Career and personal growth at SAP Labs Waterloo

The David Johnston Research + Technology Park is a community where challenges are tackled, advancements are made and new ways of thinking are always welcomed. From experienced leaders guiding their teams to students from the University of Waterloo working and learning on co-op terms, the park is where innovation happens. In this three-part series, we’re speaking with members of the SAP team to learn what makes the SAP Labs Waterloo a fantastic place to work.

Attracting and retaining exceptionally talented employees is challenging for every organization, especially technology companies. The competition for knowledge workers with in-demand skills and expertise means offering more than a paycheque. They need to deliver engaging learning opportunities and foster a culture of innovation to attract the talent necessary to solve today’s global challenges.

It’s this type of environment that attracted software engineer Gunes Aluc to SAP Labs Waterloo. Originally from Turkey, Aluc came to Canada in 2009 to complete his PhD in computer science at the University of Waterloo. When Aluc graduated in 2015, he didn’t have to go far to start his career with SAP at the SAP Labs Waterloo office in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park.

“It’s an interesting story. In 2010, I did an internship with the team, which was part of Sybase at the time. I had a great time working with the team here, so when the time came to decide what to do after my studies, choosing SAP was easy,” Aluc said.

While SAP is not a database company, almost all SAP applications use database products. The company’s database leadership attracted Aluc’s interest as it aligned with his doctoral research. At the University, Aluc designed and developed a workload-adaptive graph data management system and developed WatDiv, a popular database benchmark.

“The work I did in my PhD perfectly aligned with what the people here at SAP are doing. They have a great depth of knowledge about databases, and they are enthusiastic about challenging problems. It was a perfect match,” he said.

That enthusiasm has continued to inspire Aluc as he enters his ninth year at SAP Labs Waterloo. Today, he is leading a team working towards transforming the SAP IQ database into a cloud-native database engine. It’s critical work for SAP as it works on bringing AI-powered business intelligence to its customers.

“My research was on graph databases, which have a renewed interest among developers due to their use in artificial intelligence,” Aluc said.

“The work I did in my PhD perfectly aligned with what the people here at SAP are doing. They have a great depth of knowledge about databases, and they are enthusiastic about challenging problems. It was a perfect match.”

Gunes Aluc, SAP Labs Waterloo

Having opportunities to work on bleeding-edge database technologies and AI are just some of the reasons that Aluc has continued his career at SAP Labs Waterloo. As a SAP Labs office, the team is constantly exposed to new technologies and business challenges to apply their expertise.

“Where we started and where we are now is completely different. We’ve moved our products to the cloud, which is a very big thing. It’s constant motion. There’s no lack of challenges in our everyday work—and that’s what has kept me enthusiastic about my role,” he said.

Aluc’s work on SAP products is helping global leaders across retail, finance, and other industries manage massive amounts of business data.

“They’re able to store and analyze petabytes of data in an efficient way. I’ve worked with customers that have two to three petabytes of data, and the system is churning through that data without any issues. It makes me proud,” Aluc said.

“We get the latest and greatest of all of what’s going on in the research world. On top of that, we hire co-op students and graduates from the University. They are great students and give us an advantage in our work.”

Gunes Aluc, SAP Labs Waterloo

Innovation never stops at SAP Labs Waterloo, and Aluc said the company continues to leverage its proximity to the University of Waterloo.

“We get the latest and greatest of all of what’s going on in the research world. On top of that, we hire co-op students and graduates from the University. They are great students and give us an advantage in our work,” he said.