If you are wondering what an SAP STAR intern does, you are at the right place! My name is Sohan Pujar and I am based in Melbourne, Australia. I have worked with SAP as a Student Training and Rotation (STAR) intern from 2021 – 2022. This blog is the second part of a two-part blog series. In this blog, I hope to share with you my personal experience in the SAP STAR program’s extra-curricular opportunities. If you have missed my first blog on the SAP STAR Program’s rotations, please click
here to learn more about the SAP STAR Program.
It is important to note that all experiences shared in this blog pertains to the SAP STAR Program in Australia & New Zealand and are also my personal experiences. Other locations could have its SAP STAR Program structured differently and other STAR interns could have a different experience.
During the SAP STAR Internship, numerous extra-curricular opportunities exist for interns to be involved in addition to the assigned rotation. Some of these opportunities have been created and hosted by fellow STAR interns. This is one of the various reasons I personally believe STAR interns can directly add value to the business. If you see an opportunity for the business, you are often encouraged to address the need. An example of a recent program which was created by STAR interns and is now facilitated annually for the STAR intern community is the SAP STAR Shark Tank. In the following sections, I will briefly provide an overview of just some of the existing extra-curricular opportunities for STAR interns.
SAP STAR Shark Tank
The SAP STAR Shark Tank is an annual program which allows for STAR interns to identify areas of improvement within the business or topics of innovation. The teams later pitch their solutions to the local executive leadership team with the winners receiving sponsorship for its implementation.
This program was founded by myself and Rebecca Menahem who were both STAR interns at the time. The program was initiated through a conversation with the President and Managing Director, Damien Bueno, during the Easter festivities in the office. The conversation between us revolved around the topic of how interns could contribute renewed perspectives of doing business. Thus, the SAP STAR Shark Tank was founded to address the question and provide a platform for interns to express their raw perspectives.
SAP Innovator Challenge
The SAP Innovator Challenge provides all SAP colleagues globally the opportunity to participate in a friendly internal hackathon competition. The goal of the SAP Innovator Challenge is for SAP colleagues to learn something new about SAP technology they other wouldn’t normally come across in their daily job.
I had participated in this challenge during 2021 and 2022. In 2021, I registered alongside a fellow intern was allocated to a team which had colleagues from Japan, India and South Korea. It was a great experience and expanded my network globally. During the challenge, we learned about the SAP low-code no-code offering known as SAP Build Apps (formerly SAP Appgyver) and leveraged it to implement a prototype of health-tracking application as our submission for the hackathon. We were honoured to be awarded the Crowd Favourite award by Chief People & Operating Officer and Member of Executive Board, Sabine Bendiek. This moment was certainly a highlight in my STAR internship.
International Connection Program
The final extra-curricular opportunity I would like to highlight is the International Connection Program. This program was set up for SAP STAR Interns to broaden their network with other SAP STAR interns globally. A committee of SAP STAR interns would organise quarterly catchups and buddy programs with all interested countries. I had the privilege of participating in a Buddy Program with interns from Japan and South Korea. Despite the formal end to the program, I still keep in touch with both of my buddies.
Conclusion
I hope these blogs have provided a thorough insight into the SAP STAR internship and have assisted you in determining if it piques your interest. I highly encourage you to apply to the SAP STAR internship and encourage you to reach out to current SAP STAR interns via Linkedin if you have questions about the program. Please feel free to also reach out to myself.
If you are early in your career journey and interested in a career with SAP but do not meet the requirements, please check if the SAP academy or a stand-alone internship is an eligible pathway.
Please see more information regarding the broader teams listed above by visiting the SAP STAR website:
https://www.sap.com/australia/about/careers/students-graduates/vocational-training/australia-and-new...
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Will I work with other interns?
Typically, there is a single intern per team. However, interns will usually collaborate with each other across various teams to achieve a project outcome. Interns also can work together for intern-specific events such as the SAP STAR Shark Tank. Thus, opportunities do exist to work with other interns.
What is the right balance between studying and working?
There is no one right answer to this question and is very dependent on the individual. However, at the time of writing, the most popular decision is to work three days while studying three units during the remaining two weekdays.
What happens if I have an exam scheduled or an urgent assignment due on a working day?
There are many leave options that can be taken such as annual leave or life leave. However, if you would like to save your leave for an actual holiday rather an exam day, you can leverage the option for a day swap. Day swaps mean that you would work on a day that you are not contracted for in exchange for taking a contracted day of work off.
Will I travel as part of my internship?
This is very dependent on the opportunities which exist in your team. It would be rare to travel inter-state or international although options for local travel to customer sites do exist.
