Hi Guys. I am new here. I have just graduated and been selected in an organisation as ABAP developer. Now I don't know the future aspects of it, as it is something new to me. What would you guys suggest me on it. Is it worth investing time? Or should I start something else in parallel and make a switch?

Are you planning to stay with company, work tasks aside?
Or maybe go to uni again for a master's?

@LotsOfCaffeine I would like to go for a masters in a year or two. I am not a CS major actually.

@mentalhijack ah I see
Well it might be worth it, if you can finance it.

Don't know too much about SAP/ABAP myself, except that a friend of me really dislikes it.
It does seem to be used quite a lot, at least here in Germany.

@LotsOfCaffeine Pretty much legacy I guess. Mostly used in non tech companies. I am confused whether after spending one or two years here should I go for master in business or technology 😂 being ABAP developer provides great insight to business too, that's what I have heard.

@mentalhijack yeah it's a very business centered tool

@LotsOfCaffeine yep. Anyway thanks for your advice.

SAP isn't really development, per se, more complex configuration. If you're not a CS major it's probably fine.

If you have an intention to remain in or around development, you'll eventually need CS and higher level mathematics as well, or equivalent engineering knowledge. If that doesn't interest you, please opt for the business route.

@SortOfTested Thanks for the answer. That gave a lot of clarity.

SAP is the ERP software. It consists of different modules (ie Finance, planning, production, warehouse, etc) These modules are configured by Functional consultants.

Sometimes configurations are not enough and development is needed. ABAP is the programming language to create those programs to run inside SAP. And an ABAP developer will create it. The ABAP coding will however be also touching on some certain rules for object creation. It can get complicated.

Is coding ABAP hard? Like everything else, it depends on the requirements.

The best kind of SAP consult is to be a techno-functional consultant. This like everything else requires experience and well lots of Google 😂

SAP's ERP software is run by many companies so demand will not go away soon.

I know people who do both, study masters and work. But a masters degree is not necessary. SAP has certification exams which IMHO to me means little. The calibre of the consultant depends on the quality of his output.

@iamai Thanks for the detailed answer. Seeing the hate for SAP and ABAP here, I was a bit worried.

@mentalhijack I guess ABAP is not part of mainstream per se because SAP ERP is usable without the need to learn ABAP.

SAP is the name of the company. And they have acquired many companies and softwares along the way. Salesforce, Concur, Ariba etc. They have even ventured into cloud services.

I guess the people who have experienced SAP here may likely be for the solutions which the company has acquired. And cross-solution connection can sometimes be tricky. Lots of coordination needed and will require a good team to envision and implement it well end-to-end.

If you are doing ABAP support then it's a good start. Just give it a try and ask other seniors in your company who are 5+ years in SAP why they stayed.

I stayed because I like computer but have a business degree. The first IT company that hired me was for a SAP consultant and it just started from there :)

@iamai
Just a note: salesforce is independent, their market cap is 31B larger than SAP. SAP integrates with salesforce, but they have no ownership relationship.

@iamai surely, there are many people whith more than 10 years experience still in the organization as architects. I am not in support per se but it's more of the custom developments as required by the business. Mainly custom developments and enhancements. I would also like to pursue IT management degree some day. So I guess starting with ABAP is fine as it also blends the business side with the technical.

@SortOfTested thanks for the correction! I thought it was included in their acquisitions. I've confused it with another which is SuccessFactors