How meaningful upskilling and reskilling can change people’s future

⇨ The World Economic Forum forecasts that 23% of global jobs will change in the next five years due to advancements in technology, particularly AI and processing technologies, highlighting the importance of upskilling.

⇨ SAP has enhanced its certification program with the SAP Learning Hub, offering tailored resources and learning paths to help individuals develop relevant skills for evolving job markets.

⇨ Success stories, like that of Chelcie Scott, demonstrate how accessible training and certifications can empower individuals, especially underrepresented groups, to pivot into tech careers and improve job prospects.

As the outlook for the employment sector evolves with technology and changing skill requirements, things are estimated to pivot even more. The World Economic Forum predicts that 23 percent of global jobs will change over the next five years due to industry transformation, including AI and other text, image and voice processing technologies. 

With a hefty percentage of jobs set to change in the foreseeable future, and the talent shortage coming with it due to new technologies, building up one’s skills is becoming vital. 

For this reason, SAP has enhanced its certification program at the beginning of 2024 with the launch of the enhanced SAP Learning Hub. Learners can get certified with trusted resources and learning paths tailored to roles, upskilling in a meaningful way that can improve their lives and help technology enthusiasts diversify their skills and careers. 

Demonstrating intermediate or advanced skills with over 90 globally recognized role- and product-based certifications, they can focus on core skills and competencies, making their skillset more sustainable and relevant for longer.

As of April 2024, certified learners need to continuously keep their skills up-to-date and certifications valid with evolving products by completing mandatory yearly assessments before their certification expires.

With an SAP Learning Hub subscription, learners can prepare for and take the stay-certified assessments at any time during the validity period of their certification. By staying certified, and completing regular assessments early, learners not only ensure that they are a front runner with the latest skills, but also increase their value in the marketplace, leading to greater job security, higher salaries and more opportunities for career advancement.

Delving into a powerful example of how this can be done, we heard from a tech professional about her journey of breaking into tech with the help of SAP.

Finding herself as a single parent at the age of 20, Chelcie Scott moved to Atlanta, Georgia, one year after her daughter was born to seek a better life with more opportunities.

While she soon started her own business as a performance coach, Scott was trying to make ends meet. “Having an income that’s not always reliable – it’s difficult. I’ve always enjoyed entrepreneurship, but it always comes with a certain cost of things,” she said, until she was offered the opportunity to pivot into the tech industry.  

Digital skills initiative provides learning and certification 

With the help of Rejoice Jones from Vower, an organization which connects communities with non-traditional employers, and SAP’s digital skills initiative, Scott joined an SAP S/4HANA bootcamp.

 “I wanted to change the trajectory for my family, to show my daughter that women, especially black women have the capacity and skills to work in these spaces and sectors,” she said. At the same time, statistics indicate that only 27 percent of all computing-related jobs are held by women, the number for people from ethnic minorities dropping even lower, making securing a fulfilling role in the industry seem out of reach for most.

With many barriers to these industries, SAP continues to provide accessible training and certifications for everyone. The enhanced certification program can help learners to easily upskill with modular and bite-sized learning that can be completed wherever they learn best – no matter if advancing in their current developer role or pivoting into consulting as a solution architect. 

With the corresponding learning journeys, they can dive deep into the overall picture and certify their knowledge as an architect, consultant, developer, data analyst, data engineer or administrator.