<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book on career management for SAP guys
Review: A must have for those just starting and recommended for all. Bit outdated with references and tech stuff but career planning advice and practical considerations are, well, priceless.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth to be read several times
Review: For a European SAP consultant like me the book is very helpful. You receive a Northern American view on the issue, which is different from the Central European view in some aspects (especially what you can earn in the US).For me personally the following aspects are of special interest: 1. What makes the successful consultant? 2. How much can you earn? 3. What are the interesting modules a consultant should know (it's nice to get to know that CO is a sexy stuff). 4. Does job hopping make sense? 5. What are arguments for a job change? The reader gets to know the authors' view on these topics, and this is helpful to plan or to manage a career.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet book
Review: Love the attitude that comes across - SAP is good money and fun to boot. Excellent material from both a career-planning and across-the-desk-from-you HR perspective. I think all SAP folks should have a copy, plus wannabes. I suggest you check out George Anderson's book SAP Best Practices in Implementation too, as it is a bit more up to date technology-wise and covers staffing quite well, in a similarly realistic manner. Some of the older SAP implementation books aren't too bad either, though the slant is usually exclusively consultant-focused rather than presenting both sides. I picked up my copy used, great bargain. Get one for the whole SAP team, internal IT and consultatnts alike.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet book
Review: Love the attitude that comes across - SAP is good money and fun to boot. Excellent material from both a career-planning and across-the-desk-from-you HR perspective. I think all SAP folks should have a copy, plus wannabes. I suggest you check out George Anderson's book SAP Best Practices in Implementation too, as it is a bit more up to date technology-wise and covers staffing quite well, in a similarly realistic manner. Some of the older SAP implementation books aren't too bad either, though the slant is usually exclusively consultant-focused rather than presenting both sides. I picked up my copy used, great bargain. Get one for the whole SAP team, internal IT and consultatnts alike.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good book; worth the money.
Review: Read the whole book in less than a day. This review is from the perspective of a present SAP consultant (two years). The first half of the book is not very useful for the SAP consultant. It deals more with trying to break into the SAP field. The second half of the book though, is much better. It deals with consulting issues and has good tips that can be put to use. It definately taught me a thing or two about the market that I didn't know about. Some subjects need more details, such as the one on taxes for the independent consultant. The bottome line is: I will re-read it and take some notes.
Rating:
Summary: A good reference book for SAP Consulting career
Review: This book is meant for those, who are research eyed and plan well before whatever they do. I have come across many a times, people asking me questions what it makes to be successful in SAP career and whether it is time for them to join the band wagon of SAP Consultants (based on the demand-supply position). I regret that I was delivering lectures at that time, instead of asking them to refer to this book. This book contains quite a few good points that are essential to be successful in SAP career.
Positive point: This is the only book available on SAP Career guidance.
Negative points: (1) this book was written in March 1999 and not updated thereafter. (2) The data are all old; most of them are dated 1997 & 1998. (3) Forecasts about SAP market growth and job opportunities in the new millennium are missing.
With new dimensions of SAP emerging such as BW, APO, CRM, etc and availability of many Industry Specific (IS) Solutions and the actual BIG market (money spinner for SAP Consultants) for SAP has dried up, the SAP Consulting career guidance book certainly needs an update.
Thanks for reading
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the art of SAP consulting
Review: This book offers the most honest assessment of SAP employment opportunities I've seen anywhere. Don't expect the standard "Take a SAP course and write your own ticket to paradise" approach. The authors are true SAP professionals, a senior consultant in SAP and a director of SAP recruitment. The main focus of the book is to help current and aspiring SAP professionals succeed through making the right decisions about their employment future. Be prepared for a shock! Success, according to the authors, isn't measured solely by how many dollars you make an hour. Such minor factors as getting to see your growing family more than one weekend per shoe size, not burning your bridges, keeping your skills current, and even job satisfaction are also stressed. This book could almost have been titled "Zen and the art of SAP Consulting" for it's big picture approach to a career in SAP consulting.
