The SAP Job

Many students ask me this question from 1990s until today.

"Is it the right time to take-up an SAP Job ? " or
"When is the right time to be an SAP Consultant ? "

I don't give an answer but ask them these questions,

"Can or will you go back to school to become a Doctor or Lawyer ?"

"Do you think you can get a job as a CEO soon ?"

"Do you have a lot of money now and wish to take a risk to go into business ?"

"If you have a lot of money and want to to make more, would you quit your day job and invest in the share markets or binary options or similar such things to make a living ?"

"Some Insurance people and Direct selling people make a lot of money, you think you want to do that kind of work ?"
"And If you don't have money now, do you want to make a lot of money ?"

Certainly not every job in the real world is right for everyone!

Most people or I think ALL people, work because of MONEY. And If you so think that MONEY is not important, go live in the jungle, quit your day job now and do a simple job of let say $1200 MYR a month OR go live in the jungle to be ONE-with-NATURE and live happily ever after. If you still live in the city with $1-2K MYR per month then you will have to Walk, don't buy a car, live in a very low cost apartment, no mobile phone for you as the phone bill will kill you. 

Wanting more MONEY is the only thing that keeps you alive and keeps you going everyday, usually the more the merrier ! 

Next, lets do something interesting Googling ! 

Just do a Web Search of the 10 Top paid jobs in the World List, I did that just now again this time using Google Search

#1 Anesthesiologists
#2 Internists
#3 Obstetricians and Gynecologists
#4 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
#5 Orthodontists
#6 Physicians and Surgeons
#7 Surgeons
#8 CEO of a Big Company
#9 Family and General Practitioners
#10 Psychiatrists

They all make a minimum of $150,000 USD or $660,000 MYR per year. (that's minimum or maybe average, I think)

9 of the Top #10 are Medical Fields except the CEO. 

I cannot start to imagine the amount of pressure and responsibilities of a successful doctor or CEO who are making those kind of money!

BUT, to be a Doctor, Lawyer, CEO, even an Accountant or Engineer requires Professional Qualifications. In SAP, you can have a Social Science degree, or just a Wood Working Diploma and you can become an SAP Consultant. Seriously, I know many who only have an O-level and they are senior consulants. I know a Malay friend who had a form 5 certificate but worked in a factory as a store supervisor and had a chance to be involved in an SAP MM WM project. Few years later, he went to the middle east and made $250, 000 USD in 6 months (Tax Free). He came back and bought a house for his wife. then he went back to the middle east to make more money, that was 15 years ago! Last I heard, he never did stop working in the middle east and commutes 3-4 times a year back to KL. No need to discuss about family life and all that, leave that out of this discussion, last heard he is still happily married anyway. We are only talking about MONEY! And most of the time, MONEY can buy LOVE! A Sarawakian I know now in his 60's has been doing SAP since the early 90s (like me), he became a freelancer around 1995. He always say to me his wife and family are the happiest people in the world despite he only goes back to his multi-million dollar home in the most luxurious district in Singapore maybe 1-2 times a year. So, don't be naive, MONEY really can buy everything, including happiness. So, the FACTS; if you can't be a Doctor nor Lawyer, and CEO is a far fetch thing, and you have little or no money, even if you have some but does not like to risk your money in business, but still think you want a lot of money, then try your luck in the SAP world especially if you are still Single. 

For goodness sake, don't work in the SAP Partner company for that $4,000 to $6000 MYR per month for more than 3 years, they are just using you and working you like a donkey. By 3 years of hard work and taking all the "beating" in the field, you should have gain enough "Kung Fu" and leave the Shaolin Temple! If you are still thinking your productivity as a permanent staff will result in annual bonuses and increment, DREAM on! The company will always announce that the previous years business was not that good and lets work harder for a stronger year and we promise a brighter future for you, while the bosses change their BMWs every year! If you are the boss, you will likely do the same, it's just the business strategy 101! Same old stories in every SAP Partner consulting company, they are just using you for their own big fat pocket and maybe they deserve it as the company are taking all the risk! Don't get me wrong, there are no free lunch in this world. You chose to work and get paid, you yourself decide to stick around or leave, it is just a business relationship between two parties. As I always say, if you go to work everyday and curse every moment of it, it is probably sensible to leave, else it is not good for your health and your mind! 

On a serious note. 

What does an SAP Consultant make in a year ?

The Annual Salary in USA is from $55,000 to $165,000 USD per year. And I know many SAP Consultants don't even have a Degree and are making that kind of money, Tax Free in the middle east! In Europe, the last offer I know was 800 Euro an Hour for a Senior SAP Consultant. Even after tax and expenses deduction, lets say you get 300 Euro. 

