Starting as an intern
I began working with Odoo as an intern, learning the fundamentals of the platform alongside the basics of ERP implementation. The first few weeks were mostly about understanding how the modules connect to each other — how a sales order flows into inventory, how inventory flows into accounting.
Configuration is the easy part
What surprised me early on was that clicking through Odoo's configuration screens is rarely the hard part. The harder part is figuring out what to configure — which requires actually understanding how the client works, not just how Odoo works.
Requirements change once people see the system
Something I learned quickly: requirements gathered before a client has seen a working system are incomplete by definition. People describe their process in the abstract, but once they see Odoo behaving in a certain way, they immediately notice what's missing or wrong. Iteration isn't a failure of the requirements process — it's part of it.
Documentation matters more than it seems
Writing things down — functional specs, configuration notes, testing checklists — felt like overhead at first. It turned out to be what made handoffs and later changes manageable. A configuration without documentation is a black box, even to the person who built it.
Where I am now
Moving from intern to consultant meant taking more ownership of client communication and project coordination, not just configuration. The technical work didn't get less important — but I started to see how much of ERP implementation is really about managing expectations, sequencing decisions, and keeping the process moving.