In this fourth episode of ASUG Talks: Candid Career Conversations, season 2, we talk with Amy Her, Associate Partner with AscendN.
A full transcript follows:
Laurel Nelson-Rowe:
Today I'm joined by Amy Her, Associate Partner with AscendN. Welcome to ASUG Talks, Amy.
Amy Her:
Thanks for having me, Laurel. Super excited to be here.
Nelson-Rowe:
Yeah, it's a great day and a great conversation to come. But before we get to those career details, we'd like to take a step back with a couple of questions about your background. Where did you grow up, and did that affect you in wanting to become a professional, and if so, how?
Her:
I grew up in the Twin Cities, in Minnesota, and I think it definitely did affect me as a professional. "Minnesota nice" is a real thing. As you're pumping gas, for those five minutes you're pumping gas, you learn about the person next to you whole life. And it's such a wholesome, genuine conversation that it really has translated into who I am as a professional, because everyone that I meet, I have these genuine conversations with, no direction or no intention behind it.
And just having these wonderful, wholesome moments to get to know people, and when there's opportunities to help, I'm willing to do that. And I feel like Minnesotans definitely are always very neighborly, very willing to help, and I think that's translated across into my professional world.
Nelson-Rowe:
Into your professional life. And along the same lines, what values and principles from your childhood have contributed to your career and the professional that you are today?
Her:
Well, I came from an extremely large family. I have five brothers, four older than me. So my parents were obviously very busy, had their hands full. And so we were taught to be considerate of each other, treat each other how we wanted to be treated, and help where we could.
Whatever we wanted, we had to work hard for it. There were no handouts. And then with my dad being a mechanic, he was a tinkerer by nature. So the value there was that, "Always try to figure it out yourself first, before you ask for help. And obviously if you need help, ask for it.” So I think those are the biggest values and principles that I see in my everyday professional life. How I conduct myself, always being considerate of others, and help where I can, and figure it out first. And if I can't, then I'll tap into my resources.
Nelson-Rowe:
A tinkerer, you had a model tinkerer?
Her:
I did.
Nelson-Rowe:
Did that influence how you wanted to pursue a career in information technology, and did you always want to pursue a career in IT?
Her:
That's interesting. I did not actually have any plans to pursue a career in IT, although the rest of my family members stumbled into their IT careers. But my first taste in IT and tinkering, I worked as a cell phone technician in college, where I actually broke apart cell phones and replaced hardware, soldered things onto the motherboard. And it was really cool because when I first started, I mean I was replacing rubber keypads on a flip phone, and by the time I left the job I was troubleshooting software on the smartphones that had no keypads. So it was very cool.
Nelson-Rowe:
And so that was a little bit of an exposure to IT.
Her:
I mostly stumbled into the IT world just from various different roles that I've had, and just grew from there.
Nelson-Rowe:
Do you still fix phones?
Her:
I fix my own phones and I've saved many a friend from their cracked screens, from having to replace their cell phones, but I don't do it anymore.
Nelson-Rowe:
What was your first true IT role with SAP technology involved?
Her:
I actually was first exposed to SAP was when I worked for a consulting firm that provided IT solutions. And one of the solutions they provided was SAP security. Through my interactions with those SAP folks that I started to learn just the vastness of SAP solutions. I saw only one small module and realized there were numerous modules and numerous different capabilities that SAP had.
Nelson-Rowe:
And so that was a first step in this SAP world. Would you say that over time you've been a career opportunist? Were you always tapped for roles? Are you a hybrid?
Her:
Yeah, I'm a big planner. I had a path that I wanted to take, and a path that I had carved for myself. But as most people know, life doesn't always pan out the way you intend. So since then I've taken opportunities that were put before me, and opportunities that I never really considered myself for, but I found it interesting, and I had the right skill set, so I figured, "Why not give it a try?" So yeah, I think I'm definitely more of a hybrid person when it comes to the career path.
Nelson-Rowe:
So we're going to talk about that career path, but we're going to challenge you. ASUG Talks likes lightning round questions, so here, in two minutes or less, share your career highlights in the world of IT and SAP technology.
Her:
After I got my college degree, I started in marketing. I did operations, finance, and then I finally fell into IT. The biggest highlights, it's kind of hard to pick one specific one out, because in the realm of IT, there's so many different kinds of projects that you can get involved in. The biggest ones that stand out to me were projects that involved folks from different divisions, different departments of the company, that came together to accomplish a large undertaking that affected the entire company.
