Next Stop → The Cloud

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish!”

[Steve Jobs]

I guess most if not all of you have heard that famous quote from Steve Jobs last year. And besides all the controversial opinions on his personality there’s one thing that few doubt about him – that he was passionate! Maybe up to an extreme level, yet he had passion for what he did – and it showed!

I think that was the fascinating side of him as a human being and one that many found inspiring.

Somehow that notion of doing something you love has been resonating well with me all these years. And fortunately I’ve been in this comfortable position for as long as I remember.

I’m not saying I’m dancing to work everyday, but all-in-all I can safely say that the last ten years at SAP has been both interesting and rewarding. But we talked about this last time…

It’s the adventurous side of me that enjoyed evaluating and incubating emerging tech and releasing them to the wild by designing and developing custom applications on top of them. It’s for sure been exciting and challenging – and also addictive to go where few have gone before…

Guess it’s simple to see why I consider it “interesting times for developers” (hat-tip to Vishal Sikka!) and seeing all that cool tech everywhere – it’s a problem of riches for techies all around.

For me, coming from a web-developer and Java background the shiniest new toy has become SAP NetWeaver Neo. Some of you may have heard me speak about it here or there already. As I stated in my announcement post from SAPPHIRENOW last year, the cloud seems to be(come) the catalyst for everything else, as it’s the cloud that makes the data more accessible and lowers the entry barrier for developers to go out and play.

It sounds like simple math indeed: the platform that will be able to attract the most/best developers will be king. PERIOD.

And this is where Neo comes into play… for me it was like love at first sight: a Java-based open platform build on top of open-source frameworks. Just my cup of tea…

So, of course I had to test-drive it … and ever since then I have been sharing my experiences with the world, getting the word out about the platform and its capabilities. Yet, my job as a development architect for SAP Custom Development demanded a much broader view on technology and many other things; so Neo was just one topic among many. So, for the last few weeks I was merely watching from a distance…

And then… just recently I got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the SAP NetWeveaver Neo team as a Cloud Platform Evangelist very soon! Yeah, it’s cloud no #9 😉

But before I leave for the cloud, there’s one thing left to say and that’s: THANK YOU! It’s been ten great years at SAP Custom Development that I wouldn’t want to miss. I’ve had the privilege to work with some of the smartest and most genuine people I’ve ever met. Even found friendship and mentors willing to challenge and guide me. Thanks to all of you – you know who you are! We’ll stay in touch…