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  • #16
    Question about RPG programmers

    Careful Joe, The Red Sox are just one year wonders. And, how many years did they have to wait? Hey, hey, the Brewers finally made it back to .500. Tom.

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    • #17
      Question about RPG programmers

      Chris, for the last year and a half I answered every RPG ad on every job board and talked to every recruiter who would talk to me, ending in May when I was hired. I contacted companies that I thought might be customers of packages I've worked on. I had telephone and in person interviews with a number of companies and I think it's fair to say that that gave me some feel for what they were looking for and why. I also wrote the web server for JOBS/400 web site in 2000 commissioned by a competitor rag and kept an eye on postings there for a year or so. Quite frankly, there were next to no AS/400 jobs I don't think I need to tell too many people here. I saw a lot of ads from bogus recruiters, very little real work, and I sincerely hope things have gotten better in the last few months, especially from these 3,000 new customers of the AS/400. Until I hear about it from somewhere though, I still won't have seen a new AS/400 shop. I'll continue to call it like I see it, and I ain't seeing it. rd

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      • #18
        Question about RPG programmers

        Tom, I'm not talking about the fact that they won the Series, and then lost three straight to the White Sox this year (go Chicago!). No, I'm talking about a team being down 3-0 in the LCS and coming back to win it all. They were counted out because nobody had ever done it. But, like the iSeries, they simply didn't listen to the nattering naysayers and their "conventional wisdom". Instead, they went out and unconventionally made history... doing something that nobody will ever be able to take away from them, becoming the first team to ever win a 7-game championship series after beign down 3-0. And frankly, I see RPG's comeback as every bit as dramatic, especially with the major league disrespect it gets on this and other lists. Java (and OO in general) are wearing the pinstripes, and it's up to the good old blue-collar procedural language to show 'em how it's done in the REAL world. Joe

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        • #19
          Question about RPG programmers

          Hans is just stirring the pot, Chris. To me, those quotes are roughly akin to going to a Republican convention and quoting Michael Moore. Joe

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          • #20
            Question about RPG programmers

            There are some excellent reasons for using ILE facilities, but there are also legitimate reasons for disliking binding.
              [*]If called programs are well written, binding does not enhance performance over a called program.[*]Overrides are easier to control without binding.[*]IBM documentation utilities such as DSPPGMREF provide a more accurate picture when programs are fully compiled.[*]The concept of binding goes back to the "Load and Go" days of mainframe programming. When the S/38 was introduced back in 1979, the ability to call any program from any other program without linking was considered a major step forward.[/list]This should not be taken as a condemnation of binding, service programs or other modular techniques. Dave

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            • #21
              Question about RPG programmers

              Interesting. In the last year I've had 3 ads run on this board either directly or indirectly (via search firms) and I haven't seen your resume come across my desk once. chuck Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employer. "Ralph Daugherty" wrote in message news:6b2d4423.16@WebX.WawyahGHajS... > Chris, for the last year and a half I answered every RPG ad on every job > board and talked to every recruiter who would talk to me, ending in May > when I was hired. I contacted companies that I thought might be customers > of packages I've worked on. I had telephone and in person interviews with > a number of companies and I think it's fair to say that that gave me some > feel for what they were looking for and why. > > I also wrote the web server for JOBS/400 web site in 2000 commissioned by > a competitor rag and kept an eye on postings there for a year or so. Quite > frankly, there were next to no AS/400 jobs I don't think I need to tell > too many people here. > > I saw a lot of ads from bogus recruiters, very little real work, and I > sincerely hope things have gotten better in the last few months, > especially from these 3,000 new customers of the AS/400. > > Until I hear about it from somewhere though, I still won't have seen a new > AS/400 shop. I'll continue to call it like I see it, and I ain't seeing > it. > > rd

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              • #22
                Question about RPG programmers

                Hi Chuck, socal ads were a very large proportion of all the job ads, that's for sure. Along with Dallas I would say almost 40%. Those two locales also had the most prominent Locals Only disclaimers in their ads. Quite a bit of wording was added to dissuade people from drowning them in resumes, so sometimes I sent a resume to companies in the LA area saying I'm moving there, I'll contact you when I get there. But I never heard back from anyone and never made it out there. My car got repo'ed and although my '81 CJ-5 made it to Florida I'm afraid if I put California or Bust on that old gal it would have been bust. I did send several resumes there, to mortgage and retail, areas I have experience in, including one of those large employers in Simi Valley that I think you have referred to occasionally, but given that they were forclosing on my house at the time if they ever did look at my resume, sent several times as they advertised often, that couldn't have helped any. I talked to three or four recruiters out there who gave me their sagest advice, and encouraging me to come out there wasn't part of it. I will throw in a plug for one of the best, Bob Langieri, who's written some great articles here, who gave me some feedback which I feel put me over the top in getting an interview and a job, but in Florida where I had moved by then. Highly recommended. I do remember your company's ad, Chuck, but I wasn't in a position to try to get to southern cal by then, not like earlier last year when I still had a car and at least some money. Ralph

