The Art of Programming Ruby

I just published my second book in English...

The Art of Programming Ruby

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Greetings,

Blag.

SAP...Marketing?

I had been thinking about this for a long time...But totally forgot to blog about it.

Why is wrong with SAP Marketing? A lot...

Have you take a look at SAP Ads? Do you know the guys and gals in those ads? Do they even look like Geek or Suits? Who's the guys sitting on the airport on SE80?

My point is...Let's say that SAP launches an Ad promoting Flash Islands...Would you buy it if the Ad shows a regular guy showing some nice Flex app...Or would you buy it if the Ad shows Mr. Thomas Jung doing some geeky coding? I would of course go for the latter. (I know that Flash Islands is not even sold...But I needed a good example).

So, why don't SAP start using SAP Mentors or other Community Members for it's Ads? It would make a lot of sense to me...Demo Jam poster got a great picture of the crowd (I was on the pic) because Demo Jam is oriented to the Community...That's true...But SAP products are oriented to Business...And Business are composed of Geeks and Suits...By showing familiar faces I'm sure they could make more impact.

Most companies do the same mistake...I saw an Ad of Lenovo I think, where a guy who look more suitable for a Lacoste Ad was standing in front of the laptop...Who's that guy? I don't know and I don't care...Put a pic of Why The Lucky Stiff instead of that guy...And hell I'm going to buy myself a new Lenovo...

Remember...Familiar faces make the Ads more likely...Why do you think that Fender or Tama uses know musicians of their Adds? Simple...Because people know them...If Fender or Tama uses my pic in a Ad...They going to bankruptcy...No musician knows me... -;)

Ok...After this line...And because I know my readers...This is not a "Please SAP, put me on an Ad"...This is a "SAP...Open your eyes and start using SDN/BPX people in your Ads!".

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.

g.ho.st? Sure my choice!

On my previous post...I ranted about GlideOS. So after that post I got a reply message on Twitter from @muzwell --> Murray Spork. Currently working on bringing cloud computing to the enterprise. Telling me about another Web 2.0 Operating System...g.ho.st.


So, of course I decided to give g.ho.st. a try...
After I create my account, I got this nice screen telling me about the benefits of my membership...


That was nice...But I also got a Personalization window...Which was cool as well...


Now, the Desktop really looks nice...Like a real OS even working with Widgets...Like the clock on the right...


Like @muzwell told me g.ho.st is already integrated with Zoho, so writing a document is a pleasant task...


Maybe that could be enough for you...But...You can even play games! It's crazy -:)


And for people like me...Twitter addicts...You also got a nice but gotta say...simple...Twitter client.


Like some people say...The wonder never ends...We also got direct access to great services like Wikipedia, Google Maps and Google Search...


Oh...I almost forgot it...You got a fancy Go bar too...


My final words...g.ho.st it's sure my choice!

Greetings,

Blag.

Glide OS? Not my choice...

Since I read on a PC World Magazine about Web 2.0 Operating Systems...I get really interested and wanted to try them out.
My first and only attempt so far had been with Glide OS.

Ok, let's see...This OS has been build with Flex which is really cool, because everyone knows how much I love Flex...

First, we got a nice login screen...


The desktop looks cool too, with a lot of direct access to nice applications.


I tried Present which is an application to create Presentations.


Sadly, I found a nasty bug...Put a small square, and I was supposed to double click it in order to write some text...Well...That never happened...


Then...I give Write a chance...As you may had noticed...It's an application to write documents...


Finally, I tried the Calculator application...And I said finally because I simply logoff from this OS.


Wanna know why I logoff? Easy...As a Programmer's point of view...I think this is an amazing project...Very hard to accomplish...But as a Customer I think it totally fails to fulfill my needs...Why? Easy, take a look a this...


Zoho Writer. Free and way much better. In every aspect.


SlideRocket. Free and way much better. In every aspect.

Ok, you might think...One thing is to build an application, and another thing is too build a complete OS...Let's remember that Zoho.com offers a lot of services, not only a Word like application.

I think that the makers of Glide OS could had spend more time working of the UI of their applications, because I can't find the words Alpha or Beta anywhere.

Definitely...Not my choice...

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.

Who you should be following on Twitter...

Twitter is a great service, no doubt about it...But sometimes is hard to choose who to follow and who not.

That's why I' want to drop a little list of interesting people...

@Blag --> Alvaro Tejada Galindo (That's me of course). Senior ABAP Consultant, Scripting Languages Geek, SAP Mentor, Blogger, Programming books author and Punk. I don't need no introduction -;)

@dahowlett --> Dennis Howlett. Full time blogger on innovation for professional accountants. This talks straight to the face, no jokes...Just the awful truth.

