Internships are an excellent way to build your staff for the future. They don’t always work out, but they are still integral to your team and the IBM i community as a whole.
By Brian May
I have long been a proponent of IBM i shops having internship programs. There is no better way to ensure that your company has the resources it needs to thrive than to cultivate the talent you need. This does not come without work, but the benefits far outweigh the investment.
The lack of computer science graduates in the U.S. will affect employers’ ability to hire qualified developers of any language.
Written by Steve Pitcher
I’ve been visiting a lot of IBM i customers this week, one of whom happens to be the college where I learned how to program RPG and Control Language plus a little rudimentary AS/400 operations training. I figured I’d drop in and see what they’re teaching. After all, the place was and still is special to me. I enrolled after my old man sold me on the idea that “if you know how to program on an AS/400, you’ll probably always have a decent job. Eventually, guys like me are going to want to retire, and we’ll need people to do what we do.”
The best education doesn’t always happen in the session room.
I’m finally sitting down to catch my breath after a very long week at the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida. I’m sitting in seat 24C on a flight from Orlando to Newark. I’m not kidding that this is my first opportunity to really relax. The conference was much busier for me than usual for a number of reasons.
Updating your ILE and RPG skills will not only make you a better IBM i developer, but also make learning new languages easier.
Written by Brian May
My last article discussed learning new languages on IBM i. In that article, I also mentioned that before trying to conquer new languages, we should master our own. If you are not well versed in all that RPG has to offer, this article is meant to guide you toward the topics that every RPG developer needs to learn.
IT departments need to be used as masters of applying technology to business rules rather than simply technology experts who happen to work for the business.
Written by Steve Pitcher
For many companies, IT has historically been an extension of the finance department because that’s where the majority of systems began. Paper processes for finance gave way to digital processes. Soon afterward, other paper processes became digitized for order management, inventory management, shipping/receiving, and so on…down to the shop floor. The last decade has been about extending businesses with the functionality that mobile devices have offered the world.
IT is always in a consistent state of change.
In a recent article, it may have seemed that I thought meetings were the end of humanity as we know it. Didn’t mean to be so negative. The real question is whether meetings can be helpful.
Written by Dave Shirey
Despite my negativity in my article about meetings, if we didn’t have meetings, what would we have?
OK, greater productivity…but besides that. The truth is, you need meetings. Even if they are just informal meetings around the coffeemaker, there is a need for people to get together and talk about the issues they are working on, exchange ideas, get organized so that multiple people can work on an issue without falling all over each other, etc.
Does it ever seem to you that you go to work just to go to meetings and not to actually work? Yeah, the line forms to the right, pal. But is it really that way, or is it all in your head?
Written by Dave Shirey
Raise your hand if you feel that you just aren’t involved in enough meetings in your work life. Hmmm, just as I thought, only a few hands raised. And I really think most of them are confused and actually want to leave the room for a few minutes.
Learn how DevOps can improve collaboration and productivity by bringing agility to both development and operations teams. Understand the challenges involved in adopting the DevOps culture and the strategies to mitigate them.
Written by Joydip Kanjilal
DevOps is fast emerging as a great way to build and deploy applications that can run both on-premise and cloud alike. DevOps is a philosophy that attempts to bridge the gap between application development and operations for better productivity and reduced costs, risks, and cycle times. If your organization is contemplating a move towards DevOps, many factors need to be considered before this culture is adopted.
If your business is thinking about modernizing your legacy IBM i (also known as AS/400 or iSeries) applications, you will want to read this white paper first!
Download this paper and learn how Node.js can ensure that you:
- Modernize on-time and budget - no more lengthy, costly, disruptive app rewrites!
- Retain your IBM i systems of record
- Find and hire new development talent
- Integrate new Node.js applications with your existing RPG, Java, .Net, and PHP apps
- Extend your IBM i capabilties to include Watson API, Cloud, and Internet of Things
Read Node.js for Enterprise IBM i Modernization Now!
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation.
Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects.
The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the companyare not aligned with the current IT environment.
Get your copy of this important guide today!
2022 marks the eighth edition of the IBM i Marketplace Survey Results. Each year, Fortra captures data on how businesses use the IBM i platform and the IT and cybersecurity initiatives it supports.
Over the years, this survey has become a true industry benchmark, revealing to readers the trends that are shaping and driving the market and providing insight into what the future may bring for this technology.
Brunswick is the leader in bowling products, services, and industry expertise for the development and renovation of new and existing bowling centers and mixed-use recreation facilities across the entertainment industry. However, the lifeblood of Brunswick’s capital equipment business was running on a 15-year-old software application written in Visual Basic 6 (VB6) with a SQL Server back-end. The application was at the end of its life and needed to be replaced.
