
Ask HN: What do you think about SAP? - Ksabs
Hey, I am a German (m 18) who has just started studying Computer Science in a dual partnership with SAP (&quot;Duales Studium Angewandte Informatik&quot;).<p>1) I hear a lot of talk about tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple etc. but never about SAP. What do you think about SAP? (things like image, culture, ethics, future, opportunities)<p>2) I am interested in FP, lisps, cloud, web dev, algorithms, AI, hardware (basically anything that has to do with computers). Do you think that SAP provides an environment in which I can explore these things and foster my skills (especially post bachelor)?<p>3) Do you think that SAP is a good employer (in comparison to other tech players)? Why?<p>4) What do you think about business culture (in b2b companies)? Do you have any personal experiences you want to share?<p>5) Also, is my English ok? Is it obvious that I&#x27;m German?<p>I appreciate every comment that is helpful and constructive. I am just some dude who is getting started at adulthood and working, with no real perspective on things; feedback from a community I value (which shares similar interests, demographics, world views etc.) would be great.<p>I am just afraid that I might get myself into a boring business related field I will regret.<p>Sorry for the rant. Throw-away account for obvious reasons.
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shan-m
I have been a SAP consultant for the last 25 years - mostly doing ERP. Here
are my answers -

1) Considering it is the largest European software company with sales similar
to facebook, I am constantly surprised how little people know about SAP - even
among IT professionals. Their image is staid and corporate as could be
expected from a company whose customers tend to be large organisations.
However there are many opportunities for SAP consultants - I have seldom
struggled to find work. Due to the complexity of their products, I am still
learning new skills everyday.

2) They have tried to follow the trends by adding FP features to ABAP, WebIDE
for Fiori and SAPUI5, Leonardo for machine learning, etc but it never really
seems to catch on. I think this is because there is no compelling use case in
an traditional ERP environment. The most revolutionary change was the
migration to HANA in memory database but even this is transparent to the
average ERP user. If your heart is set on these areas, I would not recommend
SAP.

3) I have not personally worked for SAP but I imagine they are like any other
huge multi-national. I went to the Waldorf HQ last year and clearly they
employ many smart highly skilled people but it lacks the "we are changing the
world" vibe which I could imagine in many younger new technology based
companies.

4) Business culture is much slower to change than individual culture. Business
skills don't become obsolete so quickly. Social networking may out of fashion
5 years from now but boring old double-entry accounting is still going strong
after 500 years.

5) It's good enough. I have worked France and Holland despite issues with my
French and Dutch. I notice younger colleagues prefer to communicate more with
IM and email which makes English listening and speaking skills less critical
for tech workers.

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zunzun
I can answer on #5, your written English is excellent. I am an American who
has worked as an engineer in many countries, and am a bit curious as to why
this is true. When I worked in Japan, the education system there required
years of reading and writing English and I never had any technical
difficulties at all with the written English of my Japanese co-workers. I
found this to be generally true in most of my engineering work around the
world.

