My journey from Sales Professional to SAP Functional SD Consultant: A blog written for all SAP aspirants.

[balaji_parsewar]

In day to day life, I came across several professional who have secret wish to enter SAP arena which is one of the most lucrative as well rewarding career option. SDN is not exception to that. Several SAP aspirant post their query regarding how to make foray in SAP arena.

Before few years I was also part of that crowd. Today I am SAP SD consultant. I think I should publish my story on the SDN through blog which is the most suitable forum because I think this story might be useful to several SAP aspirants who regularly visit SDN with hope of getting head start.

I am a science graduate with MBA with marketing specialization & pass out of 2005 batch. In 2005 only I came to know regarding SAP as ERP through faculty members. From that point only this SAP terminology stuck to my mind. After MBA when I started digging more about it, I came to know regarding first hurdle that you need domain experience of minimum 2 years in any of the functional arena like Sales & Distribution or Finance or controlling. By keeping in mind, the minimum prerequisite for SAP career, I started my career in Sales with MNC pharmaceutical company as Medical Representative. In my first job, I learned fundamental of Sales & Distribution as integral business process.

After doing my first job for only 7 months, I made my first shift & joined Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., India’s one of the most trusted brand for consumer durable. Godrej is the ideal place for a management graduate as you will experience most of the things that you had learned in books written by Kotler & Porter. Godrej was the place where I had explored myself & experienced connects between theoretical world & practical business. In Godrej I had learned many important concepts that I am currently utilizing as a SD functional consultant like:

1) Order Fulfilment Cycle

2) Transportation Lead Time & Transit Time

3) Plant & Depot Operation

4) Excise & Taxation

5) Most important I was end user of BaaN ERP

After spending 2 years with Godrej, I could not move to SAP due to unavoidable reasons like 2008 recession, my housing loans & biggest personal event i.e. my wedding.

But it is said that, if you are destined to particular thing then you have to do it. I always personally feel that there is some bonding between my career & SAP ERP. Finally that bonding had overtaken my excuses.

Finally I had decided to join SAP in 2010. But the big question was How?

First I had tried on mere my domain experience & Baan skills but I was not fortunate enough to get a breakthrough on the said ingredients. “End user of Baan” tag was not enough powerful to change my fortune. “I lost the battle but not war”.

I was looking for some alternative ways to make foray. After lot of research, I came up with 2 solutions:

1) Get certified from SAP authorized training centre & get a job as SAP trainee on the basis of certification & your hard work.

2) Join some substandard quality institute & get some fake experience by spending few thousands with fake consultancy.

I was in great dilemma, what to do. Second solution was much more economical in nature but very risky too.

But I would like to suggest my all SAP aspirant friends, listen to your heart & do what you feel is right, logical & rational one. I considered following points:

 

• I always feel by taking help of fake experience we risk our career, risk our credibility.


• There is no point in always living with fear that my fake credential will get exposed & I will out of my career.


• Ask yourself, will you able to convince yourself with such kind of move?


• More over every child grows with the teaching of Satyamev Jayate (Victory of Truth over Lie). I was not also the exception.


• Taking help of fake experience was like neglecting what I learned over the last 28 years.

Hence I decided to go for first path i.e. SAP certification path which was costing 2.10 Lacs (A Big Hole to my sick economy) which was huge amount for a person who was having few thousand bugs in bank account. Thanks to education loan facility which I availed & managed the required fees (2.10 Lacs) & opted for SD module OLT (On Line Training) way for completion of certification from authorized SAP training partner.

It was a risky call for me because of

• I left my current job which was stable & well paying one.


• Financial liabilities


• Family Responsibilities


• No back up.

Total fee 2.10=Course fee 1.75 + Exam fee 0.35.

If you can’t clear exam, you need to pay 35 K more to reappear for exam. Thinking about the same was nightmare for me due to financial condition.

After completion of course, I decided to take 20 days to revise entire syllabus for exam. It was do or die situation. I need to give my best shot. Even I could not think about the failure. Failure means lacklustre of dreams. I left no stone unturned, everyday giving 7-8 hours per day. In my entire life, I had never studied ever before.

Finally examination day arrived. It was really judgement day.SAP Certification exam is online & moment you click on submit button, result will appear. I utilized my entire 3 hours of exam. After Ganesha prayer, I click on submit button. The moment I saw result, I was top of the world. I cleared exam with healthy 66% whereas passing was of 54%. My efforts prevailed & I won half battle.

Next major task to be accomplished is to get a good job in any of SAP implementation partner.

Every day I started browsing monster & naukri sites & posting my resume wherever there is ray of hope. Updating Resume became order of the day. Finally got call from reputed SAP implementation partner for lateral trainee walk-inn. I was well aware of the phrase that opportunity never knocks twice. I prepared for interview.

It was again very tight 4 round elimination process. Started with aptitude test followed by 3 rounds of interview comprising technical, functional & HR questions. I entered in company campus for interview around 8 am in the morning & left 8 pm in the night. But 12 hours spent in company campus was not wastage & I got offer letter 3 days after interview. Finally my efforts & all the risk taken paid off.

I successfully shifted my career stream through consistent hard work & dedication. My dream came true. It was not accident or coincident. It was result of well executed plan & support of my entire family members.

I hope my blog proves to be useful for all SAP aspirants who want to move from their domain to SAP career. I would love to see your feedback on this blog. Do not forget to write.

May God Bless All of You & All The best for your future.

 

Regrads,

Balaji 

[balaji_parsewar]

Contact any nearest SAP training partner & as per your job profile SAP CRM (C4C) would be the better choice than SAP SD. Research well & then take final call.

[Former Member]

Dear Balaji,

Thank you very much for your motivational story.

I am a B.tech mechanical engineer passed out in 2014 and started my career as sales engineer in a chemical company.Now i am working as a Marketing executive in a small pvt ltd company. I maintained all the database from sales ,marketing,purchasing, by using a data server.But some how, some question arises in my mind when i try to co-operate with every department in the company by using only excel & data server because we don't have any ERP. The question arises in my mind is how a big organization co-operating each other.Then i started to find out the answer.So i heard about the SAP. That's why i am really curious about to learn SAP SD Module which is related to my Experience. But unfortunately the cost is more than 4 lac's.After listening  this,i was disappointed .So sir i need your guidance.After investing such amount amount of money for 1 month course can change my career or not?Because the company where i am working ,growth rate is poor.Please suggest me what to do.

Thank you

[former_member616409]

Hi Balaji,

I am at the age of 39.Did B.A in 2002 then preparation of Government jobs but no result.Then I decided to do MBA in 2007-09 batch.After that I have 9 years experience in Sales & Distribution.Now I want to SAP SD course from Atos.But in the same position I don't have so much money.Could I take a risk of this age? Or this is the wastage of time & money.

Kindly suggest..

[balaji_parsewar]

Hi Raj,

In SAP job market, employer rarely consider domain experience. After completing course, you have to start as fresher with salary range of 3.50 LPA to 5.00 LPA. At the age of 39, I am sure this salary would be very less.

Suggest you to consider all pros & cons before taking final call. Good Luck.

Regards,

 

Balaji

[former_member625686]

Dear Sir,

I have done job as end user on sap sd module,

I have 5 years experience sap sd end user, I want to join as sap sd consultant,  please suggest me which institute I can join in New Delhi and Gurgaon, mostly institutions are fraud, I am struggling for a long time,  now I have decided to go on sap sd consultant.

Thanks & Regards

Shekhar Sharma

8448012410