Top 12 ABAP Developer Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's noisy tech arena, the right skills tilt the table for any ABAP developer. The mix matters. Not just code chops, but fluency across SAP’s moving parts—data models, services, UX, performance, and integration. Below, twelve skills worth showcasing, polished for today’s ABAP Platform and S/4HANA world (on-prem and cloud). Strong on fundamentals. Tuned for impact.
ABAP Developer Skills
1. ABAP
ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is SAP’s native language for building business applications, interfaces, enhancements, and automation across the ABAP Platform and S/4HANA. It powers custom logic, data access, and integration, on-prem or in cloud-ready form.
Why It's Important
ABAP remains the backbone for SAP customization. It lets developers adapt standard processes, build new ones, and stitch systems together—reliably, securely, and at enterprise scale.
How to Improve ABAP Skills
Go deep on the modern toolset and keep your code lean.
Adopt ABAP Development Tools (ADT) in Eclipse. Faster navigation, powerful refactoring, and native support for CDS, RAP, and unit testing.
Embrace modern ABAP syntax (7.4+) and ABAP Cloud concepts. Inline declarations, constructor expressions, new Open SQL, and safer, clearer code.
Write tests. ABAP Unit, Test Seams, and ATC checks. Guardrails prevent regressions and nudge cleaner designs.
Push work to the database. CDS, AMDP, and table functions when data volumes swell.
Measure before you guess. Use SAT, ST05, SQLM, and ATC to find hot spots and fix what actually hurts.
Design for extensions. BAdIs, enhancement points, and RAP behaviors rather than hard-coded forks.
Keep it clean. Consistent naming, small methods, intention-revealing code. Future you will thank present you.
How to Display ABAP Skills on Your Resume
2. SAP Fiori
SAP Fiori is the UX model for SAP—role-based, responsive, and consistent. For ABAP developers, it means serving data cleanly (often via OData) and shaping semantics through CDS annotations so UI is generated with minimal glue code.
Why It's Important
Great UX wins adoption. Fiori aligns with how users work today—mobile, quick, focused. Systems feel lighter when apps are task-first and fast.
How to Improve SAP Fiori Skills
Favor Fiori elements where possible. Let CDS annotations describe the UI; ship faster with fewer bugs.
Design lean services. Server-side paging, filtering, sorting. Keep payloads tight via $select and surgical expansions.
Harden security. Role design, catalogs, groups/spaces, CSRF protection, precise authorization checks in the back end.
Tune the pipeline. Monitor with /IWFND/ERROR_LOG and /IWFND/APPS_LOG. Profile round trips. Trim chatty calls.
Use Business Application Studio for templates, previews, and streamlined deployments.
Mind accessibility and i18n early. Text bundles, contrast, keyboard flows—baked in, not bolted on.
How to Display SAP Fiori Skills on Your Resume
3. SAPUI5
SAPUI5 is the enterprise-grade UI toolkit behind Fiori. JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS at the core, with data binding, MVC/MVVM patterns, and a rich control set for complex business apps.
Why It's Important
It bridges back-end logic with a crisp, modern front end. Users move faster, errors drop, and processes breathe.
How to Improve SAPUI5 Skills
Master bindings. One-way, two-way, expression, formatter functions. Bind smartly; avoid manual DOM fuss.
Architect components well. Reuse libraries, routing, lazy loading, and clear folder conventions.
Get fluent with promises and async flows. Smooth UI, fewer locks, happier users.
Use the right model. OData V2/V4 models, JSON for local state, and batching for fewer calls.
Test what matters. QUnit and OPA5 keep behaviors solid as apps grow.
Keep it responsive. FlexBox, CSS variables, and density configurations for desktop and touch.
How to Display SAPUI5 Skills on Your Resume
4. HANA
SAP HANA is an in-memory, columnar database tailored for real-time analytics and transactional speed. For ABAP developers, it unlocks code pushdown and advanced modeling that crush old bottlenecks.
Why It's Important
Performance is a feature. HANA turns heavy logic into split-second work when you design for it.