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                • #23
                  Question about RPG programmers

                  Joe, Your ChiSox are lookin' hot. I wanted St. Louis to win it all but my second choice is Chicago. I do have to say that the local iSeries programming market looks like it's beginning to come back. But, if it dries up again, I have my other skills to fall back on. "Welcome to Walmart". ;} Tom.

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                  • #24
                    Question about RPG programmers

                    Joe, Why do you see the demand for RPG programmers growing? Jim

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                    • #25
                      Question about RPG programmers

                      Well, the number of RPG programmers is currently not growing; if anything it's decreasing by attrition. This is at least in part because so many industry pundits claimed the langyuaeg was dead. (In fact, find one industry expert who said anything positive about RPG. And I don't count...) However, those same experts also opined that RPG code would be replaced in huge part by other languages (such as Java), and that simply hasn't come to pass, for reasons I've stated: Java is not a business language, and SQL isn't a language, period. So, this is where supply and demand comes into play. A CIO has a smallish 500,000 line RPG application finely tuned to his company's needs, tested over the years and working like a charm. His lead RPG guy is getting ready to retire, and he has a choice: get a new RPG programmer, or get a whole new system. My guess is that a goodly number of CIOs are going to keep what they have, especially as it is clear that there hasn't been a single successful rewrite of a major iSeries system. So as iSeries applications continue to outlive their developers and the number of programmers gets smaller, the demand for those programmers will go up. How long will this continue? I don't know, but the features that Barbara and Gina and the rest of the RPG team have poured into the language make it as powerful as anything else out there today; there is certainly no clear successor, and thus I don't see the language going away any time soon. Joe

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                      • #26
                        Question about RPG programmers

                        Joe, I don't want to be pedantic, but what you are really talking about is not an increase in demand but a decrease in supply. (The CIO you refer to in your example still demands only one RPG programmer.) All else being equal, it works out about the same though, at least on the salary side. Jim

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                        • #27
                          Question about RPG programmers

                          Well, I wasn't being entirely precise when I said "as the number of RPG programmers goes down, the demand for RPG programmers will rise". That sentence was meant specifically to mirror your point: supply will decrease, so salaries should rise. Here's another point to ponder: If the numbers on iSeries sales continue to grow the way they have been, then there will be a lot more iSeries boxes out there. RPG is still the reigning language on the box, so I have to believe that at least some of those new boxes will need RPG programmers. That's more demand. Joe

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                          • #28
                            Question about RPG programmers

                            I am currently in a situation where I may be permitted a point of empiricism: My contract comes to an end on November 30th. I have just started to search, and I am receiving far greater serious replies than five years ago, two years ago, or even three months ago. A lot of hard work went into lobbying, and I think we may currently be seeing a little payoff. Dave

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                            • #29
                              Question about RPG programmers

                              By the way, I really enjoyed your article "Weaving WebSphere: RPG in WDSC6 and Beyond". If anyone has clicked on the link you supplied, they should.

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                              • #30
                                Question about RPG programmers

                                I have a question. I am hearing alot about middleware and .NET programming. I did some research and if you go to monster.com and search for RPG PROGRAMMERS we get about 208 hits worldwide. I searched for .NET programming and I get thousands. As you know the number of RPG programmers are dwindling, Is IBM going to do something for all the companies that are on the AS/400 with RPG applications, in the future when there are no RPG programmers? Will these companies be left in the dark? Will IBM come out with a migration tool that will take the RPG applications and convert them to VB, C# to run on .NET platforms? Websphere is very cool but it only converts the screens, not the CLP's or RPG's. I feel that no new guy would like to learn RPG and as the RPG programmers start to retire, the demand for RPG programmers will be great and good for me as a consultant. I will be able to charge more due to the demand and supply rule. But I would like to be able to stay up to date so that I will be able to continue consulting after the new stuff comes in. Do you have any thoughts? Thank you, Eugene Arencibia Please send me an e-mail at eugene@psgusa.com.

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