An example that comes to mind is when we did a big process ownership conversion during a merger and acquisition, we had to take a whole HR process, IT components included, and gathered all the components that we needed to make sure that it was a seamless transfer over, so our folks didn't get lost in the mix. So that was a really cool project because we worked with business users, we worked with IT, very technical IT folks. We worked with HR folks that didn't know anything about the systems or the processes and having to understand how they use the tools.
And then another big project was implementing a new system that improved efficiency in the process flow and the work stream, just gathering technical, non-technical folks, and getting their input to make sure that we were able to implement this new system, without any big holdups or any big obstacles. You take the time to really get into the details, and make sure you don't leave any I's undotted or T's uncrossed, when you see a seamless implementation of it and there's really no big rework, it's really a big accomplishment. And I feel like those are the biggest highlights for my career that I can pinpoint.
Nelson-Rowe:
On those two examples, what role did you play?
Her:
I played more of a liaison between different divisions. I did lead the recruiting side, how we used the tools, the data management, data migration from our recruiting tools over to the HR systems. And then another one that I did was I kind of led the project, I vetted the new system, had them come and present to our stakeholders, and then decide from there which system we wanted to go forward with, and then start the implementation process from there.
Nelson-Rowe:
It sounds like a lot of diplomacy through these activities.
Her:
Yes, very people-oriented roles for sure.
Nelson-Rowe:
So as you've reflected back on career to date, what's been the favorite job role or responsibility so far?
Her:
So far I would have to say, it's hard to pick because there's so many different aspects of roles that you like, but my favorite job is probably the one I'm currently in. And no, it was not a paid endorsement to say that. No, I really do love this job, mainly because I have the opportunity to meet new people every day. I have the opportunity to continue to build relationships, and then ultimately connect these people to each other.
It's incredibly satisfying when I can help, say, a candidate find a right opportunity, whether they've been laid off or if they're just looking for an opportunity to grow or pivot their career, or maybe a consultant looking for another contract.
And then on the other side of that, a client having a major challenge that they have to work on, and having the exact right person with the exact right skill sets for them to take on that challenge is really satisfying, when you could see just two very happy parties join up and have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Nelson-Rowe:
And then is this role involved with placing people in SAP technology projects specifically?
Her:
So a big chunk of what we do at AscendN is we work with SAP consultants, and we actually help with SAP implementation partners. So we work with clients who are directly implementing SAP, or implementation partners who are helping clients implement SAP. And we have a huge network of SAP professionals that we've worked with for the last 15 years, that come on and off projects, that we know and trust. And we've had a great working relationship with them, and we've deployed them on these projects.
We've also done executive searches for companies that are looking for folks to join them permanently as well. So yeah, I mean through conversations, you never know when you meet the right person for the right opportunity.
Nelson-Rowe:
So you've been there and done that on SAP projects, and now you're placing other professionals into those roles and responsibilities.
Her:
Correct.
Nelson-Rowe:
So you're in your favorite right now. On the flip side, what's been the most challenging role and responsibility in your past life?
Her:
All these tough questions, it's really hard to pinpoint. I feel like any role that requires you to have to learn a new skill, or to have some vulnerability and say, "Hey, I don't know how to do that," I think is kind of a challenging place to be.
But one that specifically comes to mind was my job as a financial analyst. I was not a numbers person at all. It was definitely a huge weakness of mine. I barely made it through my college courses, my college math courses, but it really made me focus on something that I didn't feel confident about, a skill I didn't feel confident about.
It made me really hone in and focus on a weakness, and taught me to be comfortable with making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes. And then also leveraging tools and resources to help overcome any shortcomings that I might have. So, needless to say, I got really good at Excel in that role.
Nelson-Rowe:
What's been the best career decision that you made, and why was it the best, and what did you learn from that decision process?
Her:
The best decision I've made to date is probably leaving my old company and joining this one. That is because it's always scary to go somewhere new and start a new position. But it's extra scary when you've been somewhere for a long time: you have established relationships, you know the business process and procedures in and out. You're a subject-matter expert in your area. And leaving that comfort zone to something that's new and different was incredibly scary. It was a big challenge for me because it's a completely new environment, new role, new skills. I took the risk and I did it, and it's been just an amazing, incredible experience so far.
Nelson-Rowe:
Is there anything in your career, either project or career path, that you'd like to do over, and why would you like to do it over again?
Her:
The one thing that really, really stuck out to me was not taking a risk because of the fear of failure. So I actually had just started at a company, I was about five or six months in, and a management position had come open, and my manager came in and said, "Hey, did you put your name in for the role?" And I said, "No, I'm brand new, I just started, I don't think I'm ready for it." And so she's like, "Okay." And she took my word for it, but I eventually ended up in that management role a year and a half later. Once I was in that role, I realized that I should have just taken the opportunity, and taken the risk, of maybe I wasn't 100% ready for it, but I would've learned along the way, because I did just fine in that position.
