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kiran rachamalla

functional consultant and sap HANA

Dec 25, 2016 at 02:43 PM | 100 Views | Last edit Dec 25, 2016 at 04:56 PM 2 rev.

Hai all,

I am currently working as a developer with SAP ABAP. i want to become a functional consultant . and i also in dilemma whether to proceed as an abaper , or Learn SAP Hana or go to the functional side . and one more only knowing ABAP will have life in Future ?.

Please advice your thoughts .

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1 Answer

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    Colleen Hebbert
    Dec 30, 2016 at 03:10 AM

    Hi Kiran

    It sounds more like you don't know exactly what your next steps should be? What are you trying to get from your SAP career? Do you enjoy and believe you have skills in being a developer? How much experience do you have?

    Diversifying is always a great thing but there are benefits in choosing a primary skills area and developing complimentary skills elsewhere. For example, learning HCM so you can be better at ABAP development in HCM area. The module you diversify into might come down to where you work for and what they use the most.

    Regards

    Colleen

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    • Colleen Hebbert kiran rachamalla
      Jan 02, 2017 at 08:33 AM

      HI Kiran

      My point was pretty clear but your answer does provide more insight. It sounds like you are looking to move to a functional module as you aren't sure of the future of ABAP and are trying to stay current.

      I think your need to read up again S4HANA and HANA in general. It is based on ABAP stack so there is still future in ABAP. However, if you have been keeping up to date with development then you will see that Fiori is the roadmap for S4HANA which means that SAPUI5/UI5/HTML5 is the development language for the user interface. However, the ABAP stack still exists where the core transacting/business logic

      I'm not a development but from my understanding the ABAP skill is still required but more relating to API and integration for front end to call. As well as that there is a big push/encouragement for OO style programming

      Some blogs/books that might be of interest to you are:

      https://blogs.sap.com/2012/10/24/a-call-to-arms-for-abap-developers/

      https://blogs.sap.com/2013/05/22/what-sapui5-and-fiori-tells-us-about-the-future-of-ui-development-for-abapers/

      https://www.sap-press.com/abap-to-the-future_3680/author/

      http://events.sap.com/teched/en/session/3349

      In relation to moving to SD you might be at risk of reseting your 3 years experience back to 1 depending on where you work. At the same time, diversify and learning SD with your ABAP skill could be quite useful for medium and small size projects as you can wear multiple hats.

      However, if you enjoy being a developer and still worry that ABAP has no future then consider developing SAPUI5 skills for Fiori app development. You can have a look at free introductory courses on open.sap.com

      Another thing to consider - customers will take time to migrate to HANA platform and more importantly S4HANA. 2025 is the year mentioned for when ERP is no longer supported. These customers will require ABAP skills.

      Regards

      Colleen