Efforts by Young i Professionals to find affordable access to the IBM i platform may bear fruit too late to engage today's young programmers and entrepreneurs.
Written by Chris Smith
I wrote back in 2007 that, after a 10-year absence from covering COMMON, it was like returning to a gathering of Vietnam War veterans because of all the gray heads in the crowd. Whether it was that column or just the sudden self-conscious industry realization that this generation of IBM i developers and RPG programmers would soon retire with relatively few people to follow in their footsteps, there was an awakening to the challenge. The point hit home with the shocking death of industry legend Al Barsa at none other venue than the Nashville COMMON conference. People in the IBM i community were witnessing the thinning herd right before their very eyes.