What if I was not an SAP Consultant.

[former_member184495]

Hello Friends around the world.

Just to brief you about myself;

11 yrs of SAP experience in consulting core skill being SAP Workflow.

I used to wonder what I would have been, if not an SAP Consultant.

Still do not have an answer, looking for one and would try if I can pursue that.

What is yours? Would be delighted to know, also who knows I might get a hint from your answers.

Enjoy blogging.

Best Run Business, Run SAP.

As

Best Known People, are SAPients

[keohanster · Accepted solution]

Buy a small farm and raise goats.  They will eat anything (unlike fussy kids, but surprisingly like teenage boys), they can look very silly but do not fog up the environment with Ax body spray, they give milk (so I could make CHEESE) and their droppings are fertilizer.

They'd entertain me and my dog.

They don't give you faulty specifications, they don't complain when the system does what it is supposed to do.  They don't give a darn about powerpoint presentations.  Goats are rarely on conference calls.  And goats and dogs seem like they would get along better than programmers and business analysts.

Punkt.

[Steffi_Warnecke · Accepted solution]

Susan Keohan wrote:

[...]Goats are rarely on conference calls. [...]

[former_member186746 · Accepted solution]

I like goats.

When you see them eating a plastic bag they give you that defiant look saying something like "Yeah I know I am eating a plastic bag and it doesn't have nutritional values but I don't care because I am a goat!"

At this moment in my career I have acquired so many skills that if SAP were to magically disappear I wouldn't have many troubles finding a nice exciting job.

However, if I hadn't fallen into this SAP adventure then there is a good chance that I would be a sous chef at a good restaurant with maybe one day a bib gourmand rating. I wouldn't be head chef because I don't like to work 100 hours a week for the entirety of your career.

Cheers, Rob.

[keohanster · Accepted solution]

Now that I re-think the original question, it may have taken me 20 years working with SAP in order to appreciate the simplicity of goats.

#RunGoatier

[mdsaidur_rahman]

I would be a planner!!

[former_member184495]

What planner Md.?

[mdsaidur_rahman]

production planner and inventory controller..

[former_member184158]

I think I would be a teacher

[AlfredoMurguía]

I think I would be a Data Scientist or Data Analyst.

I have a BS in Physics I dont know how I end up 8 years experience in SAP Security

[BenedictV]

My thoughts exactly..

I have a Bsc in Physics and ended up a BW consultant....although I don't know what I would have been or done if I had stayed in the science field.

[Former Member]

As a student I paid most of my bills from my activity in equestrian spirts: giving lessons, training horses, some prize money. The rest of the bills were covered by writing and teaching (maths, physics, and -would you believe it? - English). Any of the three would have been an option.

But I looked around and was sure keeping horse riding as a hobby would keep it more fun (alas, not a hobby you find time for as a consultant..., hence my current weight).

As a writer, I would probably have starved.

I almost switched to teaching at UNI, but my 2 subjects (IT and business) where not recognised as full subjects at the time and they asked me to put 2 more on top. And where did that take me?

To the SCN. Some bad writing, some attempts at teaching, but very few horses...

[Former Member]

A Hot Bartender in my own Pub !

[former_member184495]

which means you would never serve BEER

[Former Member]

"If not SAP Consultant" In my case I would try to work in field of Computer (either a Network/ System admin) and probably would try to be a hacker ("love the word").

If I wouldn't be successfull then I think I would be doing a business of a Gas Station, Subway(sandwich maker) or God knows better than me..

But thanks to guys who made SAP where the world / Ocean of SAP doesn't stop...

[Jelena]

The real hackers are actually nothing but common criminals, but these days people declare themselves "life hackers" left and right, so you could easily have the title without risking jail time.

[BenedictV]

I have similar thought when I see pirate cartoons and books that my son reads at kindergarten, how did criminals suddenly become child friendly companions.

[stephenjohannes]

Yeah the word "hacker" has definitely changed it's meaning over time.  The older definition was that a "hack" was a novel/clever approach to solving a problem on a computer system with code/etc.  Technically you could "hack" code and not being doing anything more than coming up with clever solutions or the digital equivalent of using duct type.  Best example I have is: "I hacked this together and ended up with ....". 

That being said, the term evolved to something more different due to the mainstream not really understanding initial use. Honestly a "hacker" is nothing more than digital equivalent of either a lock-pick or locksmith, IMHO. 

[vishal_belagavi]

A business man 🙂

[Colleen]

if you are male and a SAP consultant aren't you technically already a business man? What type of business?

[Former Member]

I would be a programmer, anyway. I love almost everything related to developing software

[Former Member]

will continue with SAP for some more years and then start my own venture......

[former_member182421]

<reflexive mode=on>Probably something related to arts, maybe actor but as I have the incredible hability to convert any drama or intense scene to comedy, due my natural weirdness I don't see the actor thing happens, so probably, comedian, but wait, the market is quite full of comedians (not only actors, we have politics, support people, etc.) no space for me either. hmmmm well I play the guitar so maybe musician, but I'm not a pretty boy or my life wasn't so nasty to end up as a post-melancholic compositor. Probably starbucks </reflexive>.

Cheers!

Luis

[Jelena]

You guys should be rating and liking this discussion, by the way. Sure made me feel like it was Friday today! Thanks, OP! Rating well deserved.

[Matt_Fraser]

Point taken! (and given...)

[stephenjohannes]

In my case I would have ended up studying meteorology and ended up as a tv weather personality.  At this point I would be in mid-size market (probably 50 to 100 DMA ranking), as an evening news forecaster .

Take care,

Stephen

[former_member182378]

If I was not a SAP analyst, I would have been a typist.

A typist is told what to type, so he/she can shut off the brain and just take input (through eyes or ears) and let his/her fingers dance on the keyboard. I like that...switch of the brain and keep going.

