Why I Did This Research

I’ve been trying to help people by posting SAP trainee and junior positions on my LinkedIn. I see so many struggling to break into the SAP world, and recently two people reached out asking for advice on landing their first SAP role.

What struck me is that the conversation always revolves around SAP, MM module, configuration… But yesterday I took a step back from the daily grind and really thought about it. And I realized something important.

It’s funny when people ask me what I learned about SAP to become a good consultant. I used to be a logistics assistant, I have a degree in business administration, worked with processes, logistics, even as a BI analyst — a role where I built reports for all other departments.

And you know what? My day as an SAP consultant isn’t that different from when I worked in business areas. The activity itself, yes, but you always have internal clients, you need professionalism, communication, analysis, forecasting, people interaction, dealing with colleagues and bosses. It’s all part of the corporate life pattern.

Demystifying the Glamour

Another funny thing: sometimes it seems so glamorous, you know? Like the day someone becomes an SAP consultant they’ll be a celebrity or famous football player. You’re under pressure, there’s always demands, companies always want you to do more with less. Some days I think: “I need to find another career.”

But yes, as things stand today, it’s a market that pays well above average. There’s a shortage of professionals, so you choose your job (you don’t choose your salary — over time you’ll see everyone seems to agree on paying the same). But if the project is terrible, the boss is unbearable, there’s no shortage of opportunities. Obviously, you might end up somewhere worse than where you were, but that’s part of it — no pain, no gain.

What the Market Really Wants

No surprise, the most requested requirements were location and SAP MM knowledge itself. But when I categorized all 226 requirements, I discovered something interesting:

Where to Start: Practical Guide

1. SAP MM (Sourcing and Procurement)

Obviously, you can’t escape learning SAP MM. The prerequisite is having a foundation. Lucky for you, SAP has made content freely available! There’s plenty of content on YouTube and online, and SAP certification seems to have much more value today than 15 years ago. The MM module is now called Sourcing and Procurement at SAP (even though you won’t find “SAP Sourcing and Procurement” job postings anywhere).

2. Soft Skills (Absolutely Essential)

I’ll repeat this because it’s important: nobody tells you this, but soft skills are essential. Communication, teamwork, proactivity, autonomy, time management — all of this appeared over 22 times in the analyzed positions.

You always have internal clients, need to negotiate deadlines, align expectations, work with different departments. If you don’t develop these skills, you’ll struggle.

3. Excel

Yes, Excel! Some activities will require you to work with massive data volumes: data loads, mass changes, table analysis. You don’t need to be a VBA expert, but you need to handle formulas, pivot tables, and advanced filters.

4. Documentation and Processes

You’ll need to know:

• BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation): A standardized way to draw business processes using symbols and flowcharts. Think of those diagrams with boxes, diamonds, and arrows showing process steps. It’s the universal language for process mapping. Obviously, you don’t need to be a BPMN expert, but you need basic process mapping skills.
• ITSM (IT Service Management): IT service management. In practice, you’ll work with concepts like incident (something broke and needs fixing), service request (someone asked for something new), change (we’re modifying something in the system), and project. Tools like ServiceNow and Jira are used for this.
• Technical Documentation: You’ll need to create documentation, a BBP (Business Blueprint – the document describing how the process will work in SAP), a functional specification (the document explaining to the ABAP developer what needs to be done).

5. Understanding Integrated Processes

SAP MM doesn’t live alone. It integrates heavily with other modules, mainly:

• FI (Finance): Various movements generate accounting entries
• SD (Sales and Distribution): What you buy might be for resale
• PP (Production Planning): Purchases for production

Understanding these integrations is highly valuable in the market.

Competitive Differentiators

Want to stand out? Here are the differentiators that will put you ahead of the competition: