Manta's IBM i Operations Boot Camp is the fastest way to fill in the gaps in your operators' educations.

Written by Dr. William A. Hansen

What's different about the following scenarios?

• You just hired a new operator (Steve) with no IBM i experience.
• You just hired a new operator (Pat) who claims to have extensive "AS/400" experience.
• You have an operations manager (Sally) who has worked for your organization for 20 years but hasn't had formal IBM i operations training.

Probably the biggest—and most dangerous—difference is in what they think they know.

You've been asked to help train a new programmer with neither IBM i nor RPG experience. Where is she going to learn the necessary skills?

Written by Dr. William A. Hansen

Believe it or not, companies are hiring again. Some are even hiring RPG programmers! Unfortunately, many of these new employees don't have the skills you expect from an RPG programmer. Some are recent college graduates proficient in C, Java, PHP, JavaScript, and other languages that may be useful to your company. Others are mainframe COBOL programmers. In too many cases, they have neither RPG nor basic IBM i skills.

Are the IT needs of your company on a collision course with the dwindling pool of RPG programmers?

Written by Steve Kilner

The question above is in many managers' minds as the pool of RPG programmers continues to shrink due to retirements and other forms of attrition. It is likely that there will be RPG developers available for many years to come, but that doesn't address the real problem. The real problem is what happens when you lose members of your team. A lot of knowledge is walking out the door with them. How can it possibly be replaced?

You've been told that you are now responsible for building and maintaining your orgnization's Web site, but where are you going to learn the necessary skills?

Written by Dr. William A. Hansen

Many small and medium-sized businesses have in-house developers who are very good at RPG programming. They know their company's business rules better than anyone. But when it came time to establish a Web presence, the organization turned to an outside Web development service. This may have made sense when the Web site was a read-only presentation of the company's products and services. Creating such a site is less about programming and more about graphic design and effective ad copy. While such skills probably exist in the marketing department, it was the fear of the new technology that caused most companies to look elsewhere for help.

You'd like to have your staff build and maintain your Web site, but where are they going to learn the necessary skills?

Written by Dr. William A. Hansen

Suppose you decide to buy a new widget. If you are like most people, the first thing you will do is to look up "widgets" on the Web. The harsh reality of today's marketplace is that, if a company is not on the Web, it does not exist to most potential customers. As a result, it is now almost impossible to find an organization that does not have at least a basic Web presence.

How do you transform that newbie into a competent professional?

Written by Dr. William A. Hansen
A common challenge in our industry is putting together a training program that will meet the needs of a newly hired employee. In rare cases, the new person may have absolutely no experience in IT. More often, he or she has plenty of experience, but not with IBM i or Power Systems. IBM i operators and system administrators, for example, are often drawn from the ranks of Windows and Linux professionals. I've encountered many individuals like Pete, who told me this story:

In the current recession, education is often the first thing cut from the budget. We find this reaction not only shortsighted but completely insane.

Written by Jon Paris and Susan Gantner

We at System i Developer are professional educators in the business of training IBM i developers via both onsite classes and conferences such as the upcoming RPG & DB2 Summit. We also have years of experience working with companies that have excellent ongoing training programs and companies that don't, and we've seen the differing degrees of success of those companies.

So how can you get training for yourself or your staff when the times are against you? The first step is to be able to articulate the payback.