@monkchips --> James Governor. Co-founder of RedMonk, something like a firehose - tech and everything else in 140 char bursts. This is your reference for everything IT related.

@_why --> Why the Lucky Stiff. The ill-conceived freelance prof. If you're related to Ruby, Camping or Shoes...He's your guy -;)

@jonerp --> Jon Reed. Jon Reed of JonERP.com is an SAP Mentor who blogs and podcasts on SAP skills trends. No one knows more about SAP that this guy...Ok...Maybe SAP CEO's...

@TechCrunch --> Michael Arrington. Making The World A More Ajaxy Place. Come on...You know you love TechCruch!

@ChuckFacts --> Chuck Norris Facts. You better follow him...You're life depends on it...

@ryanstewart --> Ryan Stewart. I obsess over Rich Internet Applications and work at Adobe as a Platform Evangelist. Are you on RIA? Follow this guy then!

@Scobleizer --> Robert Scoble. Tech geek blogger @ http://scobleizer.com. I don't this guy, but all my friends follow him...He must be good stuff...

@Veronica --> Veronica Belmont. Host of Tekzilla on Revision3 and Qore on PSN. Also, a geek. She's a geek girl...What else can you ask for?

@timoreilly --> Tim O'Reilly. Founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media. If you don't know Tim...You shouldn't be on the web...

@jwales --> Jimbo Wales. You know, the Wikipedia and Wikia guy. Believe or not...I got a picture with this guy!!!

Please keep in mind, that not only because you start following them, they're going to follow you back...If you think that, you really need to read this...

Do you follow me on Twitter? Coz I'm not following you...

P.S: To all my dear and beloved Geek friends (Yes...SAP Mentors and SCN related), if you're not on my list, it's not because you're not interesting to follow...It's because this is a short list...And wanted to put the most representative guys/gals that I'm following...If I'm on the list...It's because this is my blog and I can do what I want here...Don't like it...Do your own list on your own blogs!

P.S.S: I'm joking of course -;)

P.S.S.S: Thanks to my good friend @luislanz --> Luis Felipe Lanz. NetWeaver Visual Composer Expert at SAP AG. This is a direct link to all the people I'm following...

Who's Blag following.

Greetings,

Blag.

Tale of an SAP addict...

Doctor: Please come in.
Patient: Thank you.
Doctor: What's your name?
Patient: atejadag.
Doctor: That's your name?
Patient: Yes. It's my user name.
Doctor: Ok. Where do you live?
Patient: SE38.
Doctor: SE38?
Patient: Yes. That's where I spend most of my time.
Doctor: Ok. What places have you visited?
Patient: Oh. Last week I was at SE37...SE80...SmartForms and ST22... :-)
Doctor: Did you just lay down your head to the left and smile?
Patient: No. I just smiled.
Doctor: Ok, never mind. Do you have any kids?
Patient: Sure. I got two.
Doctor: Great. What are their names?
Patient: R/3 and NetWeaver. NetWeaver is the younger.
Doctor: Ok. Those are very unusual names.
Patient: I'm a very unusual guy.
Doctor: Yeah...I can tell.
Patient: ...
Doctor: I know why you are here...But can you tell me why you are here?
Patient: Sure. I suffer from short dumps.
Doctor: You're what?
Patient: My sy-subrc are always more than zero.
Doctor: Ok. I just hear enough. You really need my help. Please come back next week.
Patient: Ok, thank you very much. /NEX
Doctor: And now...What you're supposed to do?
Patient: I'm trying to end this session.../NEX...But it doesn't work...You may need to call your Basis guys.
Doctor: ...Don't worry, I'm going to do it...

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.

Make your migration steps...Not a pain...

Ok...Usually I don't talk about software or services that I haven't actually test...But this time, I'm going to make an small exception.

Panaya offers a great tool to make you migration steps not a pain...How do they do that? Easy...

You:

1. Paste an ABAP report (Certified by SAP) into your SAP system.
2. Run the report to extract your custom code and usages statistics into a file.
3. Upload the file over a secure HTTPS connection to Panaya

Panaya:

* Analyzes your custom code and usage files.
* Maps all objects and their dependencies.
* Runs your code on ERP 6.0
* Lists problems, their solutions, and tests.

That means, no manual testing from your side...No "I need to test millions of ABAP programs"...Let Panaya do it for you -:)

Wanna learn more? Go here.

So...You might be thinking...Why I'm doing free publicity for this guys? Easy...Because they also offer this...

ABAP Ninja

A free based online service that helps you to find out the best Enhancement Points for your custom developments. Also, they participate at TechEd Las Vegas 2008...Where I saw ABAP Ninja in action.

Greetings,

Blag.