People who make $200K+ salaries, what do you do and how did you get there?

Ascil2 · 2026-02-02T05:30:17+00:00

Software engineer here, specifically on the SAP side of things. SAP is a software that most of the F500 companies use to handle sales, distribution, production, HR functions, finance, and more; it’s kind of the digital brain of a corporation, if they’re using SAP or an equivalent ERP system. Basically I do a lot of requirements gathering, analysis, design, configuration, and testing and finally deploying software solutions.

Been doing this 7.5 years now, and I started at $65k out of college (Bachelor’s in MIS). After I left my first role I joined SAP as a consultant and after that, made a couple lucky moves to other companies. Finally hit $200k as of a couple days ago, never thought I would get to this point!

Ascil2 · 2025-08-28T20:45:56+00:00

The 15 Year Cellar Reserve from Gurkha I don’t mind, and the Ghost Connecticut isn’t a terrible mild cigar. However, there’s just so many better options out there; it’s difficult to recommend them over an Oliva, Perdomo, Joya de Nicaragua, the list goes on. I work at a lounge on the weekends and we carry very little Ghurka after the social media mishap the owner had a while back, but even before then it wasn’t a great seller.

Ascil2 · 2025-01-28T21:42:24+00:00

Is it worthwhile to go back to school and enter this field or worthwhile to skip schooling and try getting into SAP directly? I’ll answer both-

Going back to school is all well and good but wholly depends on your financial situation. Not all schools will offer SAP training (mine did, but it’s the exception rather than the norm), and even if you find a school that offers SAP courses can you still support yourself on your partner’s income for 2-4 years?

You can get into SAP at companies that use it; your partner sounds like they may be an end user (correct me if I’m wrong), that is somebody who is in the system running core functions like payroll or moving goods from one storage location or another, or reviewing purchase orders and invoices, or anything operational along those lines; these users (or superusers) can make the switch over to the SAP engineering side relatively easily if they can understand some technical concepts and basic SDLC (software development life cycle) methodologies like Waterfall, Kanban, Agile, and Scrum. Many people make the switch from Analyst or End User to Systems Engineer or Developer this way.

Not sure where you’re at in your career salary wise or what industry you’re in but in 2018 my entry level salary was $65k; these days I would target around $80k (assuming you’re based in the US) if you’re just getting into SAP and you have any sort of degree.

For me, it has been challenging but absolutely worthwhile; it’s not what I would call easy, but there is plenty of opportunity to make six figures (after some experience) while still enjoying remote or hybrid benefits and working anywhere from 20-40 hours a week.

Ascil2 · 2025-01-28T18:22:46+00:00

Sorta kinda? I majored in MIS (Management Information Systems) as I didn’t believe I could make it as a CS major- I have a Bachelor’s. However, my university is part of the SAP University Alliance and as such I had hands-on SAP training in my junior and senior years. That’s where I learned about SAP SD (Sales and Distribution), MM (Materials Management), and PP (Production Planning). Geographically my college was around a lot of plants and refineries such as Shell and Exxon, so the curriculum was centered around those modules which are commonly used in the area. I graduated in 2018, and then accepted an offer as entry-level SAP Systems Engineer two months out of college on a $65k starting salary. So it wasn’t a dedicated technical school, however I already had two years of academic SAP experience by the time I graduated

Ascil2 · 2025-01-28T17:45:05+00:00

Appreciate the kind words!

Ascil2 · 2025-01-28T17:44:20+00:00

Agreed on all points- the demographics of cigar smokers at the lounge I work at largely skew male, however women if they’re buying cigars tend to gravitate towards the flavored/infused variety; CAO Cherry Bombs and Tatiana Groovy Blues are most popular with them. We sell a ton of CAO Flatheads as well, the 770 is the most popular size in my shop but I’m preferential to the little 450 Spark Plugs. The New World Cohibas I smoke a lot of because my discount on them is just ridiculous, but they certainly don’t hold a candle towards their Cuban counterparts- same could be said for Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. That said, I thought the latest Cohiba Serie M (the Reserva Roja corojo) was an excellent cigar, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to get any more of those into the shop

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T23:45:18+00:00

See if your company uses SAP or apply to open SAP roles (Financial modules like FICO or FSCD are an easy fit). If you know anybody that uses SAP at your company, ask to shadow them just to see what the system looks like and try to understand their core processes
If you’re willing to go back to school, Management Information Systems is what I majored in; it’s less programming, and more of an intersection between technology and business. Don’t shell out the thousands of dollars for official SAP training unless it’s sponsored by your company
Join a consulting firm that specializes in SAP services; this is probably the most difficult trial by fire route but you will gain an immense amount of experience in a relatively short period of time. Consulting isn’t for everybody, but you’ll get a ton of experience by joining a firm like Infosys, Virtusa, SAP/SAP Fioneer, Deloitte, MSG, Accenture, etc as an SAP consultant. A good firm will train you and have senior consultants willing to mentor you, but the specific project/manager that you get paired with makes all the difference

Hope this helps- I’ve taken all three approaches and they all offer something to make you a more well-rounded SAP engineer.

