Blog > SAP consultants wearing high heels – let’s talk about (and with) women in Tech!

SAP consultants wearing high heels – let’s talk about (and with) women in Tech!

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icon__calendar 2020-07-15

Introduction

Although gender equality is undeniably a crucial value in the SAP world, the number of women building their careers in this area is relatively low. The IT industry is still male-dominated but I’ve got this feeling that a huge change is coming. It’s exciting to see that there are more and more women who apply, grow, and succeed in SAP.

As a woman who has a chance to meet, watch and cooperate with a lot of amazing girls working in SAP-related roles every day, I feel obligated to share my thoughts with you and show you how amazing they are!

I had a pleasure to ask my female colleagues who work in Tech a few questions about their experiences, observations, and advice – you will find their answers below.

Enjoy your reading!

 

SAP community – my very first impressions

When I joined the Int4 Team a year and a half ago, I had to get familiar with the specifics of the SAP community. To be honest, my very first impression was that the SAP world is a man’s world. Why?

First of all, the vast majority of people who I met and talked to at the beginning of my work experience were men (including SAP consultants, SAP influencers, SAP Mentors, SAP PRESS books authors, etc.).

Secondly, as a non-technical person, I was convinced that the SAP industry is a male-dominated area for some reason. The truth is that I didn’t associate women with such complicated technologies. As time has shown, I couldn’t be more wrong!

 

How it all started?

My first (completely wrong) impression has been quickly replaced by admiration and huge respect for the girls working in the Tech industry. I had a chance to meet many inspiring, talented, and successful women working in SAP-related roles in person. I am impressed with their technical skills, expert knowledge, and achievements. These girls rock!

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I was wondering what were their motivations to choose the career path that is really challenging and not easy to follow. I asked a few of my friends about their beginnings in the SAP industry.


Katarzyna, who I’ve got a pleasure to work with at Int4, has always been the scientific mind, passionate about the IT world. She made full use of her potential for the growth in the SAP integration area:

I think my journey into the IT world already started when I was a teenager and had no idea what SAP actually is :). I began to learn the basics of web development and I realized I’m dealing quite well with IT related topics. Besides, I’ve always been a bit of a nerd who spends a lot of time playing games. Being good at math was also helpful and opened the doors to university. I’ve graduated from Poznan University of Economics and Business, Computer Science and Econometrics, where I started to learn programming, economics, and data science. I was lucky to learn the basics of SD, FI, and MM processes during my studies. Later, during MA, I started to work as an ABAP developer and I’ve been exploring SAP HANA Text Mining capabilities in my master thesis. I’m very thankful I had the opportunity to dive into the SAP world relatively soon and I already had both a good technical and business-related background. I enjoy being a part of the SAP world where the most recent trends such as Big Data, IoT, Text Analytics and growing business needs are being addressed with IT solutions.

Katarzyna Wydro – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


Isabel – the SAP Trainer and Consultant from Spain has more than 15 years of experience in finance departments. What’s interesting, she didn’t plan to make a career in SAP. Her destiny turned out to be stronger:

I started in the industry accidentally. My background is different: I have a degree in business administration. Once in the industry, IT (not only SAP) I realize it is wider than I initially thought. There are lots of areas to explore and I love it!

Isabel Sanchez – SAP Trainer


Izabela – the SAP Integration Consultant at Int4, had an opportunity to meet with the SAP system while working as a C# programmer. That experience pushed her to try her hand in the SAP industry:

I worked as a C# programmer in an organization that was preparing to implement an SAP system. I was nominated by my manager to perform this roll-out as an SAP Functional Consultant, which I did, after 1.5 years of training in the company’s headquarters. Later, after this roll-out, I decided that I would like to come back to programming but still stay in the SAP world, so I found a job as a Junior ABAP developer in a consulting company. This is how my journey through the SAP world started. 

Izabela Bogórska – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


For Fadoua Daghari – SAP Business One Consultant, the most important is to find and develop her passions. She “fell in love” with the SAP systems at first sight:

I was able to be a part of SAP training during my master’s degree studies. That’s when I discovered my interest in SAP systems. I got my first opportunity to start my career as an SAP Consultant within an oil and gas company. Basically, I tried to find what I felt passionate about. When I got involved in the implementation process within different sites, it was clear to me that this is the right thing that I’m really excited to follow during my career path.

Fadoua Daghari – SAP Business One Consultant


All the above-mentioned stories differ from each other but they’ve got something in common – passion. Every girl that I talked to started their career in the SAP industry because they felt that it’s their thing. They were eager to expand their knowledge and master skills. And so they did.

 

Challenges faced by women in Tech

In each and every industry, there are various obstacles and challenges to overcome. Of course, the Tech sector is no exception to this.

In the introduction to this article, I’ve mentioned that we can watch that some changes are starting to manifest in the IT world for women. It’s really exciting and encouraging but we need to remember that there’s still room for improvement.

What are the biggest challenges for females working in technical roles?


Laptops are heavy :). But jokes apart, I think some people are still having some kind of stereotype of how the people of IT are. If someone doesn’t fit into this image then they can be seen as less professional. 

Izabela Bogórska – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


As a woman, you have to compete against very talented men, but against other women too. I think that little by little we are opening the market to women, but like any process it takes time. We need to be patient and keep on doing our job as professional as we’ve been so far.

