Meet Espresso Tutorials Authors Paul and Rick Bakker

Meet Espresso Tutorials authors Paul Bakker and Rick Bakker. Paul and Rick wrote How to Pass the SAP ABAP Certification Exam. Paul and Rick are twin brothers. Paul lives in Brisbane, Australia and Rick has a house in Hawaii and lives there whenever he can. They spent their high school years in Amsterdam and speak Dutch fluently. Now you may find them nearly anywhere on earth! Keep reading to learn more about Paul and Rick.

 

How did you get your start with SAP?

Perhaps not strangely, for twins, we both got our start with SAP at the same time in the same place. Rick was working for Shell Gabon (Central Africa) as an Oracle Database Administrator in 1997 when they became one of the first Shell companies to implement SAP. Paul was there also, as a website developer and IT helpdesk guy. They needed some help so we joined in,\ eager to learn something new and interesting.

What are you most proud of in your SAP career?
We are very active on SCN (SAP Community Network) and have both been named Member Of The Month. But what we’re most proud of, is the number of people we have helped over the years. Rick has been a Top Contributor on the Workflow forum for more than 5 years. In the working world, we have been honored to share our expertise at some government SAP sites around the world. When you help the governments, you help the people. We also enjoyed presenting together at SAPPHIRE in Orlando a few years ago, and meeting some of the legends of the SAP world.

What are some of the most important trends that you see currently impacting SAP teams?
Outsourcing is a very interesting and sometimes very challenging trend. We hope that our book helps more people get certified so that offshore companies can more easily choose suitable staff. HANA and cloud computing could also be very important game changers, we’re very interested to see how it lives up to its promise.

What professional organizations are you associated with?
We have participated in SAP User Groups in Australia and abroad.

How do you stay up to date on SAP topics? What resources do you regularly use?
We both use SCN almost every day, so that is our main source for SAP news. We also use Google Alerts to get emails about any big SAP announcements.

What is the most interesting trip that you ever took? 
Our trip to North Korea in 1995 was very memorable. We had some strange meals, got to hear some bizarre interpretations of history and saw the DMZ from the other side. As one of the very few tourists back then we were treated like VIPs wherever we went, despite our youth. We look forward to returning one day and helping them install SAP!

Learn more about How to Pass the SAP ABAP Certification Exam.

Demystify the SAP ABAP certification process and get the knowledge you need to pass the SAP Certified Development Associate exam. This book offers a comprehensive guide to passing the certification exam—dive into question formats, review the core material you need to know, and find out what to expect on the exam. What are ABAP certification questions really like? How many different formats are there? Dive into the 11 certification topic areas including ABAP Dictionary, ABAP programming, ABAP Objects, Web Dynpro for ABAP, and enhancements and modifications. Learn proven strategies for passing the exam including practical tips for maximizing your score. This book includes realistic abbreviated and full-length sample exams and a comprehensive checklist of topics that you will be expected to know. Find out what to expect on the day of the exam. If you have the ABAP skills, this book gives you the best possible chance of passing the SAP Certified Development Associate exam.

– Essential guide on how to pass the ABAP Associate Certification exam
– Overview of certification exam topics
– Proven strategies for passing the exam
– Abbreviated and full-length practice exams with answer guides