Published 23rd April 2026
Joel left SAP to pursue entrepreneurship, then invested a year returning to where he belonged. Why? He found a company that actually cares. Now he's leading Pride@SAP, driving customer success, and proving you can have both career impact and family time.
The youngest person in the room doesn't have to stay quiet. Maddy moved from Brisbane to Sydney as an Academy for Customer Success graduate and built her way to Architect Advisor through authentic relationships. Now she turns technical complexity into customer wins.
Grace joined SAP Labs Vietnam with two degrees and years of experience mentoring students. Today, she’s building solutions that help companies reduce their environmental impact, and astutely developing her career acumen.
Brings her attention to detail and determination to every challenge.
Builds customer confidence through clear, compassionate support.
She belongs at SAP.
“In our house, I was always the one who fixed things. My stepdad would hand me his phone if he couldn't figure out his emails, and a few minutes later I’d have figured it out. My family still calls me when the Wi-Fi goes down, or something stops working. That instinct with technology led me to study mobile communications and security at university, and eventually to a career where I get to use it every day.
But this was only part of what I brought to SAP. I was provisionally diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome at 7, then fully when I was 11. Growing up I learned early on that I process things differently. Written exams were hard. Social situations took real effort. I remember being too anxious to pay for anything in shops because I was afraid to talk to the person at the counter.
When I graduated, I deliberately took a job that involved calling people. I knew phone conversations were something I struggled with, and I wanted to improve my communication. It was stressful and I was thrown in at the deep end – but it taught me I could do it. That was when I heard about the opportunity to join SAP through the Autism at Work programme via the NGO Specialisterne.”
"My role in the Customer Interaction Center involves handling calls, chats and emails from customers navigating SAP's support ecosystem. It ranges from access issues, authorisation queries, learning certifications and urgent case escalations. When systems go down, we're often the first people customers reach out to.
The early weeks in training were intense. There was a lot to learn, and I started just before COVID hit which meant three months in the office followed by a sudden shift to working from home. What kept me on track was the structure. They also assigned a mentor who coached me through the trickier situations.
The hardest calls were escalations, where I didn’t always have the answers to give. My mentor helped me work through them, talking me though de-escalation language. Those calls don’t unsettle me now. Chat was a different challenge! It’s harder to convey tone in writing, and for a while I was below target on the customer chat survey. Again, my mentor helped me find the right rhythm and I’m above the target now.”
"Keep being yourself. It’s hard for people growing up with autism to step outside their comfort zone – but you’re usually far more capable than you think."
— Emma A.
“One of the things that made the biggest difference joining SAP was something very simple. Through the Autism at Work programme, my manager knew from day one that direct, clear communication works best. In Ireland, people speak in roundabout ways with lots of idioms! I’d spent years misreading people or not understanding, but having a team that communicates clearer wasn’t just better for me, it benefitted everyone.
This clarity affects how I work today. I have regular 121s with my manager and quarterly talks where we discuss my development. Specialisterne, the organisation that helped me into the role, still meets with my manager and the ongoing support means I never feel like I am navigating things alone.
When I was growing up there was no visibility. Now that I’m older, I’m open about my autism with the people I work with. Colleagues have come to me over the years – if someone in their family receives a diagnosis, then they might know a little more about it. I’m glad to be that person. I would have loved if there was more awareness back then.”
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