SAP on AWS: The $200K Skill Gap While Everyone's Learning AI

Source: Dev.to

Last week I watched a senior developer with 8 years of experience get rejected from a cloud‑migration project. His résumé was impressive—Kubernetes expert, certified in three AWS services, and an open‑source contributor. The reason? Zero SAP experience.

The company was willing to pay $180 K for someone who understood both SAP and AWS, but they ended up hiring a contractor at $250 / hour instead.

That moment stuck with me. While everyone’s panicking about AI replacing developers, there’s a massive, under‑discussed gap in cloud computing that’s begging for talent.

Why SAP Matters

“Half the world’s business runs on SAP.” – Senior architect (my internship)

• SAP ERP, S/4HANA, SAP HANA process trillions of dollars in transactions every day.
• Your bank, favorite retailer, and even the car you’re planning to buy rely on SAP‑driven supply chains.
• Most of these systems still sit in dusty data‑centers, burning money on hardware refresh cycles and maintenance contracts that can cost more than a house.

AI: A Tool, Not a Replacement

I use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and newer IDEs such as Kiro to:

• Explain SAP concepts
• Understand AWS services
• Debug issues

AI makes us more productive, but it can’t:

• Make judgment calls when the CIO asks whether to roll back a migration.
• Read the room when SAP Basis and AWS architects blame each other for performance problems.
• Negotiate with a VP terrified of downtime during Q4 holiday sales.

Bottom line: AI amplifies skilled people; it doesn’t replace the judgment, experience, and situational awareness required for complex migrations.

The Real Opportunity

Enterprises are bleeding money trying to find people who can actually execute SAP‑to‑AWS migrations. The gap isn’t technical knowledge—Google and AI can fill that—but judgment and execution.

SAP on AWS isn’t “click‑and‑go”

AWS even has a dedicated SAP on AWS practice, specialized solutions architects, and pre‑built reference architectures. This is a core, not a side, business for Amazon.

Who Should Care?

Getting Started: Two Pillars

1. AWS Fundamentals – Hands‑on deployment, break‑and‑fix, certifications as a guide, not a goal.
2. SAP Literacy – Understand HANA, S/4HANA, and the role of BASIS admins. Use SAP’s free learning accounts.

Suggested Learning Path

1. AWS

   • Complete the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate.
   • Deploy a simple EC2 instance, attach an EBS volume, and practice scaling.
   • Explore AWS Well‑Architected Framework – SAP Lens (see Resources).

2. SAP

   • Sign up for a SAP Learning Hub, discovery edition (free).
   • Run a SAP HANA Express Edition on a local VM.
   • Familiarize yourself with SAP Basis tasks (system copy, backup, HA).

3. Combine

   • Follow the AWS SAP Reference Architectures.
   • Participate in AWS immersion days or SAP‑on‑AWS webinars.
   • Seek a small‑scale project (e.g., migrate a dev‑system) to apply both skill sets.

Resources

• AWS SAP Lens (Well‑Architected Framework) – Start here. Every SAP‑on‑AWS project references it.
• SAP on AWS Documentation – Official guides, best practices, and reference architectures.
• AWS Partner: SAP on AWS – Find consulting partners and case studies.
• SAP Learning Hub – Discovery Edition – Free accounts for hands‑on labs.
• AWS Free Tier – Experiment with EC2, EBS, and networking without cost.

Closing Thoughts

I’m five months into my career as a developer, still juggling learning new tech with delivering work. I’m not making $200 K, nor am I leading migration projects. But a one‑month exposure to SAP HANA and ERP during my internship showed me how different enterprise tech is from tutorial‑style learning.

The contractor earning $250 / hour had the rare blend of SAP + AWS—that’s the market gap. I’m now investing time to understand SAP alongside my AWS work. It’s vast, complex, and not always “exciting,” but the opportunity is real, and someone will fill it.

If you’d like a detailed learning roadmap (resources, timelines, hands‑on projects), let me know in the comments! 🚀

Specialty Certification (advanced, but the target)

SAP Side

• SAP Learning Hub – Free tier available. Focus on HANA basics and S/4HANA overview.

Hands‑On

• AWS Skill Builder: SAP on AWS – Free courses and learning paths.
• AWS Workshops: SAP on AWS – Hands‑on labs you can actually do.
• AWS SAP Community on re:Post – Engineers solving real‑world problems.

Reality Check

• Review SAP BASIS job descriptions to see which skills are valued.
• Compare with AWS Solutions Architect roles that focus on enterprise.
• The overlap is your opportunity.

Note: Committing to this learning path while maintaining your current role and continuing to develop technical skills will be challenging—especially with the rapid pace of AI. It requires discipline (early mornings, focused weekends, and saying “no” to distractions). However, market demand and career trajectory make it a worthwhile investment.

The challenge isn’t only technical. It’s staying consistent when progress feels slow, concepts are dense, and peers are learning flashier technologies. That very difficulty creates the opportunity: most people won’t put in the work, so those who do become highly valuable.

I’m documenting this journey not as an expert, but as someone in the trenches. If you’re considering this path, already working in SAP or AWS, or have insights to share, I’d love to connect.

Connect & Collaborate

• Portfolio:
• LinkedIn:
• GitHub:

Thanks for reading 🙌 — Tapas Singhal