With the help of Visual LANSA, they found an easy-to-use, long-term platform that enabled their team to collaborate, innovate, and integrate with existing systems and databases within a single platform.
Read the case study to learn how they achieved success and increased the speed of development by 30% with Visual LANSA.
When it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed.
Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
In this white paper, you’ll learn how to think of these issues as opportunities rather than problems. We’ll explore motivations to migrate or modernize, their risks and considerations you should be aware of before embarking on a (migration or modernization) project.
Lastly, we’ll discuss how modernizing IBM i applications with optimized business workflows, integration with other technologies and new mobile and web user interfaces will enable IT – and the business – to experience time-added value and much more.
Having trouble getting management approval for modernization projects? The problem may be you're not speaking enough "business" to them.
This Developer Kit provides you study-backed data and a ready-to-use business case template to help get your very next development project approved!
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators is small.
This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. In Part 2, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Attend this webinar to learn:
In this session, IBM i security expert Robin Tatam provides a quick recap of IBM i security basics and guides you through some advanced cybersecurity techniques that can help you take data protection to the next level. Robin will cover:
Don't miss this chance to take your knowledge of IBM i security beyond the basics.
In today’s threat landscape, upper management is laser-focused on cybersecurity. You need to make progress in securing your systems—and make it fast.
There’s no shortage of actions you could take, but what tactics will actually deliver the results you need? And how can you find a security strategy that fits your budget and time constraints?
Join top IBM i security expert Robin Tatam as he outlines the five fastest and most impactful changes you can make to strengthen IBM i security this year.
Your system didn’t become unsecure overnight and you won’t be able to turn it around overnight either. But quick wins are possible with IBM i security, and Robin Tatam will show you how to achieve them.
Malicious programs can bring entire businesses to their knees—and IBM i shops are not immune. It’s critical to grasp the true impact malware can have on IBM i and the network that connects to it. Attend this webinar to gain a thorough understanding of the relationships between:
There are a number of ways you can minimize your exposure to viruses. IBM i security expert Sandi Moore explains the facts, including how to ensure you're fully protected and compliant with regulations such as PCI.
DB2 Field Procedures (FieldProcs) were introduced in IBM i 7.1 and have greatly simplified encryption, often without requiring any application changes. Now you can quickly encrypt sensitive data on the IBM i including PII, PCI, PHI data in your physical files and tables.
Watch this webinar to learn how you can quickly implement encryption on the IBM i. During the webinar, security expert Robin Tatam will show you how to:
Despite the many options IBM has provided to protect your systems and data, many organizations still struggle to apply appropriate security controls.
In this webinar, you'll get insight into how the criminals accessed these systems, the fallout from these attacks, and how the incidents could have been avoided by following security best practices.
You will learn the steps you can take to avoid the mistakes made in these examples, as well as other inadequate and misconfigured settings that put businesses at risk.
When it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed.
Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:
The Biggest Mistakes in IBM i Security
Here’s the harsh reality: cybersecurity pros have to get their jobs right every single day, while an attacker only has to succeed once to do incredible damage.
Whether that’s thousands of exposed records, millions of dollars in fines and legal fees, or diminished share value, it’s easy to judge organizations that fall victim.
Join this webinar to learn about the biggest errors made when securing a Power Systems server.
This knowledge is critical for ensuring integrity of your application data and preventing you from becoming the next Equifax. It’s also essential for complying with all formal regulations, including SOX, PCI, GDPR, and HIPAA
Watch Now.
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Robot automates the routine tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
- Simplified backup procedures
- Easy data encryption
- Save media management
- Guided restoration
- Seamless product integration
Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Try the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution FREE for 30 days.
Managing messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events?
Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:
- Automated message management
- Tailored notifications and automatic escalation
- System-wide control of your IBM i partitions
- Two-way system notifications from your mobile device
- Seamless product integration
Try the Robot Message Management Solution FREE for 30 days.
Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing.
Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:
- Automated report distribution
- View online without delay
- Browser interface to make notes
- Custom retention capabilities
- Seamless product integration
Rerun another report? Never again. Try the Robot Report Management Solution FREE for 30 days.
For over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i.
Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:
- Automated batch, interactive, and cross-platform scheduling
- Event-driven dependency processing
- Centralized monitoring and reporting
- Audit log and ready-to-use reports
- Seamless product integration
Scale your software, not your staff. Try the Robot Job Scheduling Solution FREE for 30 days.
