I do love to see folks who got off on the right foot! -td
I'm so glad I started this thread. We tend to only see questions on the board from folks who (for whatever reason) didn't hear about SAP until AFTER they graduated. It's so nice to see folks who got on the train at the first station! Thanks for telling your story! -td
A fellow gamer!! (I've always contended that Basis guys have the most fun!) Maybe we'll meet up at TechEd or something some day and we can reminisce about the good old days of gaming. 
-td
Simple and sweet. I like it. Thanks for contributing! -td
Yours may be one of my favorite stories. I don't know why more technical folks don't end up as project managers, but I've seen far more functional folks as pms rather than technical folks. I don't know why I get such a kick out of seeing someone make it successfully down that road, but I do. Thanks for contributing! -td
If I ever get on a project that needs a QM guy, I hope you're the guy. No disrespect to all the folks who got into SAP QM right out of school, but I've always had the best success with functional consultants who had extensive industry experience before they started with SAP. Thanks for contributing your story! -td
Sounds like you're on the right track. You've established a broad base, now just focus on all things BW. I'm sure you will be a great success! -td
My path was helped by timing.
Bacehlor's Degree Computer Science(B.S.) 1998 - > Hired as Junior ABAP Consultant (went through training bootcamp) -> Senior ABAP Consultant - > SAP CRM Technical/Functional Support (turned away from the darkside of the force) (5 years) - > SAP CRM Functional/Technical Support ( last two years until present )
I wanted to originally to be basis person, but instead went down the developer route. For SAP CRM, I'm no longer a full-time developer which is thus the switch from Techno/Functional to Functional/Techincal. I would say the last seven years for me I basically have performed most roles support CRM except basis and security.
Take care,
Stephen
Hi Thomas:
Thanks for your comment, it's a hard way to evolve from a technical to a functional profile as project manager. I think the main reason is that technical people love their work as such and work on the project management side may force them out of the technical aspect in detail.
In my case, that was the painful part in the transition from the technical side, but now it takes a liking to the management and I feel very comfortable in the role, however, I have my moments of sadness in relation to my Oldest technical role.
I had a parallel path (1996-2003)
Bachelor's Degree Computer Science (B.S.) (1996-2006) & Windows Basis Administrator (1996-1999) -> CEO of my IT company (1999-2003)
Then a single path (2004-now)
Web Developer (2004-2007) -> SAP NetWeaver Consultant (2007-now)
Ivan
Hi Thomas,
I stared my journey from Degree in mechanical engineering(2005) -> worked as a mechanical plant maintenance engineer for 6 years in world's largest grass root refinery in India (was end user for SAP PM -> Moved to SAP as a PM functional consultant 8 months back.
Moving from a refinery to SAP was a tough decision for me as i was doing well there but only one thing made me move out of that and it was willing to learn new things always .
Regards,
Deepak
My path
Bachelor's (Computer Science) --> Various Programming Jobs (17 years) --> SAP Payroll Config --> SAP Abap, Workflow, Business Warehouse
After 17 years, I decided that Sap looked really cool, so I found a job where they were converting from the system I was supporting to Sap. Two years to learn and implement, then on to lucrative consulting! 12 years later I'm still here and learning new things each day about Abap, BW, Workflow (and portal and config, etc...).
