What is your goal as an SAP Consultant?
My main job is to work for customers and implement the code they need for their business purposes. I am also creating a Security Division for SAP. Depending on the project, my tasks are a bit different. For a project for a well-known bank in Belgium, I mainly work on their real estate module. For other projects, my task can be more specific. For example, I help one client whenever they have support needs on their emergency request solution or when there is a bug in their programme.
I really like that I can work on different projects at the same time, because my days never feel the same. There is a lot of diversity in my job, and it is fun because always doing the same thing in the same area would be boring after some time.
My mission as an ABAP Developer is to make the client happy, to respect their development needs, and to implement a future proof solution for them. As a Security Consultant, my goal is to know all the different tricks and techniques to be good at my job and to be able to improve myself.
What are the most important qualities for an SAP Consultant?
Being independent and autonomous and having the right adaptation skills. You should be able to learn the things you need to do in your job by yourself, because you can never learn at school exactly the situations you will be in during your job. This is really a mindset you need to have, and if you have this, you don’t really need to study IT, you will do great in this job anyway.
What achievements are you most proud of?
At Sopra Steria, we already had a Security Team but not for SAP specifically, and I was asked to build this SAP specific Security Team. It was a lot of work, but I had enough support, and I am very thankful for this opportunity. It was challenging, because I had to do a lot of things that I didn’t do before, like handling the budget, and managing people. We are not yet fully ready to look for customers and to start their projects, but we are getting there, and I am very excited about this.
Why do you think other people should work at Sopra Steria?
First, working at Sopra Steria is fun. On top of that, you have a lot of diversity in your job. This may be challenging at times, but you will get the help and support you need, and, in the end, you will have a great sense of achievement.
Fun fact
If Gilles could switch jobs for one day with someone else at Sopra Steria, he would take the job of a Penetration Tester. This is another job in Security where you are basically hired to hack into the system of a company.
Culture and atmosphere at Sopra Steria
The SAP team is quite a young team, and everyone gets along very well, so I would say that working at Sopra Steria is like working with friends. The atmosphere is also rather informal. Even with our management, there is no “mister director”, and we call all management and our CEO by their first name. In my opinion, this is one of the strongest points of Sopra Steria. I would say working at Sopra Steria means working hard, but also playing hard, because the fun part is definitely present. For me, Sopra Steria just really is a great place to work, and I feel proud of working here.
A “Sopra Sterian” must have good adaptation skills, because there are always surprises at work or things for which you have to find a creative solution. It is also important to take your future into your own hands, because there are a lot of opportunities to grow at Sopra Steria, but you have to take the initiative yourself.
Fun fact
If Sopra Steria was an animal, Gilles thinks it would be a monkey, since you never really know what to expect but in the end it always turns out to be fun. It is like a “fun chaos” sometimes.