I am currently working on Oracle and Unix technologies as an analyst programmer in Australia. I have been in IT for more than seven years and looking for a change (i.e., non-programming background in SAP). Could you please suggest what area in SAP I should choose and how to begin looking for future growth and demand?
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Hannah Smalltree, Editorial Director
I understand your desire to move away from programming. However, when you're trying to break into SAP, one thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to try to make two skills jumps in one job change. For example, moving from Oracle programming to SAP programming is one skills jump. From Oracle programming to SAP functional is actually two skills jumps, one from Oracle to SAP and one from SAP technical to SAP functional. In a competitive job market, it's very hard to make two skills jumps in one job change. If you can pull it off, then great. But if you run into trouble becoming an SAP functional specialist, consider looking for SAP technical/development roles first and then gradually move from SAP technical to functional. Even as a technical SAP programmer, you'll begin to get a feel for the functional side of SAP. At that point, you can also take note of which functional areas seem to be in the most demand and fit in best with your skills and interests. Over time, you can hopefully make the move to exactly where you want to be within SAP, but it may take more than one job change and a few years to fully make that transition.
This was first published in May 2006