Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that knowing ABAP on HANA is useless.

No, no, and NO.

ABAP on HANA is the future for sure.

But let me tell you the following:

SAP came with HANA in 2011, and they were thinking about 2013 that it would be already alive, and then a few first companies were trying to get there.

Make a guess, how many are using HANA now (after ten years)?

(hmmm)

17,500 companies.

Cool, right?

The number itself sounds great, and it’s still growing. For example, the difference between 2020 (Q3) and 2021 (Q3)  is 2,400 companies.

But let’s give the number some context.

The total number of companies using the SAP system is around:

If the pace of migration stayed the same, it would take another ten years to reach only 50% of companies using the S/4 HANA system.

The other half would still run on really slow, old SAP systems.

It’s not that great a number now, is it?  

This is only an estimation, and I know that many small companies arose which are helping with migration to this “modern” system (I don’t know if we can say modern to something in IT which is already 10 years old :D).

But I bet my neck that in the next 5 years, S/4 HANA wouldn’t dominate.
(And when I’m talking with pro developers, consultants, managers - I’m the optimist in the room because there are other problems e.g., big data, security)

Speed of evolution in the SAP world is definitely not fast.

And this can be an advantage and disadvantage based on which perspective you’re looking at it (we can focus more on that in the next emails if you want).

Anyway, if you are an ABAP newbie, please don’t start with ABAP on HANA.

It’s not necessary, and even more ABAP on HANA comes from the ABAP core.

Yes, there are some syntax changes, but the principles stay the same.

And with the context I provided, you want to know ABAP core, too (don’t limit your future chances).

The last thing to say: based on our experiences, paradoxically, it’s even faster to learn ABAP on HANA starting with ABAP core.  

This and other insights we can discuss in much depth and fit it into your personal situation.
Just pick a time slot while it’s still there (I’m open to calls only next week).

Regards,
Tom