 

 

DinhPhong
Newcomer
0 Kudos

Hi @David_Chaviano 

Great content, very detail in each step. 

I have experience in SAP projects as a tester about 3 years and I am looking for get a Certification related to ABAP developer.

I believe that obtaining the certification will greatly enhance my career prospects and help me secure better job opportunities.

I would be extremely grateful if you could provide me with a voucher code that I can use to register for the certification exam. Your support in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and consideration

ID:  P2002480854 email: vdphongth2005@gmail.com
rrayosdelsol
Explorer
0 Kudos

Thank You for this opportunity!

I'm ready to schedule for an Exam. And done with the course "Exploring SAP Datasphere". May I know what's next to get a Free Exam Certification Voucher please.

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

@rrayosdelsol - I believe I've sent next steps via DM! 

tuyetnhi99
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Hi @David_Chaviano

Awesome and thanks for your useful sharing,

To be honest, even though I graduated with accounting major for more than one year ago and I realized I don't have any passion for it, fortunately a few months ago my brother introduced SAP to me, I really like it and I want to work with SAP in the future. Currently I'm studying it very hard, and I have plans to get the certification exam. I would be grateful if you could give me a voucher code, it will help me a lot in my career path.

Please scrutiny considerately

ID: P2007070731- tuyetnhica99@gmail.com

Ar10
Explorer
0 Kudos

Awesome and thanks @David_Chaviano for sharing this superb guide with us

DatDuong
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Hi @David_Chaviano 

Thank you for your information. I believe this information will be very helpful for many people to understand what they need and lack to improve their career path through SAP.

Thank you,

Best Regards.

eliemutombo
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Hello, 

I have completed the learning journey for Citizen Developer and looking to obtain this certification to transition into a new career at this point in my life.

Chloe2610
Newcomer
0 Kudos

Hello @David_Chaviano,

I am Chloe Nguyen who worked in SD a couple of years. I hope that I can have a chance for getting certificate to make sure my career path is better. Your kindness will make my life better. Thanks for your support in advance.

Olaj
Newcomer

Thank you

MagdaP
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Hi@David_Chaviano,

I'm OneSource (external tax engine) configurator; and would like to get better understanding of SAP financials or ABAP coding. What would be best learning paths for me please? Would I qualify for free digital skills certification?

thanks in advance,

Magda

David_Chaviano
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi @MagdaP ,

thanks for the question!

You can join us in a SAP Finance discussion here. You can also read this blog.

A free finance certification track is coming soon!

You can start the Acquiring Core ABAP Skills learning journey

PraveenChitturi
Participant

Dear @David_Chaviano ,

First of all, I would like to thank and appreciate you for your post about the digital skills initiative. This will really be helpful to bring the people to SAP platform. Appreciate the free learning journeys and certification attempt. At our organization also we are using SAP Learning site as our primary channel for upskilling our team. 

Best Regards,

Praveen Chitturi

LisetteM
Participant
0 Kudos

Hi @David_Chaviano 

Did you get my post about the learning hub "Integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud"?

I took a bunch of open SAP cloud courses and I would like to know more about the learning hub to catch up.