SAP Certification – A pricey question

SAP wants that you have a valid SAP Learning Hub subscription to get certified. 1,368$ to register for an SAP certification exam attempt. All roads lead to SAP Learning Hub subscription. Alternatives are not promoted. It is unknown for how long it is still possible to get certified for little money.

SAP consultants and developers are a rare resource. Yet, experience is not always what counts. Sometimes a prove that a person knows a little bit about a topic is needed. An official SAP certification is an option to show that. Some argue that a certification has no value, does not show that someone knows how to work with SAP in the real world, etc. All true, yet, reality is simple: for some jobs or requirements an SAP certification is needed. While the motivation can differ, the process for all is the same. After learning, the real certification process starts with signing up for an exam. For this, an exam attempt must be bought. With the latest changes in learning and certification, SAP opted to extract as much money as possible from learners that want to get certified. Certifications are only valid for 12 months and SAP wants you to subscribe to SAP Learning Hub to get or stay certified. That’s a pricey, yearly subscription to claim a certification.

Let me share my journey trying to buy an exam voucher valid for one attempt.

Let’s start at SAP Learning. On the start page the value of certification is advertised, as well as popular certifications (because: get certified in what is popular, not what fits your needs, right?).

1^st attempt

Going for the “Stay certified and stay ahead” link shows a nice overview page about SAP certification. The question on how to get and stay certified is answered there:

This will redirect to the SAP Learning Hub and suggest buying a subscription. 1,368 $, but at least it comes with 4 certification exam attempts. Maybe not what is needed for attending only one exam.

2^nd attempt

There is the Get Certified page.

This page contains a section on how to book a certification exam.

To get certified, it is suggested to buy either SAP Learning hub or a partner edition. The “Buy SAP Learning Hub” opens the Learning Hub pricing section. The same 1,368$ as above.

3^rd attempt

The get certified page contains a “More questions?” section.

This open a FAQ page. Let me share with you the FAQ.

Expand the items.

The link under “Getting certified” redirects to: FAQ page on “How to get certified?”. First item is a link to a step-by-step guide.

The link opens the page “How to get certified?” Item 3. “Purchase a subscription” states that you need a SAP Learning Hub subscription to be able to buy an exam attempt. The link for SAP Learning Hub goes to the LH pricing. So, it is again 1,368$.

4^th attempt

So far, trying to buy an SAP certification exam attempt via the SAP learning site leads subscribing to SAP Learning Hub. What is the outcome when accessing the certification page, like “SAP Certified Associate – Back-End Developer- ABAP Cloud” directly?

Not really a surprise: please buy an SAP Learning Hub subscription. But: what about the second item? This is what is needed: purchased SAP certification exam attempt. But why is there no link? Let’s try to schedule an exam. Clicking the button:

A message is displayed.

Clicking on “Purchase exam attempts”:

Again: please buy SAP Learning Hub for 1,368 $ to be able to attempt an SAP certification exam.

5^th attempt

This time, going through the SAP learning profile.

There is a reference to the document “SAP Certification Recommendation”.

The important part here is: “Please make sure you have a subscription to SAP Learning Hub to get and stay certified”. Get and stay certified. Most important: subscribe to SAP LH to GET certified. No SAP LH subscription, no certification.

Giving up

SAP is serious about SAP Learning Hub: buy a subscription or forget about getting certified.

This might seem as a surprise, considering that SAP promotes their certification as a way to prove that a developer or consultant are trained and skilled. Considering that other IT companies give away exam vouchers for free, or for a lower cost than 1,368$, one question remains: why? What is the reason to come up with a massive paywall for SAP professionals to get certified? It does not help that for 1,368$ you get 4 exam vouchers. How many times do you get certified in 4 exams? One or two per year max, if at all. This massive paywall turns into a Mount Everest for normal employees. My guess: the number of certified SAP professionals will decrease. As a reaction, SAP will make it for more areas a requirement to be certified.

One more time

Being in the SAP business for some time, I know that outside SAP Learning Hub and SAP Learning, there is a website called SAP Training.

There you get the option to buy one (1!) exam attempt.

CER001 is still available in the training shop! 217$ + tax.

217$ is less than 1,368$. That’s the offering you need to get certified!

Why is SAP not referring to this offering on SAP learning? Why push SAP Learning Hub? Promoting fee courses on SAP Learning, and then pushing people to LH when they want to get certified? Why not redirect them to the one voucher offering available at SAP Training? I know that the benefit of LH is not the content (the PDFs), nor the forums. It is to some degree the SAP systems and … mainly the SAP systems. Instead of pushing people to LH by making it mandatory for certifications, why not make LH attractive by assuring that it offers the value people need? Why pushing people away with high prices that found SAP learning and wanted to upskill themselves?

As the 217$ +tax offering for one exam attempt (543$ +tax for 6 attempts) is not promoted, nor linked on SAP Learning: for how long will this offering still be available? Will SAP cancel it next year? Is the future for buying an exam voucher only via SAP LH? If you only want to get certified: be fast before LH is mandatory?