I was ending my Master Supply Chain Management at Tilburg University and I was ready to go and work full-time. I really liked the people was working with at the time as a part-timer, but still, i had a gut feeling things could be even better.
A co-student mentioned a traineeship that was searching for people who liked IT and Business, so i went. Why the hell not, i’ve got nothing to lose. I went there and i was totally sold. At the same time i was working on an IT project and was always thinking, this could be so much better than we are doing right now. And I thought SAP was the way (Naive little me).
I quit the job and started the traineeship. After 4 months of learning and going through endless physical folders (yeah why the hell not, it’s only 2018). I finally was signed with the SAP consultancy company i really liked, 4 years later it turns out that was a great choice.
You get on your first job, mostly under a more senior consultant and it’s your first time in a big company. You hear all kinds of terminology, office jargon, acronyms and things you don’t understand at all. And you ask yourself “How the hell did i even end up here?”
You Finish your onboarding and, sit behind a flex-worker desk, “Now what?”. Luckily you’ve got a co-worker that is more than happy to help you, even though your avalanche of questions seems to have no end at all.
You’ve been working from some time, trying to understand the basics and knowing what system (Production, Test, Development) you are currently on. You’ve created a list of transactions (tcode for the cool kids) that you need in your work, and you’ve got some repetitive tasks going for you. But while it looks like you are up and running, you’ve got the slightest idea what’s going on (🤷♂️), but you just go with the flow.
You’ve been working for around a year or so and slowly you start to understand what’s going on (or so you think). You start to recognise some things that you’ve learned or found out, and are generous enough to teach these things to the unlearned as the wise master you are (😂).
One day you are working and reading something about work or talking to a colleague or someone else and finally it happens to you, you get the “Aha Moment”.
It’s like that single puzzle piece falling into the right place, it’s like Isaac Newton landing the apple on his head, it’s like finally obtaining the avatar state or ultra instinct. You are the shit and you know it (😎).
It’s time to stand on your own two legs and start figuring things out on your own. You’ve finally got your own tasks that you are singlehandedly responsible for. So you start throwing all your years of experience towards this problem (a.k.a. google, answers.sap.com, help.sap.com, support.sap.com, SAP *** Cookbook, random obscure site with seemingly SAP related answers). After all your thorough research you still got nothing, and you go to a senior colleague who figures it out in less than 3 minutes. You’ve still got a lot to learn (👶).
Is the company i’ve been working for over 4 years. And i’ve leaned a lot about consulting, teamwork, knowledge, people management and fun!
I think the most iconic feature about thus company is the culture it oozes. Not just in name but truly personal relationships where idea’s and input are valued and invested in. This is how you get smart, driven people, willing to go the extra mile for one another. I would not like to do it any other way myself.