Job for Consultant: Re: [sap-career] Which SAP Course for a PhD Student of Supply Chain Management

dimanche 11 décembre 2011

Re: [sap-career] Which SAP Course for a PhD Student of Supply Chain Management

Posted by loknathrao (Consultant)
on Dec 11 at 11:35 PM

A sure way of knowing that a company is bogus is when they ask for prior
SAP experience even from people like you. Unfortunately this is a big
disease in the SAP consulting industry, where most employers are no more
than stop gap recruitment agents for some opportune project they landed.
They need ready made billable resources. They dont need Einsteins but they
are happy with someone who has a BA in History with SAP experience,
whatever thats worth. These firms neither have the backbone in furthering
the practice and profession of ERP nor are interested in making you
a genuine value adding consultant by grooming and exposing you to
various technologies. They use the word "skill" analogous to skilled as in
a plumber, electrician or fork lift driver.

So if you dont want to be a "module" expert for the rest of your life,
I suggest find a company where SAP is already in place and look for jobs in
line management like supply chain planning. You can overtime learn and add
value to yourself and also the company. First things first. Be a good user
and learn to interpret the solution right viz. in case of supply chain
planning the results of a supply planning run using a particular
heuristic and a particular profile and particular parameters. I can assure
you half the consultants cant get this right because they have ended up
becoming mechanics without knowing how to drive a car. Once you have a
sufficient feel of the solution and application capabilities, you
can venture out or even remain as inhouse consultant. Your manager if
literate like you will faciliate this. This ofcourse wont be easy. You
would need to read a lot on fundamental premise of the design and the best
place is help.sap.com, sdn.sap.com (check wikis and posts),
service.sap.com(solution maps) or even
sap.com.

---------------Original Message---------------
From: Pervaiz khan
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 11:02 PM
Subject: Which SAP Course for a PhD Student of Supply Chain Management

Hi Loknath and Typewriter

Many thanks for your valuable advice.

My research is to find relationships between the skills of a supply chain coordinator (chain captain) and performance. Hopefully I will be finishing my PhD in next six-month.

Yes, Teaching is a good option, but I also want to work outside academia. I 100% agree with you that SAP supply chain planning applications (e.i., demand planning and production) are suitable. I would be lucky if SAP AG or any other ERP companies train me:).

I also agree with "Typewriter" that experience is the best teacher but most of the companies ask for SAP certification/training before hiring, otherwise they straightaway fire without hiring :)

Anyway, I also sent an email to SAP AG directly and asked them what options they have for someone like me. But I have not received any reply yet. I will also try other ERP companies.

Thanks again for your time and advice.

Best regards
Pervaiz

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