Rating:
Summary: Real Advice For Real Consultants
Review: This book shoots straight. Don't read this book if you are gold digging. Do read it if you want to know what is going on or what is about to happen in the next few years in SAP. The book takes you on a virtual journey in preparation for the real journey through SAP consulting. The purpose is; "We wrote this book because we believe that there are many people who can make a real contribution to the SAP field . . ." (p65). And they let the cat out of the bag on page 30; "The best way to get into SAP is still to be in the right place at the right time . . . the next best way is to . . ." (read the book for yourself). The real secret to becoming an SAP consultant is on pages 72-73. There is a recurring theme of knowledge transfer and training throughout the book: "A professional with clear-eyed business knowledge . . . a knack for teaching . . . and empathy." (p21) " . . . but the most successful pay attention to the 'soft' communication skills involved in project management, training, team-building and knowledge transfer." (p37) "The key phrase now is 'knowledge transfer'" (p 56) "The Queen's English" (p69) ". . . the ability to express what you know . . ." (p69) ". . . think communication skills PLUS." (p76) "References count more for SAP candidates than in most other sectors of business." (p85) "You may find it necessary to educate the client . . ." (p92) "Those who have done and can teach SAP should be paid as much or more than when they are doing, but will not be." (p114) ". . . a transfer of knowledge is the greatest service a consultant can provide." (p135) ". . . consultants who are not certified are finding themselves at a disadvantage." (p145) "You may lag longer than you wish on a given assignment, but there could be gold waiting down the line for you if you take advantage of that lag time to . . . learn." (p159) "We do believe that strong communication skills and a solid business understanding are necessary for all who succeed in this business" (p192) "Continuous career improvement?" (p229, these are the final words of the last chapter). Welcome to Germany. I trained some German SAP guys in London many years ago as R/3 was just coming out. Not in R/3 but in project management and software consulting skills. A word of caution. Go big. At least initially. The Germans have a love of scale and scope that is reflected in their industries. Their finances. Their software paradigms. Your doing skills are a function of your being skills. In other words, what SAP can do is a function of what the Germans are. Engineers. And so, when it comes to reengineering, you can't go past SAP. Actually, Enterprise Resource Planning. Which is a subset of Enterprise Project Management. In other words, by the time you restructure the organisation to function on a project-by-project basis, something that is extremely difficult in a large organisation, but very profitable for a multibillion dollar company, you will have sorted out the enterprise resource planning. This is why SAP stresses the concomitant reengineering that is integral to any SAP implementation. This explains the SAP storm. Directors finally saw a business return, both savings and higher profits, from their IT systems and they went for it. The benefit for the Board was that they regained the agenda from the techies. By rolling in SAP into their IT systems, directors were rolling out the techie agenda from the board. They finally found a way to connect business sense to IT spend. The authors stress the importance of Implementation experience throughout the book. And implementation experience is about Delivery, which is a function of who you are. Or as the authors put it; "Who are you?" (p17). This partly explains why it is so hard to become an SAP consultant. You have to be the 'right person' in the right place at the right time. My criticisms are thus: The font is too small. In conclusion, this is a book for the Pro by the Masters in the field. Even the contributors are among the best in the business. If you think it's easy giving career advice, try it sometime. The authors are to be congratulated for their honesty. This book gets a gold medal.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book on carreer management for IT people =)
Review: This is an excellent book for people of IT profession. It discusses in depth different options and the pros and cons of each option. Although the book was written specifically for SAP professionals who can get the most out of the book, the concepts in the book are almost readily applicable to other IT fields. This is one of the very few IT carreer books that provide practical advices in an easy-to-read style.
Rating:
Summary: trying to break into sap? read this book!!
Review: trying to break into sap? read this book!! It has a whole
chaoter just on that. really great book. very practical
and knowledgable advices.
<< 1 >>
| 
