Martin Voros – SCN Member of the Month April 2014

Martin Voros is a consultant with expertise in ABAP and Security, and I think that, like our two previous Members of the Month, he’s younger than me. But I didn’t ask, I know better 😉 I am recognizing him this month for his contributions in the Security discussion forums and his polite way of interacting with fellow SCN members. I was also told that he also helps SAP improve its software by contributing to SAP Notes, so he’s precious!

Ahoj* Martin! Can you tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, who you work for, and other things you would like to share with the community (hobbies, fun facts)?

I was born in Bratislava, Slovakia. Voros is not the exact spelling of my name, and it’s not even a Slovakian name, it’s Hungarian. I moved to Australia early 2008 for work and since then have not cared how people write or pronounce my name. Even back in Slovakia people didn’t get the pronunciation right. I’ve been in Sydney for 6 years now. I work as a technical consultant for Ciber Australia. Before that, I worked at HCL Axion. I got there via multiple acquisitions: My first employer in Australia was Consulting Principles, they got acquired by Axon who then got acquired by HCL.

I studied computing science in my home country and have been working with SAP since the beginning. In my third or fourth year in university I received an offer from a company who was hiring people with no prior SAP experience. I joined their team, attended a 2-day SAP bootcamp and then started learning on the job! My main areas of expertise are ABAP and security. On SCN I’m mainly active in the Security space. In the ABAP space there’s too much going on and sometimes too much noise 😉

* “Hello” in Slovakian. Pronounced [ah-hoy]

When did you become a member of SCN and what brought you to this community?

I think I joined during my first week on the job. I was new in the SAP area and had a lot of questions, but I couldn’t always ask the experienced guys in the office! So I used Google, ended up on SCN and joined the community – it was SDN back then. I never asked questions at the time, never had to since you can find most of the answers on Google. And actually I wonder why people ask the same questions again and again in the forums, because they would get a much faster answer if they used Google!

Note from Laure: Exactly! That last sentence should be framed on all SCN pages 😉

How do you find the time to contribute on SCN?

I like to spend time on SCN when there is a downtime at work. It’s good to proactively read what’s going on in your field of interest, and of course help whenever you can. Sometimes I read something and then one or two weeks later I get the same issue and know what to do. It’s very easy to learn step by step.

You don’t have many badges on SCN – no offense! Is it because you’re not particularly interested in the gamification side of SCN?

I don’t think black and white about the point and badge system, I have nothing against it but it doesn’t motivate me to contribute either. I’m not particularly motivated to complete missions on SCN. I don’t write blogs very often, but when I do it it’s because I feel like sharing something specific. Some kind of point system is important though to motivate people in general and also from a reputation perspective. In my opinion, people’s status in the community is key information to decide if you should trust someone’s content.

I wish though that we could have a better forum system, e.g. the functionality I’m missing most is the ability to see answers pop up as you start writing a question you want to post. Before you post it you realize you can already get what you need. Also, in the ABAP space there’s a lot of noise, so some kind of mechanism to filter through the noise would be necessary, and the good content should be promoted.

If a new member came to you and asked for your advice on how to be an active and respected member of SCN, what would you say?

Contributing is definitely a good investment of your free time. It pays back because you learn so much on the way. Writing something helps you organize your thoughts and structure your knowledge. It’s not an easy task, but you don’t even need to publish your content to reap the benefits of the exercise.

Any particular blog post of yours that you like?
Yes, Useless Comments is my favorite blog post because it was easy to write, I had the thoughts in my mind for a long time. And the title is funny – it’s a allusion to the fact that in Australia we don’t bake cookies, we bake biscuits 🙂

And by the way, once or twice a month I get emails from people who read my blogs and want to ask follow-up questions. They saw my email address in my profile and just reach out, and I’m happy to help them. So fill out the email address field in your profile and make it visible to everyone! Sometimes I even get an offer to do some development work!

Is there an SCN member you admire (OK… you can name a few)? And for what reason?

Julius von dem Bussche is a very good moderator of the Security area, he keeps it very clean.

There’s other people that I appreciate but I don’t want to miss anyone…   But since you are asking I will give you two more names: Alex Ayers and Frank Buchholz.

Easy question: Mac/iOS or Windows? Or Android?

I don’t care. I have a Windows laptop and Android phone. No strong feeling to any brand.

Are you on Twitter?

Nope. I’m not much into social networks.