Top 10 Myths about SAP Certification

SAP Certification has helped many individuals to achieve their career goals. Many consultants have achieved decent breakthrough in SAP arena or updated their current skill set. SAP Certification is not the ultimate the thing in your career. There is definitely something beyond this. By saying this, I would like to point out some of the myths regarding the SAP Certification. I am in no way disputing the value of SAP Certification and it has its own merits, as I have done 6 different certifications from SAP. These are purely my personal opinion and I would like to invite if there are any contradicting views. There might have been many websites discussed regarding this topic. Any overlapping with my thoughts is just coincidental.

1. SAP is Certification will give definite job guarantee

Many people are with the intention; passing SAP Certification will give them a definite job. SAP Certification has helped many people, particularly in the past, to achieve their goals in their career and cherished their dreams. That does not mean that SAP Certification will give guaranteed job for everybody who has passed. Having said this, people going for SAP Certification, it is recommended to have the domain knowledge in particular functional area.  In the initial booming days of SAP, many people are able to achieve the jobs based on SAP Certification, but those days are gone now. The number of certified consultants got increased day by day in the market and the companies are more matured to look for practical experience rather than just a certification. If the people think that just passing SAP certification will give a guaranteed job, then they may have to rethink.

2. SAP Certification will give you definite & good ROI

There is no standard yardstick that every SAP Certification will give you a good Return on Investment (ROI). SAP Certification might have helped many when they are intending to jump into SAP Consulting Career or a job in SAP market. Nowadays, the skills are getting redundant very quickly; hence, each certification may not give you good amount of ROI. There are many people invested huge amounts into SAP Certification by taking bank loans, but miserably failed to get any returns out of it. Please do not be under the impression, if you go to SAP Training for 5 weeks and pass the Certification you may recoup the investment within a year or so. It may definitely not happen in all the cases. You should be prepared to see the other side of the coin.

3. In order to get a SAP Job – SAP Certification is a must

There are many people in the market who are non certified, earning good amount of money than the Certified Consultants. Therefore, Certification is not a must for you to fetch a job in the market. However, if there are two people shortlisted with the similar skills and experience, probably, in such situations, the Certification will give you an edge. Otherwise, the customers are looking for the people who can effectively deliver the goods without certification. It is not my intention to tell that the certified people are incompetent. You will find number of knowledgeable people in Certified Community. You will also find many people who believe they are extraordinary in their own area of SAP, but failed when it comes to passing SAP Certification. Then they start blaming the SAP Certification itself or the people who have passed the SAP Certification (LOL). 😉

4. With SAP Certification – you will be successful in interview

SAP Certification courses are structured in systematic way, hence, it gives you very good fundamental knowledge regarding the concepts. They would be really helpful in order to pass your SAP Certification, if you go through the curricula in a religious manner. However, this will not give you any guarantee that you are going to be successful in an interview. Reason could be the interviews might have been conducted on different parameters to see your overall skills, but not just your Certification. Certification may keep you in better position to explain the fundamental knowledge gained during the course of Certification, but it may not meet all the expectations of an interview. Even with certification under your belt, you do not even know what type of questions the interviewer is asking for.

5. With SAP Certification – you will deliver the customer commitments

SAP Certification is a good starting point in your journey of career. It would give you good knowledge about the functionality of the system. Particularly, if you are fresher in SAP area, it would take some years to understand complete end to end business processes. By the time, you might have completed few projects. But even you will feel that you are missing the overall view of such complexity in the system. Probably, SAP Certification will give you knowledge in a particular area. Whereas, SAP is tightly integrated system between different modules, so you may not be able to visualise the total picture. With number of projects under your belt over a period of time, you will gain such high level knowledge. If your current role expects to go beyond your certification to deliver the commitments from other modules, you may feel the pain. But, definitely, you need to take this an opportunity to learn new things.

6. SAP Certification will give you “high-paying” jobs

There is a misconception that as soon as you are certified by SAP, you will get “high paying” job immediately. There are number of certified consultants failed to make an entry into SAP area. In my opinion, they are mainly unsuccessful because they have viewed SAP as a 25 days course. It only helped them to put that SAP Certification in their in CV in bold and italic. 😛 Except very few lucky people, many number of certified consultants are really struggled a lot to make an entry into SAP consulting world, including me not an exception to this. If somebody is thinking that SAP Certification will give you an immediate “high paying” SAP job, probably, you are under the misconception.

7. SAP Certification is an ultimate thing in your career

Many people think that doing SAP Certification is ultimate thing in life. When you are on a learning spree, SAP Certification is just a negligible part in your total career. If you have enough financial resource and attitude, you would see yourself with a new SAP Certification every month. At the end of the story, SAP Certification is just a multiple choice question test. If your fundamentals are clear, I do not see any reason in not clearing the SAP Certification. The SAP Certification you have done may become redundant in next couple of years. I have done my first certification in SAP FICO 4.6C in 2003, but if you now a days, no customer is using this system. Unfortunately, some people stop learning new things and pretend themselves as if they are the masters in everything. But, as a professional, you should keep your learning habits on for your entire career. Do not just look for SAP Certification, try to think beyond that.

8. SAP Certification may give you good jobs in your area

I have read this point somewhere in an article. The first thing as an SAP Consultant you should visualise yourself as a “travel freak”. Certification may not always give you the job in your nearby area. If you are in offshore location, probably, you may get job in your preferred location, as every major offshore city is flooded with SAP consulting companies. No client will be intending to pay you money unless you go to onsite and deliver the expectations. There may be a small exception to this for the people who are supporting SAP systems through remote support. But, as an SAP consultant, you should always pack your bags, away from home, eat food whatever you get and sleep wherever you can. 😉 If you think your SAP Certification will get you a good 9 to 5 job in your area, it may not be true always.

9. With SAP Certification you may start doing Contract Jobs

Contracting concept you mostly see in Western countries. This concept is getting familiar in Offshore / Eastern countries too. Contracting jobs are lucrative at the same time they are strenuous when compared to permanent jobs. By saying this, I am in no way demeaning the importance of the Permanent Jobs. Many people think that just by completing SAP Certification, they can land up in Contract jobs. But, the things always will not work in that way. The expectations in Contract Jobs are much higher; therefore, you need to check your calibre to handle the roles. No Certification will help in delivering the results within the deadly time lines.

10. Learn SAP only for Certification and Job

Many people think that learn SAP for Certification and get a job. If you are thinking to learn SAP just for Certification and job only, then I would suggest you may better skip to learn SAP. Learn SAP with passion and this passion should drive your career. I would believe everybody should maintain the passion throughout their careers. It is easy in theory but very difficult in practice. At certain age in your career, it may not be possible to maintain the same amount of passion in your career, due to socio, economic and physical reasons. But, by that time, you would have become a master in your own areas within SAP. Learn SAP with passion, if you are only looking SAP for Certification and Job, probably, SAP is not the right path for you.

Best Regards,

Ravi