Isabel Sanchez – SAP Trainer


The biggest challenge is the one that girls in school-age are facing – to answer the question of whether IT is a good choice for a future career (having a chance for this is a separate, very important topic). Fortunately, in recent years the situation is improving, but I’m still convinced young girls are not encouraged to learn IT and science to the same degree as boys. When it comes to professionals I truly believe the only challenge that should really matter is the same for women and men – being the best specialist as possible. But in reality, there is a whole range of challenges – equality of chances, limited parenting support, fear to occupy a higher position and a requirement to constantly prove qualifications – just to name a few.

Katarzyna Wydro – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4

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Working in SAP-related roles can be demanding both for men and women. The SAP industry is much more business-oriented and based on the relationships what makes it more engaging and time-consuming sometimes.


It should be remembered that the work of an SAP consultant is associated with frequent travels. With small children or when planning to start a family, this must be taken into account. 

Kinga Tarczyńska – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


However, don’t forget that the SAP world brings not only challenges and sacrifice but also a lot of benefits. Traveling around the world, networking, and working with clients and partners is so exciting and fascinating. It’s a great adventure!

 

What makes the women irreplaceable SAP professionals

I’m glad to see that the SAP community, more and more often, recognizes and appreciates the unique skills and personality traits that make women valuable, successful employees in SAP.

There are many amazingly talented SAP females! Companies already started thinking outside the norm and let them use their superpower to do great things as leaders in the Tech industry.


Working in SAP is not only working with the software but as well with people – end-users, business representatives, colleagues in a team. It is very important to cooperate successfully and to listen to the needs of the market and customers. Patience is another important attribute to mention among other interpersonal skills, which are usually women’s strong points. 

Izabela Bogórska – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


I’m not willing to generalize so I’ll base my answer on a fantastic book which I read some time ago – “How Women Decide: What’s True, What’s Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best Choices” by Therese Huston. According to the researches, the way women make decisions is different than men are doing it. Women tend to make more rational, data-driven decisions under stress (which is often a case to deliver value on time). Also, females are perceived to be more socially sensitive which improves teamwork and therefore leads to better performance. These are just a few of the reasons why it’s worth having both men and women on board.

Katarzyna Wydro – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


Women are marked by empathy and sensitivity but they’re also impressively ambitious and hard working. Their motivation to grow and learn new things makes them unstoppable. When they get a chance, they shine really bright.

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The most important, in my opinion, is determination in pursuit of a goal and empathy. It’s sometimes worthwhile to feel the role of the client to understand his position – it can help to solve the problem more quickly.

Kinga Tarczyńska – SAP Integration Consultant at Int4


As Ray Bradbury said, love what you do, do what you love, so learning new things makes me feel good about myself. It is probably one of the healthiest habits one could have in their life. I truly believe that if we stop learning new things, we die mentally. Living with learning and being intellectually curious is just exciting. Being able to have an opinion or some knowledge on different topics has no price. It completely changes your perception of the world and life. And finally, the more you learn, the more you realize that you don’t know anything, but is this a reason to stop learning? I don’t think so.

Fadoua Daghari – SAP Business One Consultant

 

Dream big, set goals, take actions

There’s no short-term solution that could completely change the perception of women in Tech. It will take time but it’s worth the wait.

I’m more than sure that females with their skills, personality, and courage are capable of fulfilling any role. Also the Tech ones. Letting them spread their wings will be a win-win situation, good for them and the company that trusted in them.

I look forward to being a part of the evolving SAP community. I believe that the women who build their careers and succeed in Tech roles today will be a great inspiration to all the girls thinking about moving in this direction.

What are their advice for the future members of the SAP community?


The career growth in SAP is inspiring, seize the opportunity to grab as much as you can of knowledge, and try to be a go-to person, someone who has more knowledge, skills, or expertise on a particular subject matter than everyone else. Everyone will definitely want to rely on you because you’re trustworthy and everyone has confidence the job will get done. Be that person. Find your niche. Develop your expertise. Then share it with the world.

Fadoua Daghari – SAP Business One Consultant


I will summary the success factors in the Tech industry in a few words: patience, constancy, curiosity, and empathy.

Practice a lot in the system. If a process displays an error message, repeat and repeat until you get it right. Be persistent and never give up – you can achieve anything you want!

Isabel Sanchez – SAP Trainer


I’ve met a lot of fabulous girls working in SAP-related roles. Their professionalism, persistence in pursuing a goal, and jaw-dropping determination make me optimistic about women’s future in Tech. Females can be (and are) perfect role models in the SAP community, always willing to share their knowledge and experience. With such a high level of empathy, intuition, and ability to establish business relationships, women bring a priceless value to the world of SAP. I hope for the best and keep  my fingers crossed for them!


Note from the author: Thank you for the interesting conversations, girls! I’m happy to cooperate with you and watch you growing every day. Enjoy what you do and don’t be afraid to take risks and chances you get! Don’t you ever slow down – you’re rock stars!

 

Visit my interlocutors LinkedIn profiles:


Follow Int4 on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/int4

Watch videos by Int4 – https://int4.com/videos

Read also

1. She knows how to bite the bullet! Spanish bullfighter in the SAP world – interview with Isabel Sanchez

2. Int4 – probably the most prolific company in the world in sharing knowledge about SAP Integration

Aleksandra Wykrota
Content Marketing & Social Media practicioner. Passionate about Relationship and Inbound Marketing. Big fan of Border Collies.