In this blog post I will reflect on my personal SAP TechEd 2021 experience and summarize my three key learnings along the way.
SAP TechEd 2021 was again a 48 hour virtual event that was all about SAP's newest solutions and tools and how businesses and developers could benefit from them. Channel 1 was broadcasted non-stop for the whole 48 hours and was the stage for the Executive Keynote, the Developer Keynote as well as some of the technical discussions. All in all, over 200 sessions could be joined live. A lot of them are still
available on demand.
Low-Code and No-Code
One of the biggest topics in the
Executive Keynote by Jürgen Müller was
low-code and no-code tools. This industry trend has been going on for a few years now and is on top of everyone's agenda. At first, I was quite skeptical about it, being someone who loves code. But the keynote made me realize that low-code and no-code tools don't aim to replace the skillset of a pro developer, but rather extend the range of possible solutions and create opportunity for collaboration between those who love code and those who don't. There is a massive shortage of individuals who are able to build technical solutions. And tools like SAP AppGyver and the low-code aspect of the SAP Business Application Studio enable more individuals to be in that position. This can only be good thing. No one is taking anyone's job. The tech industry just has a lot of jobs to fill.
By the way, I am not a big fan of the term “citizen developers”. Mainly because I believe that there are so many topics/ languages/ tools and frameworks that each of us is not even aware of, which makes us all citizen developers in some areas. I think everyone who is on their live long journey of learning how to develop technical solutions should just be called “developer”.
Learning 1: There is no way around low-code and no-code. And that is a good thing.
SAP BTP Free Tier
Another major topic of this year's TechEd was the new BTP Free Tier. I already tried it out myself and must say I am convinced. With the new BTP Free Tier you get a full-blown BTP global account for free. This is different from the BTP Trial accounts we had before because those didn't have all the services that where available on productive accounts and couldn't be transformed into a fully productive account either. With the new BTP Free Tier you get access to all available services. I was convinced the moment I checked which services are for free in the
Discovery Center. It's a lot. This means you can now start developing with your BTP Free Tier account and decide later whether you want to keep using free services or whether you want to go fully productive with your solution, without having to migrate anything.
Learning 2: The new BTP Free Tier plan is better than the old BTP Trial.
SAP TechEd is for Developers
The third topic is more of a personal wish than a topic that was covered during TechEd. It was inspired by the amazing
Developer Keynote that the Developer Advocates pulled off. It was not only the keynote itself but also the discussion that followed the keynote. The show was moderated and hosted by developers, and I loved the technical deep dives. The questions and answers were detailed and very honest. That's what the event is for. I would love to see extended versions of the demos that the Developer Advocates showed during their keynote, maybe even in a separate session each. In general, I would love to see even more hands-on sessions during the event. TechEd should be the one big event where we focus on code (or no-code
😉), testing, debugging and everything else that comes with being a developer.
Learning 3: SAP TechEd is for Developers.
And with that I wrap-up my SAP TechEd 2021 experience.
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.
