I am an ABAP programmer with 10 years of experience. I have worked on several modules and have a good understanding of business processes. Due to the reality of outsourcing of jobs, especially in the technical arena, do you advise me and other technical folks to move into the functional arena?
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I have written a lot on outsourcing in this column, and it's a good question. There is not one response to the threat of outsourcing. Of course, switching to a functional focus is one possibility. The other main ways to make your skills more outsourcing-proof would allow you to stay more on the technical side. You can do this by beefing up your technical project management experience.
Or, you can remain hands-on, but expand your programming skill set to include more "cutting edge" areas of SAP development such as ABAP/BW, custom portals development, and mobile development. It's important to face the reality of outsourcing, but there are a range of responses you can take.
This was first published in December 2005