So I think if I could have done it again, I would've taken a moment to pause and think about whether or not I should have just thrown my name in the mix and see how the interview process went, and if they thought I was ready for it, regardless if I didn't feel that way or not.
Nelson-Rowe:
Is there any time or opportunity or job that you went after and didn't get, and what might that have taught you?
Her:
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, but apparently I didn't reach the height minimum.
No, in all seriousness, I feel like it's hard to remember a job that I really wanted and didn't get, because I felt like if it wasn't meant for me, it wasn't meant for me. And the biggest lesson learned was there was a reason why I didn't get that job, whether I didn't have the right skill set, or I didn't fit the team dynamic, but what it did allow was for me to get the roles that I have gotten in the past, and that have shaped me to who I am today.
Nelson-Rowe:
Great, great. Are there aspects of education training, professional development that have been essential for your success in your career path?
Her:
Yeah, I've taken different courses and certifications, but I felt like the best experiences for growth and education was getting hands on and learning from other folks, whether it's events like ASUG, or different training events where you can collaborate on a mock project. I think there's something really incredible and valuable in learning from your peers, through their obstacles and their experiences and their challenges that they've overcome. And it gives you a different perspective on things, too.
Nelson-Rowe:
So we're going to go to a next lightning round, two minutes or less, to explain what are the three things that you've learned from being in this field of IT and SAP technology, that people should know as they're considering careers in IT with SAP?
Her:
Yeah. The IT world, as big as it is, it is a very tight knit community. You're never alone. There is plenty of SAP users that are very eager to help each other through challenges and talk about different obstacles that they've overcome.
Another thing is that you may think you're going through a very unique challenge, but more often than not there's someone out there that's already gone through that same exact challenge and could help you through with approaches and ideas. All it takes is just having those conversations and initiating those collaborative moments, where you can talk to each other about it.
And then another thing is that I feel like the underlying tone to everything I'm saying is that people are such great assets in general, when it comes to resources, when it comes to education, knowledge sharing. They are just the greatest asset to organizations. And organizations that value those folks will keep them inspired, motivated, and definitely invest in training.
Nelson-Rowe:
Has it been a challenge for you to get out and find people who've been helpful? Sometimes IT people are associated with being introverts. I sense you're not an introvert, but has it been challenging to find the right people and the right network?
Her:
Sometimes it could be. I feel like the SAP community, though, is a little different. They are a lot more open, and open to talk about different things that they've come across, and willing to learn from each other. Say if you're talking developers, outside of SAP, maybe, but in general, SAP, I feel like it does a really good job of creating that community.
Nelson-Rowe:
Across industries, and across jobs and functions. What are you most passionate about in what you do now? What drives that passion?
Her:
Well, I think the bottom line is being able to help people, being able to connect the right people at the right time. And I'm just lucky enough to get to do that for a living. And that's not just for IT in general, it's everything in life. If I come across people that may be interested in a nonprofit that someone else I know is running, I definitely would love to connect those people. And there's so many different avenues that what I do allows me to just reach out beyond IT, and beyond the professional realm of my life.
Nelson-Rowe:
What kind of feedback, by the way, do you get from those professionals that you place in great positions?
Her:
A lot of times it becomes a long-term relationship, because it's not just a quick, "Oh hey, you have skills A, B, and C. This person's looking for skills A, B, and C." It's really taking the time to get to know them, and who they are, and what they value, on both sides. When a hiring manager's looking for someone, not only do they want certain skill sets, but they want this type of personality. And so I feel like I really get to know these folks and the reactions, to answer your question, the reactions I get from them, it's not so much a reaction, it's just more of a long-standing relationship, and then there's lots of trust there, so we can work with each other over time and it's not just a one-time thing.
Nelson-Rowe:
So that's the positive and the passion and the feedback. What's most difficult about what you do now?
Her:
Most difficult would definitely be timing, because I might know the exact right person you're looking for, but they may not be available at the time, or the project comes along when other folks are unavailable for whatever, if they're working on another project or if they're dealing with some family things. So it's timing, for sure, I think is the most difficult thing.
Nelson-Rowe:
Does the pace of technology change also challenge you and the people that you're attempting to place in positions?
