shan-m

Not only was it a riveting read, full jaw-dropping revelations - it was also a brilliant black comedy! I wonder how the author could make me laugh so hard at what is perhaps the most serious moment in his life. It wasn't schadenfreude, just very clever writing

I died that December day on Tequila Beach. This created a great deal of consternation—and it has tended to complicate my relationships with others ever since.

The paramedic nodded at them: “You guys saved a life today,” he said. Which was news to me.

In their pages, men were attacked by savage bloodthirsty penguins at the North Pole (yeah, I know)

I have been a SAP consultant for the last 25 years - mostly doing ERP. Here are my answers -

1) Considering it is the largest European software company with sales similar to facebook, I am constantly surprised how little people know about SAP - even among IT professionals. Their image is staid and corporate as could be expected from a company whose customers tend to be large organisations. However there are many opportunities for SAP consultants - I have seldom struggled to find work. Due to the complexity of their products, I am still learning new skills everyday.

2) They have tried to follow the trends by adding FP features to ABAP, WebIDE for Fiori and SAPUI5, Leonardo for machine learning, etc but it never really seems to catch on. I think this is because there is no compelling use case in an traditional ERP environment. The most revolutionary change was the migration to HANA in memory database but even this is transparent to the average ERP user. If your heart is set on these areas, I would not recommend SAP.

3) I have not personally worked for SAP but I imagine they are like any other huge multi-national. I went to the Waldorf HQ last year and clearly they employ many smart highly skilled people but it lacks the "we are changing the world" vibe which I could imagine in many younger new technology based companies.

4) Business culture is much slower to change than individual culture. Business skills don't become obsolete so quickly. Social networking may out of fashion 5 years from now but boring old double-entry accounting is still going strong after 500 years.

5) It's good enough. I have worked France and Holland despite issues with my French and Dutch. I notice younger colleagues prefer to communicate more with IM and email which makes English listening and speaking skills less critical for tech workers.

and the 4th camp - minimalists. I find making what I call "healthy cutbacks" incredibly empowering. 2 years ago I stopped eating fish and meat and it was surprisingly easy, so I had to find another challenge. Then I heard about Wim Hof, (the Ice man) and I stopped having warm showers. I have to admit, I don't look forward to those icey blasts every morning but I feel great after I get out and have a coffee. A few months ago, I stopped having lunch during the week, despite regularly running and swimming during the day. I often eat nothing for 12 hours and feel much more alert and in control. Instead of having a couple of beers after work, I now only drink one glass of wine (a fine one). But god help me if I don't get that one glass after a hard day of self imposed deprivation! Recently I decided to learn a new cross-platform programming language, perhaps no surprise - I chose ANSI C.