Accenture Energy

As a consultant at Accenture, I worked on a renewable energy project: building new SAP functionality to help an oil and gas client cut their carbon footprint.

Early on, it was clear the client needed people who could actually program and maintain their internal SAP systems.

Their software was outdated and missing the features they needed to hit their sustainability goals. On top of that, they were short on ABAP developers, which made it even harder to move their environmental initiatives forward. They needed programmers, badly.

Tools: SAP and ABAP.

The client faced the challenge of an outdated software infrastructure that could not align with their sustainability objectives.

A scarcity of ABAP developers added to the client's difficulties in implementing environmental initiatives.

The need to introduce change within a century-old company posed additional challenges, since it had a lot of legacy code.

Client teams became more agile and data-driven, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.

Manual processes that once consumed significant resources were automated, allowing teams to focus on strategic tasks.

SAP S/4 gave the client a foundation to roll out industry-specific technologies faster, which mattered as the energy sector kept shifting under them.

The client's objective was clear: modernize a century-old system for a more technologically advanced era. I used my existing programming background to pick up ABAP, the SAP programming language, so I could support the development team.

That meant tackling technical challenges most people wouldn't expect from a "legacy" system, while making sure SAP S/4 integrated cleanly into their existing IT setup. I was initially assigned to a junior project manager role, but I pushed to move into a developer role instead. I barely knew ABAP at the time, but I made the case that my skills were worth more to the understaffed dev team, and it worked.

On the Accenture Energy collaboration with OXY, I leaned on my technical background, problem-solving skills, and data management experience to take on a real role in the work, not just an observer seat.

Getting there took a deliberate push to learn ABAP fast, paired with working closely alongside senior developers rather than just studying alone. That combination — self-directed learning plus real collaboration — is what let me contribute to solutions that actually held up.

The project's user journey began with the client identifying gaps in the SAP system and pinpointing the unmet needs that impacted efficiency. Once identified, they communicated these requirements to project managers to ensure the development team understood the enhancements. My team then analyzed the specifics, estimated the timeline, assessed the complexity, and coded the changes. This collaborative journey was crucial for meeting user needs and implementing solutions effectively within SAP.

A typical task meant coding custom tables and modifying the UI of existing applications to fit specific business requirements — work that directly improved how users managed data and ran processes in SAP.

I got up to speed on ABAP quickly by following recommendations from peers, and within the first month I was designing customized UI changes and getting good feedback from colleagues and clients alike.

Knowing SQL was helpful, but ABAP was still different enough, and materials to learn it weren't as abundant. Fortunately, my peers recommended a book and I found an online course. By the end of the first week, I was already pair programming with a more senior coworker and solving small bugs. During the first month, I was designing small changes to the UI that would help the client's specific needs, ultimately receiving good feedback from both coworkers and clients.

This project traces my path from a junior ABAP developer to someone contributing real work on a sustainability initiative — proof that adaptability and a willingness to push for what I wanted mattered more than starting with deep technical experience.

As a programmer at Accenture, I supported a client's digital transformation and SAP S/4 implementation. Those lessons in problem-solving under pressure are ones I still carry into design work now.

The client was happy with the work, but the project got cut short by COVID-19 and the economic uncertainty that hit the oil and gas industry around that time. Given more runway, I think we could have pushed their sustainability goals a lot further.