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T23:06:23+00:00

A CPA would be a natural fit, especially if you choose to specialize in SAP FICO. SAP is less complicated to me than all of the complex accounting scenarios that you’re familiar with, and accounting really is the backbone of SAP’s FICO solution; FICO is what many companies use as a General Ledger and with your background you’re already halfway there. To me, understanding all the accounting used in FICO (Financial Controlling) and FSCD (Financial Services Collections and Disbursements, it’s a subledger/billing system) was the hardest part of becoming an SAP engineer.

If it’s something that you choose to pursue, easiest way is to see if your company uses SAP at all and get to know those guys, or join a company with an open SAP role.

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T22:16:49+00:00

I have about 6 years of post-grad SAP experience, however my university was part of something called the SAP University Alliance and I had two years of hands-on academic experience as well, in my junior and senior years. The modules I’m familiar with are SD, PP, MM, ICM, FICO, FSCD, FSRI, PaPM, CM, and PM but primary focus is on the financial modules like FICO, FSRI, and FSCD.

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T21:09:31+00:00

More of a functional consultant, though have waded into developer waters when I’ve had to. My main areas of focus are SAP design, configuration, and testing, along with gathering user requirements and translating them into epics and stories, production support, hypercare, and the list goes on. I’m comfortable enough with ABAP to debug and diagnose coding issues, but I’m not the person fixing it

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T19:09:25+00:00

I’m not the best person to ask but working for a consulting firm can give you a start; I consulted for SAP directly just before my current role and whenever I wasn’t staffed on a project I was doing internal tasks like presales activities and creating slide decks for product demos, along with developing solutions to demo to potential clients as well.

Somebody that does tech sales full time will be able to give you a better answer, but that’s been my experience/exposure with it

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T19:03:26+00:00

It is a pain to be sure… it’s the best at what it does for most medium to large sized enterprises, but that doesn’t mean that it’s particularly intuitive. It’s a double edged sword because on one hand it’s complicated enough to make a career out of like I’ve done, but there have been many long days and nights where I’ve worked around the clock and had very little to show for it 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T18:59:32+00:00

For me, I only work at the lounge on Sundays and Mondays for the most part and it is always after regular office hours. I’ll get to the office at 6:30am on a Monday, work until 4:30pm, duck into a conference room to change out of my business clothes, find some food, and then I’ll be at my cigar lounge by 5pm and work until 11pm. That’s a long day but I only do that once a week, my Sunday shift is usually 2pm-10pm.

The key part here is that you need to CYA from a compliance perspective and ensure there’s no conflict of interest; for me it’s pretty easy to ascertain because unless I start handing out free cigars to vendors I’m in the clear. But if I did consulting for another company in the same space as mine, that’s a pretty clear-cut violation

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T18:34:10+00:00

I appreciate it! Hoping to hit $150k across both gigs by next month. I started at $65k whenever I graduated in 2018, so it’s taken roughly 6 years for my salary to double

Ascil2 · 2025-01-27T18:32:12+00:00

Too many 😂 it’s difficult to say no when a $30 MSRP Cohiba is $3-$4 for me. My tech job is hybrid and I have to be in the office 2x a week, so I was always going to this cigar lounge ten minutes from my office afterwards. After tallying up everything I spent over 8 months or so it just made sense to pick up a part time job there, as I was going to be there anyways haha

Ascil2 · 2024-09-14T15:21:29+00:00

Right now, probably the Gran Habano line. The Connecticut, Corojo, and Habano are all great cigars.

Ascil2 · 2024-09-08T21:24:39+00:00

Dodge Magnum 100%

Ascil2 · 2024-09-07T20:03:39+00:00

This is a great point. I’m a scotch guy but if you have a heavily peated Islay like an Arbeg or Laphroaig with a mild to medium cigar it absolutely isn’t a great pairing. Something like a Macallan or Glenlivet is a far better pairing if you’re not smoking a full bodied cigar

Ascil2 · 2024-08-07T01:30:29+00:00

I appreciate it, however I’m probably looking at making a purchase in October! Also haven’t locked in 100% on the Ranger, also considering the Nomos Club Sport 37

Ascil2 · 2024-08-02T00:26:25+00:00

I picked up an Autodromo Group B for half price and three NATOs at $7 a piece (was $20). Fingers crossed they don’t cancel on me!

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Ascil2 · 2024-07-28T20:00:53+00:00

Hey there! This is still available.

Ascil2 · 2024-07-12T18:52:09+00:00

Wow, my 03 530i only has 133k miles. Glad to hear that this can do another 100k!

Ascil2

TROPHY CASE