ABAP - Learning new topics
How can you learn the latest SAP and ABAP topics and stay up to date? In this article we look at our strategy.
Table of contents
The ABAP world is developing rapidly at the moment and staying up to date can be difficult. In this article we look at how we currently proceed in order to always keep the current topics in focus.
Introduction
How do you keep up with the latest examples and topics in the SAP world and keep up with the company's further development. And that is not even meant in a negative way. For many years we as ABAP developers did not have to learn much new; we knew our SAP GUI and innovations were limited. However, if we look a little more closely, some developers have already missed the first innovations. Object-oriented development, unit tests, have been around for many years, but are still unknown to many developers today or are not used correctly.
If you would like more information on topics to learn, you can take a look at our Learning Roadmap and find topics that you may not yet know.
SAP
The first official source for you should be the manufacturer of the software. SAP relies on countless formats and events where you can get the latest information on new products and further developments.
Learning
Formerly known as Open SAP, the new learning platform for SAP content can be accessed at learning.sap.com. Here you will find numerous offers to learn new topics and take a first step into the new world. The platform is available in a free version for anyone interested, but also as a paid version if you would like to get certified, for example. All Open SAP courses are also available here on the platform and you will still find traces of them in the video material.
SAP Community
The official SAP Community is intended to be an exchange platform for all interested developers, consultants and decision-makers, where you can get the latest information on products, technologies and updates. In principle, you will also find content from the community outside of SAP there. These are mostly blogs and Q&As where you can find out more about new features and problems.
Since the switch to the new platform, SAP in particular has been strongly represented there and content from the actual user community is becoming rarer. At least that is what we can see in the area of ABAP development. Marian Zeis regularly writes blogs and analyses on the subject if you would like to find out more about the SAP community, activity and quality.
Champions/Mentors
SAP currently has two influencer programs, the SAP Champions and the SAP Mentors. You can find out more details about the programs via the link. You will find representatives of both programs on social media and at events and can ask them about current topics. They can give you help and tips on what you should focus on next.
Events
You will find out the latest information at SAP's big events. Here we can recommend the various formats in the ABAP and SAP area:
- Devtoberfest
- TechEd
- SAP Fiori Innovation Day
Community
The community, that is, us, are not idle either and produce valuable content and deep dives. There are various formats and insights for this, which are described in the next sections.
User Groups
Depending on which country you come from and which company you work for, it is worth joining one of the local User Groups, such as DSAG (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein), ASUG (United States, Canada), SAUG (Australia) and many more. The groups are well organized and hold many events and promote the exchange of knowledge. You will also find representatives from SAP there who talk about current topics and thus get the latest information.
In addition to SAP, you will also come into contact with other companies. This makes it easier for you to follow current trends, but also to find out how other companies implement certain use cases or use the technology.
Events
The community also regularly organizes various public formats, which are in most cases free of charge and/or available online. Examples include reCAP or ABAPConf. In principle, anyone can contribute content here as long as it is up to date and up to date. You will also meet representatives from SAP and thus get the latest information.
Blogs
For the older generation, who do not yet get all their knowledge from Tiktok, there is also a written form of the current topics. If the content is not shared on the SAP community, there are numerous websites and blogs that deal with the topic of ABAP development. The content is mostly created in free time and many of the articles usually go into more detail than the SAP tutorials do.
If you are looking for a specific topic, you should also find the right websites using the search engine you trust. In principle, an active overview of regular bloggers in the SAP area is difficult to find. Enno had published a few examples on Tricktresor.
Social Media
Are you active on social media? Then you will also find influencers on the various platforms such as LinkedIn, Bluesky or Mastodon who regularly talk about SAP and ABAP. In principle, you can also discuss problems here or find funny information about development. It's worth taking a look at the platform every now and then to quickly find out about current trends or problems.
Photo from jesse orrico on Unsplash
Practice
In this section we'll look at some practical sources of knowledge and how you can use them efficiently to develop yourself further.
Examples
The best way to gain real experience, however, is to do something with the system yourself. In theory, you may have understood all the topics, but what about the application? Suddenly it no longer behaves like it did in the tutorial, or you want to implement a new function and are faced with an unknown error message. Only practical experience with real developments or in building prototypes helps in order to delve deeper into a topic.
Problems
Who benefits from solving a problem? Usually the developer with the problem and a second person who helped to solve it. In most cases, problems are challenges for a developer that need to be solved in order to progress with development or implement a specific feature. We are often confronted with questions about topics that may be clear to us or for which we ourselves do not have a solution. Such questions help to look at a topic from a different perspective and ultimately understand it even better.
Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash
Strategy
So how should you deal with all this information and what could a strategy look like for you? Here is our general approach in four steps:
- Experience - First of all, you have to be aware of where you are going and which topics are new. SAP events, the SAP community and the user groups can help you with this. Here you will find the buzzwords to start learning.
- Start - In the next step, you should approach the topic and get an initial overview by diving into existing blogs or looking on Learning for initial overviews and tutorials.
- Try - Now it's time to try things out and research. The existing examples can be freely expanded, your own scenarios can be created and you will come across challenges that need to be solved.
- Show - Have you understood a topic and gained new insights? Time to write it down, create a video or show it to other people (events, training, pair programming).
If there is no information from the community or first steps on a topic, then jump in at the deep end and start with step 3. Plunging into a topic completely new and unprepared appeals to many developers.
Conclusion
If you want to stay up to date on the topics, you have to invest some time and regularly attend events and other activities. Basically, it is a good idea to have a handful of current sources that you regularly check for updates.
