Good resumes...bad resumes...and resumes from Hell?

While attending SAP Inside Track Newton Square 2010, my good friend Jon Reed from Jonerp.com told me about this book "Resumes from Hell". At first...I didn't knew what to expect, but the name really caught my attention...I was decided to buy it, but as the SAP Community and The Fellowship of the SAP Mentors in so strong, Jon gave me the book for free...along with his signature and a great message -:)



So, I read the book...and it really blown my mind away...those are real resumes created but real people...and as reality is stranger than fiction...those resumes are the worst I have ever seen...some of them are going to make smile, other are going to make you laugh and some others are going to want you to pick up the guy and punch him in the face (You can't hit a lady you know...).

I really enjoyed reading the book, because by seeing how crappy some resumes can be, you can actually took your own and start doing some gardening that would lead to at least...a decent one -:)

You can...sorry...you must buy this book...so here's the link:

Buy Resumes from Hell!

Greetings,

Blag.

With a little help from my friends...

I think it's good karma, to once in a while write a post sending thanks to all the people that for better or for worse have helped me to become the professional I am today...of course...I can put them all...but a small list is better than nothing -:)

Not in particular order...just...thank you so much for being my friends! And please, don't stop bugging me when it comes to help me out -;)

* Marilyn Pratt
* Jim Spath
* Nigel James
* Leonardo de Araujo
* Craig Cmehil
* Jon Reed
* Dennis Howlett
* Abesh Bhattacharjee
* Sue Keohan
* Mark Finnern
* Aslan Noghre-kar

Greetings,

Blag.

The marathon man strikes again...

Last year I wrote a post called Kudos to Craig Cmehil and FMR24H!!! about Craig Cmehil and his 24 marathon Friday Morning Report to support Doctors without Borders.

This year, the marathon man strikes again...and hell yeah I'm going to be there to support him! -:D Be sure to check him out Agenda for FRM24 starting Friday 9, April with a very nice list of guest (most of them, friends of mine) so there's even more reason to help him in his great crusade.

Last year was interesting, funny and very geeky -:) So I'm sure this year is going to be even better...so prepare your internet connection, a six pack of Red Bulls and your credit card (You must give something to the Doctors without Borders...don't be cheap LOL).

Greetings,

Blag.

My name is Blag...and I'm an eGhead...

Which means that I'm an Enterprise Geeks follower -;)


Greetings,

Blag.

Being an SAP Mentor in Lima, Perú...

Ok...the story goes like this...quite time ago I got invited to SAP World Tour in Lima, Perú. So, as I was still and Abaper I asked by boss for permission to go to the event. He pass the invitation link to the Sales Manager who invited 7 more people. I realize that when I get to the event.

So, after that I get contacted by SAP Perú telling me that we took to many slots...even when they told the Sales Manager to take only 2 or 3 max (counting me of course)...

Anyway...some time later I got invited to an SAP Business Objects event...and I was told to not invite anyone else, so I went to event alone.

Last Monday I got a new invitation for SAP BUSINESS PROCESS PLATFORM DAY 2009, which I thought was some sort of a public event like the SAP World Tour...so I registered myself, pass the link to my boss and one more for my colleague on the Sales Team. Just the 3 of us, like they told me before.

Two days later I got a message from SAP Perú telling me that I was making the same mistake again, that we were taking slots from customers, that I was putting in risk my relation with SAP Perú and so on...

Now put some things in perspective...

1.- I'm making the same mistake again? First time wasn't my fault...It was the Sales Manager fault...I got nothing to do with that particular problem...

2.- Are we taking slots from customers? They assumed that we're going to take 7 or 8 slots again...we were going to take 3 max (including me) as they told me...but they even bother to ask me...they just prove me guilty without hearing my complains first.

3.- I put in risk my relation with SAP Perú? Ok...so what relation? They had never thread like they should considering who I am inside the Community.

So...taking things from the 3rd point...I know that no one is prophet in his own land...but this is kinda lame...I mean...if you compare how SAP USA and SAP Perú thread me...then you could start thinking like me...I'm an SAP Mentor (Only me on Perú, only 3 on South America), SAP Blogger, Top Contributor and many more. But that doesn't seems to be enough for SAP Perú...I know that here is this forgot by God land, the SAP Office is mostly for Marketing and Sales related stuff...but if you stop to think about it...having an SAP Mentor between the audience could really improve things, right? We are SAP chosen experts...SAP rock stars...still...seems to be not enough for this country...

