Creating a career in NetWeaver
Can I choose a career path with SAP NetWeaver? I have five years experience in Java/J2EE and have no knowledge of SAP except the basic terms of SAP. I see a lot of Java/J2EE terms being used in SAP NetWeaver and was wondering how I can make the best in it. Please let me know if this sounds like a feasible option and how I could go about entering the SAP field.

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I have said many times that I see the relevance of Java-related skills in the SAP world of the future, so yes, I think there is a career path for a strong Java/J2EE person like you in NetWeaver. And when you figure out what NetWeaver actually is, just let us know. :) This was a joke to point out that NetWeaver is still a very confusing term, actually an umbrella that encompasses a number of products as well as a next generation architecture.

As a Java/J2EE person, I would look into the SAP products that use the most Java-related skills. Portals is a good place to start. There are some SAP users that are also doing all their development in a J2EE-based setting, so those may be good options for you too. One "hidden secret" of NetWeaver is that you can still do advanced ABAP development within NetWeaver, so you're not necessarily forced into Java just because you're running on NetWeaver. Nevertheless, while there do seem to be some unresolved tensions between the "ABAP camp" and the "Java camp" even within SAP itself, I do believe there is a future for Java/J2EE folks in NetWeaver, as you pointed out from your own research on the amount of Java terms in the NetWeaver literature. You just need to find the SAP users that are boldly moving forward with these types of projects and architectures and "make yourself available" to them.

This was first published in March 2005