Get to know a bit better not one, not two, no three SAP Mentors who are at the Bangalore TechEd right now and have answered a couple of questions: Dipankar Saha, Somnath Manna and Santosh V all three living and working in India.
Dipankar Saha IBM
Area of Expertise: PI, Composite Applications, CAF, GP, Webdynpro (Java & ABAP), ESOA, MII, ISA95/B2MML, Adaptive Manufacturing
Short Bio:I'm currently working in IBM India as Advisory System Analyst on architecture and development of eSOA solutions & composite applications using CAF, GP, Web Dynpro and SAP MII.
Santosh V SAP
Area of Expertise: ABAP, Visual Composer, Business ByDesign, Web DynPro
Short Bio: I am part of the SAP Labs India family. I was working in the Mobile Sales and Service applications for laptops. Currently working in the Development team of SAP Business ByDesign. I have also worked on ASP and ASP.Net. And you can all me "Santo".
Somnath Manna IBM
Area of Expertise: SCM (APO), PP
Short bio: Somnath Manna has experience in implementation, support, quality assurance projects and pre-sales work in SAP APO. His interests other than SCM domain is photography and traveling.
How did you get your start with SAP?
Dipankar: My relationship with SAP started back in 2003 when I joined SAP Labs India as an employee. Later I had to move to my current company as I need to relocate to my hometown due to family reasons. But still I'm attached to SAP and the community through the SAP Community Network and as part of my job as a SAP Netweaver ESOA Architect.
Santo:I joined SAP Labs India in 2003. That's how my journey started.
Somnath: On a drab morning of November way back in 2001 when I was sent to the Mothership of SAP Waldorf from my then company - Bristlecone Inc.Have you ever been to the Mother Ship of SAP Waldorf? (What was the strangest thing you encountered there?)
Dipankar:Yes, I have been there once in 2005 for an official trip as a SAP employee.
Santo: No L
Somnath: Yes only once between Nov 2001 to end Jan 2002
Strangest? Some kind of rice ball served at Christmas Party that looked like "rasogolla" (traditional Bengali sweet) but tasted completely different (cannot describe).
[Rice Ball? We have rice balls in Germany? Must be after I left 😉 Otherwise you are way to kind regarding all the strangeness in Germany and Walldorf.]
What are you focusing on right now?
Dipankar: I'm currently working on ESOA and Composite Application architecture and development on SAP NetWeaver platform as well as integrating IBM solutions with SAP. I'm also working as a SAP MII solution architect and currently co-authoring a SAP Press book on SAP MII along with Abesh.
Santo: My focus right now is Business ByDesign, and more specifically the CRM part of ByD.
[Hopefully we will see a lot more from you around that theme soon.]
Somnath: SAP SCM has been my focus area to support my work requirement. Otherwise I try to dabble into emerging trends in SAP - still trying to figure out the BPX role.
Best kept SAP secret/tip/trick that will help other SCN Members?
Dipankar:Do not hesitate to share your knowledge and network with the community members. Amazing things happens almost everyday to my life due to my presence in SCN - it can be from getting offer from SAP Press to author a book to getting a call from a completely unknown SCN member from the other part of the world saying "Thank you for your contribution in SCN.
Your article/blog on so and so topic really helped me a lot".
Santo: Never look at the number of points, but always have a look at the number of members who read your post.
Somnath: No secret as such - just use SCN to build your network. I came across people in SCN whom I network with quite regularly now.
What do you spend your time with when not mentoring other SCN folks?
Dipankar: I like reading a lot and read almost any kind of books. Also with my family and my baby girl now are some of the most precious time I like to spend with in my free time.
Santo: Writing for my personal blog. Conducting CRM trainings as internal trainer. Introducing SCN to the new joinees at SAP Labs India. [I hope you misunderstood the question. You do have a life beyond work? The stress was on “not”.]
Somnath: I guess I do not mentor that many SCN folks other than replying to emails sent to my id. At work I do informal mentoring (not officially certified as a Mentor in my company). But apart from my day job (IBM) and evening job (SCN) I try spending the remaining time with my baby Mohana.
How is the economic downturn felt in your corner of the world?
Dipankar: It's having ripple effect here in India as well mostly affecting the equity market.
Santo: Loss of job in some industries. The Sensex behaving quite strangely (I never understood it during normal days anyway)
[Had to look up Sensex. I am relieved that it is safe for work 😉 ]
Somnath: Not in a position to comment - but one thing for sure hiring has reduced, people are jumping less between companies. This is good - time for consultants to do a self-assessment and concentrate on building marketable skill-sets.
How was the election of Barak Obama received?
Dipankar: Election of Obama has been received here in India with lots of enthusiasm and hope that he may able to address some of the long-standing issues of international affairs that India is involved and may bring peace to the world.
Santo: The statement “India needs a Barack Obama” was everywhere and each person had their own definition of what this meant J [Really interesting insight.]
Somnath: No political comments 🙂 but it’s good to see an afro-american becoming US President.
Final comment:
Santo: SAP, SCN, SDN, BPX,…. When will we go beyond 3 characters 😉
If you are at TechEd in Bangalore right now, a good chance to meet them is at the Clubhouse. Say hello from me if you do.
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