Now...back to the 2nd point...as they assume we were going to fill all the slots...they canceled my Boss and colleague's registries...but what about mine? Do they cancel my registry as well? After that I send them a message asking if I could still go or not...as expected...no one answered me...and surely no one will...so I missing the event just because of that...don't you think it's too much? Couldn't they just cancel the extra registries and keep mine? why punish me for my first honest mistake? Too bad don't you think?

Ok...I know that if someone from SAP Perú read this post...my relation with them is going to get completely broken...but should I care? what's wrong about broken a relation that is 10% worthy?...if I got a got a 110% good relation with SAP USA, do I really need a relation with SAP Perú? I think not...I just got bad things from them since the beginning...

P.S: To my SAP Mentor Boss...Mark, please don't call them or mail them...they just not worthy...if they want to ditch their relation with the only SAP Mentor available here...it's their problem...don't spend you time with people who just doesn't deserve it...

Greetings,

Blag.

The Blag Show Limited Podcast Edition 3, 4 and 5

I got some problems with uploading...so I'm going to put the files so you can download them and listen later -;)

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Greetings,

Blag.

The Blag Show - Limited Podcast Edition 02

Download link

Greetings,

Blag.

The Blag Show - Limited Podcast Edition 01

Download link

Greetings,

Blag.

Wait a second! Am I famous?

Today, Mark Yolton from SAP Community Network gave me really wonderful news...follow this link and tell who's that handsome and smart guy on the picture...

InsideSAP

Cool isn't it -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

If you hit F5 enough...you might see me...

This is something that I had been requested for a very long time...but of course I can't take the credit...maybe it's just a simple coincidence...but anyway, the fact is that I think that it's a wonderful idea!

So what it is? Basically, replace the old static picture of the TechEd Homepage with dynamic pictures of the SAP Mentors.

Now, if you hit F5 enough...you might see me -;)


Greetings,

Blag.

SAP Inside Track Lima 2009

I know there are still several months for July...But with all Inside Track event coming around the world, I think this is a good time for tell you about...

SAP Inside Track Lima 2009

This event is about sharing knowlegde, spreading the word about SAP and it's related technologies, so it's all about you. You giving or attending sessions, you sharing experiences with other SAP professionals.

So the basic questions...

Where? Need to be confirmed, but of course of Lima, Perú.

When? Saturday 04, July 2009.

Cost? Free of couse.

Why? Because official Community Day is no more. We need to put even more power to local events.

When can I sign up? There's a link on the WIKI...but...Here's the direct link:

For Attendants

For Sponsors

Hope to see you there!

Greetings,

Blag.

My thoughts on SAP's Certification Policy

Today...I was reading my good friend Dennis Howlett's blog on ZDNet called The certification timebomb.

Suddenly...I realized that while I had share my thoughts on Twitter, SCN Blog and even on my Blagbert comics...I haven't actually blog about it...

Here are my thoughts...And even when I'm an SAP Mentor, take this comments from the perspective of a Senior ABAP Consultant and a SAP Customer.

I think that SAP's approach is not the best...They want to promote "Hire only Certified People"...I'm not Certified myself, but that's the main reason for me to be against this policy...I live in Perú, a South American country. Here, Certifications are very expensive and most of the time, Instructors are not even Certified, or not qualified (Experienced) enough to give a Certification course.

Most of my ABAPer friends aren't Certified either...They only get Certified when they turn to the Dark Side (Functional or Business Process)...Otherwise, we tend to be guided by experience.

My prediction is that if SAP successfully implement this policy, mainly only Certified people is going to be hired...Which means only 10% of the local ABAPers...That's not good, because that 10% are going to ask for more money claiming that they are better because they hold and SAP Certification...Then the other 90% is going to feel forced to get Certified, so eventually we're going to have 100% of Certified people...Things are going to get back to normal, because with kind of offer, prices are going to reach their normal peak...But as human beings are greedy, they're going to look for more Certifications...And it's going to be a war having people trying to get the most Certification they can...Prices are going to get higher, then lower...and so on...