Some maths here:

300 Euro x 8 hours x 20 days x 12 months = 576,000 Euro ! 

OMG, almost 3,000,000 MYR per year !!!

OK, OK! lets say you only get Net 50 Euro per hour lor !
50 Euro x 8 hours x 20 days x 12 months = 96,000 Euro !
and that is still maybe like 500,000 MYR per year wor !!!

I rest my case !

You can make a lot of money as an SAP Consultant if you want to and I really mean a lot of MONEY. Whether a Project fail and successful, you will get the money and move on to another Project. That's how freelancers make the money. Nowadays, the model is that the so called senior Consultants who are freelancers just cook up Blue Prints and walk off to another Blue Print cooking another project. There are no responsibility and accountability required, and the beauty is that neither it can be monitored or measured that easily.

Some Blue Prints I read last year are really so child dish written by so called Senior experienced SAP Consultants, believe it or not, the customer sign them and the execution of the Blue Print are done by very "blur" Junior Consultants who are guessing what was written in the Blue Print ! And when I try to call the Consultants who wrote the Blue Print, all I get is excuses! Wow ! It is not a Revelation, It is a really again and again a reality I see throughout my SAP career for over 25 years. As I can see again and again, there are ABSOLUTELY ZERO Accountability in people to write Blue Prints, and the very FUNNY thing is that most IGNORANT customer Signs the Blue Print ! And the Partner company will put in Junior Consultants to execute the Blue Prints, I mean I salute both the owners of these SAP Partner companies and those poor "permanent staff" Junior Consultants who are so Gung Ho enough to take up the Challenges. Do 1 or 2 cycles of these projects, These Juniors will be able to do Blue Prints.

SAP Consulting is EASY. The difficult part is when the Project Go Life and problem will surface one by one, and usually the Support Consultants (usually permanent staff) will have to bear the "Brunt" of Go-Life support.

In doing an SAP Project, you don't tell a lie but you don't have to be truthful as well. You only need to have some people skill and talk your way in or out of those SAP things. Anyway, if things don't work out, you can always blame the Software which is created by someone else. By the way Project life cycles are short, 2 or 3 months of dilly dally with $25,000 to $75,000 MYR monthly salary  (Freelance Consulting) and off you go to another Blue Print. Nowadays, Blue Prints are executed by permanent staff (Junior consultants) from the Partner company. The Blue Print Chefs are Freelancers. Brush up your people skill, learn to speak in public confidently, improve your English proficiency to be better then the next person (it is easy in Malaysia as our English is really bad, so improve that English will help you a lot). 

Bear in mind, as an SAP Consultant, there are no Risk, not even reputation. I know a few APO Consultants who had worked on 10 out of 10 APO projects declared failure but still move on to another APO Project and making over $100,000 MYR per month; that's $1,200,000 MYR per year! Go work in a Tax Free country and you will be filthy rich after a few years! and you will want more of it.

Never worry if you are not ready. If you wait until you are Ready, the Boat already Left. Think like this, Hell! Partners hire any "abled" bodies and whether you are ready or not, they will put you in the shark pool delivering/executing those Blue Prints written by the Freelancers. Go ahead, do one or two cycles of those, then quit and become freelance SAP Consultants. Take those Blue Prints, copy and paste when you become the Blue Print Chef. I guarantee if you love money, you will make a lot of money as an SAP Consultant. 

The current SAP market in Malaysia is like this, be a Freelancer and only do Blue Prints, and I guarantee you will make a lot of money! ABSOLUTELY no Accountability required BECAUSE I witness rubbish Blue Prints signed by Customers again and again and again for many many years. The same Consultants who writes these Blue Prints are still in the Market claiming themselves as Principle and Senior Senior Consultants doing the same thing over and over again. 

For those who are Single and still working as a permanent staff for a few thousand ringgit per month in a partner company, God Bless you! 阿弥陀佛! Alhamdulillah! Hallelujah! You either love that company or you hate yourself else I think something is seriously wrong with you! 

I can tell you this, the Freelancers out there are no better than you. Believe in you abilities and make the right judgments to take things in your own hands, if MONEY is the motivation, let it be. If you think MONEY is not that important, that's a good thing too because everyone has his/her own priorities in life! 

In the business world, no one is in the wrong. Not the Partner company, not the Blue Print Chefs, not the Junior Consultants, not the Support Consultants, not the Customer, neither is the fault of SAP itself. The persons who play the cards right in the SAP Eco System are the ultimate winners!

Find the balance you desire in your own life and enjoy a beautiful and rewarding SAP career!

Live long and prosper ...