How to Improve HANA Skills
Push down. Use CDS, AMDP, table functions, and SQLScript for set-based operations.
Prefer CDS view entities over legacy CDS. Cleaner semantics, better tooling, simpler consumption.
Profile first. ST05, SQLM, and DBACOCKPIT reveal slow statements and plan quirks.
Shape data smartly. Partition large tables, define useful secondary indexes, and avoid unnecessary conversions.
Lean ABAP SQL. Targeted fields, explicit joins, reduced loops. Kill SELECT N+1 patterns.
Exploit parallelism judiciously. Break big tasks into safe, independent chunks.
How to Display HANA Skills on Your Resume
5. OData
OData is a RESTful protocol for exposing and consuming data. In SAP, it’s the backbone for Fiori and external integrations, typically served via SAP Gateway or generated from RAP.
Why It's Important
Standardized APIs shorten integration cycles and keep clients lightweight. One service, many consumers.
How to Improve OData Skills
Design your resources carefully. Entities, associations, navigation—clean and predictable.
Keep payloads slender. Use $select, thoughtful $expand, and server-side paging and filtering.
Handle concurrency. ETags, optimistic locking, and sensible conflict responses.
Batch smartly. Fewer round trips, transactional groups when needed.
Secure the edge. CSRF protection, strict authorization checks, and data masking where appropriate.
Monitor and test. Gateway Client, /IWFND/ERROR_LOG, and traces help you fix the right things.
Prefer OData V4 with RAP when possible. Fewer custom handlers, more declarative power.
How to Display OData Skills on Your Resume
6. CDS Views
CDS (Core Data Services) brings semantic data modeling to the database layer. Define projections, associations, and behaviors right where data lives, and consume them across ABAP, Fiori elements, and analytics.
Why It's Important
CDS makes models consistent, fast, and reusable. One definition, many UIs and services.
How to Improve CDS Views Skills
Use CDS view entities. Simpler naming, clearer keys, and first-class tool support.
Annotate with intent. UI, OData, and analytical annotations reduce manual UI code and service boilerplate.
Select only what you need. No broad SELECT *. Tight projections help performance.
Prefer associations over manual joins. Readability improves; optimizers smile.
Parameterize when useful. Push filters down; avoid wasteful post-processing.
Mind depth. Excessive nesting kills speed; flatten thoughtfully.
Secure with DCL (Data Control Language). Row-level rules protect sensitive slices without app rewrites.
Validate with SQLM and ST05. Measure cardinalities, check join order, confirm index usage.
How to Display CDS Views Skills on Your Resume
7. BAPI
BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces) are stable, standardized interfaces to SAP business objects. They enable external systems and custom logic to invoke core processes safely.
Why It's Important
Consistent contracts, transactional integrity, and broad reuse. Integration without reinvention.
How to Improve BAPI Skills
Honor LUWs. Use BAPI_TRANSACTION_COMMIT or application-managed commits correctly; avoid partial updates.
Return meaningful messages. Populate BAPIRET2 with clear types, IDs, and numbers; make errors actionable.
Stabilize interfaces. Avoid breaking parameter changes; add new optional fields instead.
Enforce authorizations and locks. Check roles, and use ENQUEUE/DEQUEUE for consistency.
Design for idempotency where possible. Safer retries, fewer duplicates.
Test in SE37 and with realistic datasets. Mock dependencies, verify edge cases, and document usage.
How to Display BAPI Skills on Your Resume
8. IDoc
IDocs (Intermediate Documents) are SAP’s structured messages for asynchronous data exchange—between SAP systems or with partners. Reliable, traceable, and battle-tested.
Why It's Important
They decouple systems and keep transactions moving, even when networks wobble or volumes spike.
How to Improve IDoc Skills
Know the plumbing. Partner profiles (WE20), ports (WE21), message types (WE81/WE82), and distribution models (BD64).
Monitor and fix fast. Use WE02/WE05 to inspect, BD87 to reprocess, WE19 to simulate.
Design robust mappings. Clear segment structures, versioning discipline, and graceful handling of optional fields.
Scale with background processing. Package sizes, correct serialization for dependent documents, and qRFC where order matters.