Sure, you can tell me...If everybody got 2 or 3 Certifications, they're going to be great professionals and projects are going to be perform in less time and with less money...Well...I don't think it's true...People with more money are going to be able to get more Certifications...Cheats are going to become available...People with no field experience are going to flood the market and eventually chaos would arise.

Something similar happen some time ago with Visual Basic 6...There we a lot of jobs...A lot of opportunities...So everybody started to learn Visual Basic 6, get Microsoft Certifications...And suddenly, the market was so full of Visual Basic people, that right now, is one of the worst payed jobs here...I'm not saying that something as radical is going to happen with SAP's job, but it could happen.

I'm not a experience as Dennis when it comes to Business and IT...But I know my field, and my field is ABAP...I work with SAP customer everyday...And everyday I see more new ABAP consultants flooding the market...Sadly, not as experience as needed...But if they got enough money to pay a Certification...Are they going to take the jobs of the older ABAPers?

Dennis also talked about the "proposed" LinkedIn recommendations as a tool...While I love LinkedIn I have to agree with Dennis...Everyone could get nice Recommendations...So we could think about SAP's Special Recommendations?...I don't think it would do a big difference...I mean...I don't think companies are going to browse
LinkedIn searching for people who got nice SAP's Recommendations...

What I think, it's that SAP should extend a "Certified by Experience" (Actually I think we had already discuss it...Anyway)...SDN and BPX are the best places to find "Community Rock Stars"...So, they should get those Certifications based on Community activity, recommendations by other Rock Stars and so on...That would be something that could be put on a resume.

Please keep in mind that English is not my mother language...And sometimes I don't get all the information in the best way...Maybe I'm not seeing the bigger picture...Maybe I'm falling into some contradictions...But that's exactly why I named this post My thoughts on SAP's Certification Policy, because it's what I'm thinking right now as an individual.

Greetings,

Blag.

SAP Mentors...On Twitter? Yes Sir!

Do you know about SAP Mentors? You should...I'm one myself -:)

Wanna know what we are up to? Follow us on SAP Mentors on Twitter.

Also you could check this nice list and follow all the guys/gals that didn't made it to my previous list...Otherwise they're going to go mad on me -:(

It's hard to keep everyone happy -:)

Greetings,

Blag.

Enterprise Geeks?

Some of my good friends and SCN colleagues and SAP Mentor colleagues Craig Cmehil, Dan McWeeney, Ed Herrmann, Rich Heilman and Thomas Jung, had join their forces to create a new web space called Enterprise Geeks.
So what do they offer?

* A blog
* Podcasts
* eGeek Tv
* Proyects
* Publications

Can you ask for more? I don't think so -;) I personally meet these guys...And I can tell you...They're really good stuff...Best among the best...No kidding -;)

Photo took without permission...Come on...They're my friends...I don't think they're going to care -;)

Greetings,

Blag.

SAP Mentor 2009

This year...I got elected as an SAP Mentor...It's my second year and I can't be more proud about it -:)

I got my new Mentor plaque...Which looks better than last year -;)


Also, I got extra features at SAP TechEd 2008 in Las Vegas...Which included some Press Conferences, Meetings with SAP Executives, Special seats at DemoJam, Keynote and Concert, Photo shoot session, Mentor Meetings and all the good things that only SAP can provide -:)

I really don't have a clue on how the SAP Mentor Program is going to evolve in the next couple of years...But if you want to be next SAP Mentor...Here are some special tips -;)

* Participate in the Communities (SDN, BPX).
* Write blogs.
* Improve the WIKI.
* Help in the forums.
* Do things with value to the Community.
* Try to be a good Communicator.

Sure thing...Community Members, SAP Members and SAP Mentors got to raise their votes...But by following those simple tips...You're chances are going to become high...

Just in case you wondering...NO! I'M NOT GOING TO HELP ANYONE TO BECOME AN SAP MENTOR...SO PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME MAILING ME...IF I SEE THAT YOU'RE A GOOD CONTRIBUTOR AND GOT THE NECESSARY SKILLS, THEN I'M GOING TO CONTACT YOU...BUT AGAIN...I DON'T CHOOSE SAP MENTORS...

Now I'm feeling better -:)

Greetings,

Blag.