I guess zeroing in some of the ERP characteristics of the ERP market in Canada :

1. Market is relatively much smaller compared to the US (like any other skill set - IT or non-IT)
2. The market has enough room to absorb pros with cross-fuctional experience (eg : A combination of SD & MM) or a combination of functional & technical experience (eg : MM & ABAP).
3. Due to the over supply in the general ERP areas, hiring decisions are generally done only at the right price.
4. To break into the ERP market is getting tougher unless you have the right contacts to \\\"pull you in\\\" and 'shepherd' your intial assignments (after which you can happily call yourself a seasoned ERP professional ) or in some cases you resort to unethical means of getting hired
5. There are emerging focus areas/ niche markets within ERP like DW, BI etc where cross functional experience with the same vendor products is preferred.
6. Emerging technology areas (as given above) may be good target areas for those that want to break into the field (assuming that they have other trnasferable skills that they can bring into the job)
7. The US market due to the sheer size and lack of supply can absorb less qualified pros and is ready to bear the learning curve (provided of course (to quote gsc), that your cousin in the US is on the same project - no pun intended)
8. ERP is one of the few technology areas where Certifications are still held in high esteem.
9.Some of the hindrances for new entrants into the ERP market are unrealistic expectations (doing a 6 week crash course, get a job), lack of appropriate soft skills (eg : Communication), doctored resumes leading to a stereotyping/ general perception in the market of people of a specific background.
10. For those with generic/ scalable skills, change in technology has minimal impact since the transition to the emerging technology is a \\\"piece of cake\\\"

These is just my perception of the market based on due diligence and on input from other folks on the forum. Kindly add to these so as to get a better picture of the market.

This is related to the first post of this topic!

I had a very bad experience of this so called ERP job guranteed training.. LOST MY $1500 TO http://www.erphorizons.com/

Please be very very careful while dealing with this company!

Promised to find a job after completion of the course and fled away to US after taking the money, although, he did complete the course. I have excellent IT background and even ERP (but not SAP, but b2). Wanted to get IT job and thought of gaining some SAP experience.. Met this guy thru some ad.. had complete faith in him the way he told us (we were 3) to get a job as soon as the training is done.. I wish I had read this post before!!

Just a word of caution for those who falls into such wrong promises!

What I think we need to do is post the names of the indiviuals running the institutes.

Often I find the same guys start out under different names.

http://www.erphorizons.com/
http://www.m6horizons.com/

Different sites - Same address.

They use an executive office with no commitment so that they can leave anytime.

Looking at this title of this post I would like to share my experience as an SAP Consultant. I came to Canada 4 yrs back after leaving a good job (not in IT) back home and ended up working as a Security Guard for a year and then went to a Canadian B-School. Things did not work out and I was unemployed till the last term of my MBA. Then getting into SAP came to my mind. I did a lot of resarch on thes institutes in Canada. However, I was not confident of these training Institutes in the GTA area, so I went to Gennovate, Mumbai for training. Although the cost of training was Rs.2.5 lacs + airfare and other costs came to around $10k. Well I was having a line of credit from a Canadian Bank, thanks to the MBA program.

The SAP traning in Gennovate was very good and I passed the Certification Exam after 5 weeks of training. Meanwhile I also got my H1b processed through a body shopper. I returned Canada after the training and started looking for job. All employers were looking for SAP implementation experience, which I did not have. At this point, I had no other option but to modify my Resume with 5 yrs of SAP implementation experience. Immediately I started getting calls and landed into a project in US. The salary of $100k was well beyond my expectations.

Initially, everyday I used to be very sacred of getting kicked out from the project, actually there was a desi guy in my project who was sacked within 7 days from joining. Well none of those things happened to me and I survived in the job for about 18 months and left it when I got a better offer from one of the big 5 consulting companies. Today I am in the same job with a base salary of $100k+

I liked the post of Jai_bharat where he mentioned " To break into the ERP market is getting tougher unless you have the right contacts to \\\"pull you in\\\" and 'shepherd' your intial assignments (after which you can happily call yourself a seasoned ERP professional ) "

This was exactly my case. Whenever I was in trouble, I used to call a friend who bailed me out during my first 6 months. Now after 2 years, I advice the same friend on some of his SAP problems.

Hope my experience will help some of you guys to get into SAP.

Thanks for sharing your experience here, chonku_11. It definitely draws attention to the realities of the market. Your challenges are reflective of those that any newbie faces when looking to get 'foot in the door'.

Hopefully your post will resurrect this thread after I'd made some futile efforts to keep this going at a steady pace.

ERP gurus out there ! Would you be kind enough to share your experiences with the rest of the CDs. Please throw in your 2 cents.....

Regards,

Jai.

I have been reading this post from the perspective that I am/was thinking of taking a plunge into SAP ERP. I am basically confused by two very different extremes - we have desi 'institutes' asking for fees ranging from $1,500 to $2,500 and on the other extreme are some US IT guys offering free SAP training (catch is you have to work for them for a contracted period). If ERP market is overflowing with newbees then why and how these opposites are co-existing? Please enlighten this tormented soul.

Hi Cdnnri, I too have heard of these US professionals offering almost free SAP training and then you have to work with them on contract basis. Well, I am in the same boat as you are. I believe it's foolish to plunge into these desi institutes. But, if you find something like the above where someone will train you and then offer employment on a contract basis, then there's nothing like it. There are two reasons for it. One, you're getting almost free training, and then employment in the field. Second, you will get an experience in SAP. After an year, if you work hard throughout the year, your marketing will broaden automatically cuz. of experience.

Do you know any US Soft. professional, who is offering a sort of free training then asking to work with them on a contract basis. I am currently looking for one. If you know someone then can you please share the information with me? Thanks a lot bro. If you want to get in touch with me, here's my email id:



I am currently working at eBay Inc. here in Vancouver in their IT support centre. I am looking to relocate to Toronto in March. So, if any of you guys here know about someone who's offering the SAP training and then contractual work, then I am in with open arms...

See ya guys, and a good luck..

Preet...