The First Two Months with SAP

This next week will wrap up my first two months of employment with SAP and I have to say that things are really going great.  I am really happy, much more so than when working for my former employer.  Not only in my work life, but in my family life as well.  I am having a better relationship with my kids, and my wife seems to be happier not having to call me and ask when I will be home for dinner.  Working from home definitely has its advantages in that way.  I was also able to take 15 minutes or so and go to my son's pre-school to see his Halloween parade.  Basically, it was a bunch of kids walking around in a circle with their costumes on.  Not really a big deal, but I felt good that I was able to do it, and I think my son may have appreciated it as well.   I'm also getting to know more about what my daughter is in to, although I don't really like discussing "boys". It's nice to talk to her about what's going on in school and stuff.  We really never had time to do this in the past, or never made the time for some reason.   I am seeing that there is quite a difference between 12 year olds now, and when I was 12.

I have been out to Palo Alto to meet with the rest of my team twice so far(going back next week), and I really like going out there. The area is very nice, and it is not so bad to get around, except if you are commuting when the kids are going to school.   Last week when I was out, it really hit home, that the people that I'm working with are really top-notch.  These guys are unbelievable when it comes to product knowledge.  I was blown away.  Hopefully one day I will be as knowledgeable as they are in this regard.  All of the people that I have met have been really nice.  My team even waited for me to arrive last week before going to lunch.  How nice is that.  If my team is the norm within SAP, then SAP is truly a great company.  They have made me feel right at home and the feeling is good, especially for someone that came from a very small company and was use to the "family" working environment.

My team had a trip to China a couple weeks ago, and I am still kicking myself in the butt for not going along.  I had some loose ends to tie up at home before venturing off to the other side of the world.  I understand that it was quite an experience, and they even took a tour of the "Great Wall" over the weekend.  Sounds like it was a blast,  and I will be joining them next time for sure.

Speaking of my former company, it appears that things may not be getting better, as I understand that the leader of the IT team there has since left the company for another position with a very large well-known SAP customer.  He had been a great boss and I'm sure that he will add a lot of value in his new role, so congratulations to him.  I'm glad that my former colleagues are seeing the writing on the wall and taking the appropriate steps.  One in particular,  who I've worked closely with for the past 6 years or so,  is on the way out as well.  This new opportunity will allow her to spread her wings a bit and try out the "end user" training side of the SAP world.  She is a very good business/technical analyst across a lot of different modules, and will excel as a senior consultant for a large SAP consulting firm.  Congratulations to her as well.