Don't get me wrong, (currently) I am a typewriter, even if I am an analyst.

TW

[Matt_Fraser]

I always thought I really should have been an oceanographer, or some other kind of marine scientist. They spend a lot of time on boats, their offices are -- or should be -- on the coast, they are explorers and perhaps even adventurers of a kind, and who knows, it just might lead to taking a trip in a submersible to the ocean floor, which would be a lot like going into space in many ways. Not to mention, the marine science division of the University of Washington is in Friday Harbor, in the San Juan Islands -- what an awesome place to go to college!

[Steffi_Warnecke]

Really? You need more adventures in your biography?

I'm not a SAP consultant, so the question doesn't really fit me. Buuut if I were not a SAP system administrator, I would probably still be a network/system admin doing support, training etc. So what I did for 9 years before this.

I really don't won't to do something entirely different from IT. All the other stuff is fine as a hobby, but as a job I'm quite happy were I am and that I've taken this route when I was 18. Can't really see me doing something else.

[Jelena]

Steffi, I'm not a consultant either, but I suspect OP meant all the SAP professionals. (And even if not - it's CC, so anyone who feels like it will chime in anyway. )

I like that...switch of the brain and keep going.

@TW, hm, I'm pretty sure that's how half of SCN members operate actually. "Dear gurus, provide step by step instructions urgently. My brain is off but I'm still going". Join SCN, we have zombies!

[stephenjohannes]

Jelena Perfiljeva wrote:
...
Join SCN, we have zombies! 

I believe the correct term is sZombie. However I don't believe there is much technical difference .

Take care,

Stephen

[Steffi_Warnecke]

For me it's the other way around: If my brain needs a pause from thinking I come to SCN and do some "Alert Moderator" link clicking.

@Susan: Jean Paul Goatier, the designer?

[keohanster]

@steffi are we hijacking this perfectly good conversation for goat puns?  If so, let's make sure to alert - he'd really be cheesed off if we left him out.

[Matt_Fraser]

I'm not a consultant either, but I made the same assumption.

sZombies, FTW!

[Matt_Fraser]

One can never have too many adventures. And, for one reason or another, I've been rather adventureless recently, so I could use something to shake things up a bit.

Adventure (n.): Something nasty happening to someone else far away, read about in a good book from the comfort of one's easy chair, with wine or tea close to hand.

[former_member182378]

Jelena,

"Half of SCN folks...brain is off but still going"

Can't blame anyone, SCN is pro bono and switching off the human CPU does not risk a dip in one's reputation with the client...so it is a ping-pong of information garbage. Give me garbage (repeat or basic question) and i will give you garbage in turn (link farm, copy paste).

In real world too...one of the strategies is to confuse the client with extra and unnecessary questions, technical jargon and unrealistic timeline projections, portraying that what we do is verrrrrry difficult

Maybe on Fridays, me the SAP analyst can switch of my brain and go on...surely for the second half of Friday..comeooon....give me atleast that much....even though I am a "consultant" busy consulting...him, (turning around) and then consulting her!

TW

[former_member184495]

Pirates? good

[Jelena]

Was going to answer I would work at Panera Bread, but Colleen's post totally made me want to reconsider some career choices.

[Former Member]

Aditya,

What a fun question! I already am two other things besides an SAP security and GRC analyst, so when I am ready to retire from SAP work, I expect to do more of them.

I am a singer, a soprano to be exact. My husband and I both sing on staff at the church he grew up attending. We are also owners of an entertainment business, Dickens Quartet, singing at private parties and corporate events, anywhere our agents book us, during the holidays season. There is a music sample on our web site, DickensQuartet.com

I also volunteer at the City of Houston's animal shelter, BARC. I am there pretty much every weekend, grooming dogs that are matted and scruffy, and also spending some time with some shy and scared ones, all to get them ready to look and be their best when the doors open to the customers. I look forward to spending more time doing that and also getting involved in animal transport.

Thanks for starting this thread!

Gretchen

[BenedictV]

Wow Gretchen! I listened to the sample audio in your website and am blown away. I am sure I  smelled the Christmas cake in the oven when I close my eyes

Benedict

[Matt_Fraser]

And we didn't get to hear you sing at SAPPHIRE!

[former_member184495]

thats wonderful Gretchen, interesting too.

[Colleen]

working in a small shop stocking the grocery shelves, fridges and freezes. Quite nice simple job that got me through school and university.

I was quite fit and relatively skinny from moving around all the time and lifting coca-cola boxes of 8x2L bottles above my head. Dismantling boxes by punching them was great stress relief. Hit the lolly isle for a sugar high

I had a great time playing cricket in the back of the fridge with cut out bats from the boxes and ping pong balls (scared the customers a few times when one of us called 4 or 6)

My shift never went more than 9 hours and there was nothing I could do once I left the shop - so no after hours phone calls.

Got a diverse bunch of people to chat to so never bored. Great colleagues with tag-team breakfast system (a case of I've functioning on 3 hours sleep after a night out at a club and drinking so I need a meat pie and be left alone before I play human this morning)

Oh wait we're the question is what would you do instead of SAP. Not what did you do before? Yeah, I got nothing. Still have to figure out what I do at the end of the year when I stop work for bit!

[former_member184495]

may be a cricketer Lee?

[Colleen]

My best effort at cricket was playing French cricket as a kid. Garbage bins were the stumps. Tennis balls instead of cricket balls (no nasty raspberry on legs when you stuff up the bat swing). Hit a car it's a 4 and out. Break a window is a 6 and run.

[Lukas_Weigelt]

This:

[former_member184495]

good one

[Former Member]

Definitely a farmer. Actually that is still my plan A - I just got side tracked a bit for a while now.

Cheers,

Julius