Her:
I feel like most folks in IT, especially in regards to SAP, there's always this continuous education that is part of the culture of IT. And I don't really see those challenges because most of the folks that I interact with are always on top of that continuous education. When a brand new solution, or a brand new technology comes out, it's going to be hard to find folks that have taken the initiative and taken the training right away, but I feel like most folks are so resourceful and on top of continuing to learn, that it's not really that big of a challenge.
Nelson-Rowe:
And is the demand for SAP IT professionals growing? Do you have that sense?
Her:
Yeah, we've seen a surge in it in the last year. It really was a candidate's market as well. There were so many opportunities that candidates had their picking, but it ebbs and flows with everything else. Sometimes there's a lot of opportunity, and other times not as much, just depending on what companies are going through and what their budgets allow.
Nelson-Rowe:
As you reflect back, what are you most proud of across your professional life so far?
Her:
I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So for me the things I'm most proud of is actually allowing myself to make mistakes, to, what do they call, fail forward. So making those mistakes and learning from them and growing from it. It is terribly frightening to not be able to deliver 110% all the time. But as hard as it is to take those lessons, it is kind of great to see that, looking back at myself say 20 years ago, it's just great to see the growth from there, from all those mistakes that I've made and learned from.
Nelson-Rowe:
Either from the feedback that you get from clients placed in roles, or from your own experience, are there things that you'd like to change about the field of IT and the field of SAP IT?
Her:
Well, I've heard a lot of my clients say that they would wish that there was a little bit more transparency within SAP--how they present their solutions, and where they are in that lifecycle, the solutions being developed, and then transparency in plans, pricing, just because there's a lot of hidden fees later on down the road.
And then SAP's future roadmap, so that companies can plan accordingly as well. And also the number of acronyms that they have. Within SAP, we can barely keep up with the ones that are already there. So I feel like whenever there's a new solution or a new tool, they have a new acronym to come with it.
Nelson-Rowe:
So to your last point in some recent announcements, they literally had information about, "It used to be called this, and now it's called this." And then that was very, very helpful. If they could always give that kind of primer along with what they're doing, it would provide for greater clarity and transparency,
Her:
Like a cheat sheet or something, of acronyms, would be great. A glossary.
Nelson-Rowe:
Glossary. What have been the most helpful resources that you've used and utilized, and advise your clients to use along the way? And you mentioned ASUG and others as well.
Her:
Yeah, I mean ultimately, obviously ASUG is a great community for people to join and be a part of, because I feel like the most helpful resources are people. I keep coming back to that, but I truly believe it's the knowledge base. Training can only cover so much, where with people, they've experienced so many different things, and have tackled so many different kinds of problems, and created so many different solutions. And I feel like that's definitely been the most helpful resources that I've encountered along the way.
Nelson-Rowe:
Great, great. So your last lightning round question: what are the three best pieces of advice that you'd give to those, either considering their career in IT and SAP tools, or along the path of IT and SAP? What are the pieces of advice?
Her:
I would say, first and foremost, continuous education. Take advantage of attending events, like the ones that ASUG puts on. They include training events about what's new and what's going on within SAP. They have extra tidbits from clients about different cases they've been through, or experiences that they can share. You get to meet other folks in the industry.
So to the second point, get out there and network. You can definitely meet some really interesting folks, where maybe you can help them or they can help you and open up opportunities to collaborate.
And then my last tip of advice with SAP, in particular, is if you're starting out in it, learn as much as you can technically, functionally about different areas of SAP. Wear various hats, but at some point find a niche that you find that you enjoy, and plays on your strengths, whether it be BTP, GTS, treasury, IBP. I've seen so many folks that specialize in those areas that become very valuable folks to the organization, or to any projects that they participate in.
Nelson-Rowe:
So specialization, and grow that network, and get out there and learn.
Her:
Yeah. Yes.
Nelson-Rowe:
So we've come to the wrap up question. If you could have that one superpower to be better at your job and more successful in your career, what would it be?
Her:
So I wish there was a way for me to make flying work as a superpower, but more practical, I wish that my one superpower would be picture-perfect memory, so I could recall all the right people at the right moment. When I'm talking to someone who might be needing someone exactly like that person, it's kind of like a moving puzzle piece. I wish I had a perfect recall of the perfect piece to put into that spot when it becomes available.
Nelson-Rowe:
Sounds like a database.
Her:
Yeah, it sure does.
Nelson-Rowe:
A forever database. All right. Those perfect people. So anything else?
Her:
No, I feel like I've talked a lot about myself, so...
Nelson-Rowe:
Sharing with yourself and conversing about your career, that's the point. So thanks very much for joining us today.
Her:
Well thank you so much for having me.