Extend cleanly. Custom Z-segments or enhancements when standard falls short; document thoroughly.
Secure the channel. Encrypt where needed, mask sensitive fields, and restrict who can see what.
How to Display IDoc Skills on Your Resume
9. ALV Reporting
ALV (ABAP List Viewer) delivers interactive tables, totals, and exports inside SAP GUI and beyond. The de facto standard for operational reporting in classic UIs.
Why It's Important
Users need clarity and control. Sort, filter, subtotal, and download—without custom scaffolding.
How to Improve ALV Reporting Skills
Use SALV where possible. Cleaner OO APIs, less grid boilerplate, and safer defaults.
Build a precise field catalog. Friendly headings, types, hotspots, and colors where they help.
Go interactive. Double-click flows, PF-STATUS actions, and context menus for speed.
Fetch lean data. Index-friendly WHERE clauses and minimal columns; avoid post-filtering in ABAP.
Offer layout variants. Let users save views—columns, sorts, and aggregations.
For huge datasets on HANA, consider ALV with IDA. Database-driven paging keeps UIs responsive.
How to Display ALV Reporting Skills on Your Resume
10. Workflow
SAP Business Workflow orchestrates approvals, tasks, and notifications across modules. Modeled events trigger work items, routed to the right agents, tracked end to end. Modern setups often surface in My Inbox.
Why It's Important
Process certainty. Less chasing, fewer errors, auditable trails.
How to Improve Workflow Skills
Model clearly in SWDD. Keep steps small, reuse subflows, and version with care.
Drive with events. Proper event linkage (SWE2), robust triggering, and retries for transient failures.
Get agents right. Rules, BRFplus, and org management—no hard-coded users.
Build bindings that tell the truth. Containers in and out, typed and minimal.
Handle deadlines and escalations. Nudge early; escalate when it counts.
Monitor relentlessly. SWIA and SWI1 to resolve stuck items; SWU3 for setup checks.
Integrate with Fiori My Inbox. Uniform approvals, substitutions, and mobile reach.
How to Display Workflow Skills on Your Resume
11. Web Dynpro
Web Dynpro ABAP is a framework for building web apps in the ABAP stack using MVC and strong typing. Mature, consistent, and still widely used in established landscapes.
Why It's Important
Stable enterprise apps that live long and behave predictably. While new projects often favor Fiori/UI5, many critical solutions remain on Web Dynpro.
How to Improve Web Dynpro Skills
Design the context carefully. Right cardinalities, supply functions, and lazy loading where sensible.
Keep controllers tidy. Small methods, clear lifecycles (like WDDOINIT), and minimal global state.
Reuse components. Embed ALV, value helps, and shared components instead of rewriting them.
Tune performance. Reduce round trips, cache stable data, and keep render trees simple.
Improve UX within the framework. Meaningful layouts, input validation, and consistent messages.
Consider FPM for patterned apps. Configuration over code when it fits the task.
How to Display Web Dynpro Skills on Your Resume
12. RFC
RFC (Remote Function Call) is SAP’s protocol for calling remote-enabled function modules across systems. Synchronous, transactional, or queued—each with different reliability and ordering guarantees.
Why It's Important
It’s the plumbing for cross-system execution. Integration that feels native, with tight control over security and flow.
How to Improve RFC Skills
Design remote-enabled modules properly. No references or unsupported types; clear exceptions and stable interfaces.
Choose the right flavor. sRFC for immediate needs, tRFC for at-least-once delivery, qRFC/bgRFC for ordered, resilient processing.
Know the tools. SM59 for destinations, SM58 for tRFC log, SMQ1/SMQ2 for queues, and SMGW for gateway checks.
Harden security. Roles for S_RFC and S_RFCACL, strict whitelists, and minimized authorizations.
Design idempotent operations where feasible. Retries shouldn’t duplicate work.
Time-outs and retries tuned per scenario. Backoff strategies beat blind repetition.
Log and trace thoughtfully. Correlate calls across systems for quick root-cause analysis.
How to Display RFC Skills on Your Resume
