Career Transition @40 to SAP from Supply Chain

[Former Member]

Dear Mentors,

I wish seek your advice on career transition at the age of 40.

Brief about me,

I am have completed my education from UK's leading B School and served in Logistics and Supply chain in different verticals like express cargo,3PL,distribution and Manufacturing .I have experience in India and GCC. 9 years in FMCG segment of overall 15 years work ex.

I have completed SAP MM and WMS projects over the period of 5 years ,in the capacity of core team member.

The scope for SAP MM ,45 company codes and 250+ sites. Interface with FI/SD/CO/CS/DSD/BI

SAP WMS implementation for FMCG in 3 Company codes in 5 sites.

All along 15 years,I have been in the logistics and supply chain domain in supply and demand planning,distribution management,inventory management,supply planning,have lead Logistics center design and development (material and people flow) etc..

Do you feel certification and than transition would be right move ?

[Former Member]

Hi SAP Aspirant,

By looking at the information you have provided about your profile, it looks like you have kind of good experience in Global Supply Chain Business Process and as well some sap flabours in terms of working in SAP MM & WMS.

So at this situation, you can definitely do SAP Certification however given the fact of your experience and sap involvement, you can just learn the configuration in order to have full knowledge about all respective areas i.e. SAP System configuration, Unit Testing, Integration testing etc. I would assume you were already part of Requirement Gathering, Buleprinting, Business Process flow and sign off as well as UAT.

SAP Certification does not gurantee job however given the fact of your experience not just in respective business processes but as well as sap experience from user side is definately an advantage.

The missing pieces that you needed in order to make your sap experience valuable is SAP System configuration, Unit Testing, Integration testing etc.

Once you learn this necessarily from some institute of your choice and be in the job for around 2 years, you can be a make of good solution architect.

Come back in case you needed any clarification.

You can get connected with me in Linkedin in case you think that is required.

Thanks & Regards

Subhasish

[Former Member]

Dear Subhasish,

Apologies for writing late.

I have sent an invite thru Linkedin.

Regards

SAP

[former_member182378]

You have lot of experience in logistics. Why do you want to start a career, at this stage? (of SAP consultant)

The reasons (real ones, not the ones we show to the world) will determine the time and effort we put in, our mental state during the "struggle" period. So doing it for the right reasons, is half done already!

TW

[Former Member]

Dear Typewriter,

Thanks for your helpful insights.

Please find my career transition reasoning ;

a. My temperament

     I enjoy process redesign,mapping processes and creating something new.I do not enjoy pushing /nagging over small things (every line and every second), one is always on fire.

b.My Passion:

     I enjoy reading and writing on the subject and pursuing new changes.

c.Persuasion

   My experience helps me redesign process from user perspective and thereby buy in from users will be very easy.

My desire to stay connected with the knowledge based industry and new experience would enable me to build foundation for my long term objective of consulting.

In next 5 years period ,I will be techno commercial professional.

My experience suggests in Logistics, you need to have local knowledge of transportation laws,customs,connections and geography which limits the opportunities of moving across the boundaries.

[former_member182378]

It is good to read that you have passion and deep interest in processes. For a functional consultant having a solid foundation in business process knowledge is a must have.

Transitioning from a core team member to consultant is a logical step and most of us have followed this path. You have to take into consideration that your age can be a disadvantage for you (rates will be low, interaction with clients, colleges should not be perceived as arguments etc.) Your SAP configuration skills, communication skills with the client are key.

Anybody can make a living with SAP but it requires time (may be 5 years in SAP as consultant), effort, the right mind-set, adding value to the clients business. All the best!

TW

[Former Member]

Hi Shivaji,

Glad to see your perspective, let me pick up your points and provide my POV:

Your Comment: I enjoy process redesign, mapping processes and creating
something new. I do not enjoy pushing /nagging over small things (every line
and every second), one is always on fire.

My POV: I would definitely agree that Process design and mapping with SAP to meet the business requirement is what you should be doing however burning out is a common phenomenon in this case as well many a times due to various reasons ranging from design/built or testing issues to go live issues like issues related to conversion, manual tasks, functionality not being addressed properly, the automation related to a particular functionality not working, inexperienced resource issues etc. Sometimes it could be the fact that client is too pushy and too many follow up to achieve a small a simple issue.

Your Comment: I enjoy reading and writing on the subject and pursuing new changes.

My POV: Contributing to the subject depend on various factors like atttitude of involvement, passion towards learning new things, collaborative attitude, team work ethics, principle of achievement- recognition etc. Changes and challenges are not same, sometimes challenge comes because of new changes but it can be opposite as well, it might be too easy : ). Sometimes changes contribute towards greater challenges that will intensify the situation if not acted in a responsible manner.

Your Comment: My experience helps me redesign process from user perspective and thereby buy in from users will be very easy.

My POV: Its off course your advantage as you were being on the user end side for long time but it can create a challenging atmosphere as well like earlier you were end user but dont forget now you are acting in the capacity of a sap consultant and we can not think about our opinion being supreme just because we had acted in the end user role earlier. Every role has its own advantage and disadvantage as its based on parameters, dependencies, actual facts, holistic view points and above all coordination of blend mix of what it takes to achieve what we want to achieve. So your thought process is correct but we can not relax with this thought and come to conclusion that whatever we say to the end user now will seem to be perceived in that way by them. People are different and it takes sometimes a lot to conclude based on factors like cultural issues, knowledge issues, perspective, point of view, integration thought process, never mind attitude etc.

Also my experience says all sides will have its own ups and downs, advantages and disadvantages, achievement and negligence but ultimately it boils down towards our passion to initiate and concur what we call as our aim.

I always love to take challenge but I should equip myself with all sides or yard-sticks (knowledge being one of them however horizon of knowledge is always associated with a disclaimer and we know that : 0 ) whichever I can think and also discuss about them that I am unaware with more experienced folks in the industry  and in that way I am jumping into the boats by knowing some amount of information than just being a casuality.

Age is never a barrier as long as you enjoy and passionate to do what you want to know but determination and hard work what it takes to get to a point where you can say that you have done something in life (in this case disclaimer being you are not bother about varying salary, designition, authority etc. as some people think more about those than actual learning and being complete)

Transitionning from end user to consultant are not easy but its achievable target and you will be sailing nicely as soon as you have learnt the configuration & other tasks associated with the design/built/test/deploy and post go live support as a consultant and to get you there it might take you to work on a couple of implementation projects as a consultant.

Thank you very much and you have a good time ahead.

You can get back to me in case you have any doubt or needs any clarification.

You have good time.

Thanks & Regards

Subhasish