IBM i at 25 and User Groups

This PowerUp blog entry is written by Pete Massiello of iTech Solutions and past president of COMMON. You can reach Pete at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @petem59.

Twenty-five years! Wow, it seems like only yesterday that the AS/400 was announced, and in retrospect, it is amazing how far we have actually come. As the world around us has changed, so too has the machine we all first fell in love with. You have probably heard by now that IBM is celebrating the 25th birthday of the platform, and they are introducing 25 topics on Facebook (bit.ly/ibmi25). IBM asked me to talk about the second of those topics: User Groups. 
While the folks in Rochester have done an absolutely fantastic job in keeping the machine up-to-date with all the latest technology, new features, functions and improvements; they have also worked very closely to the entire user community to understand their needs and requirements.

User groups have been a backbone of the AS/400 and now IBM i community over these last 25 years—whether it is a local user group or the national user group COMMON. Go to any user group meeting and you immediately see the camaraderie that exists in this community. The user group members, the platform, the IBMers—they all mesh together. We all seem to know one another, and we value each other’s opinion. Yes, I really mean each other’s opinion. It isn’t a one-way relationship. IBM has been a good partner for the user groups, for COMMON and for the individuals in the community. Perhaps it is like a good marriage, where each side understands one another, they listen to each other, they help one another, and they are there for one another. I believe the rest of IBM is properly envious of the relationship that Rochester has with its users.

Remember, 25 years ago there was no Internet. People relied on user groups to get all their information. Everything was face-to-face meetings. Times have changed, technology has changed, our world around us has changed. Yet, today I am at the COMMON conference in Austin, Texas, with the largest concentration of IBM i users on the planet. As I walk around the conference, inside of sessions, in labs, in the hallways, in the expo, I can feel the excitement. I can feel the buzz. This is a great example of the community, user groups and IBM coming together and working together. There is so much value in coming to a user group meeting. The education, the networking, the interaction with other users—it’s priceless. As a member of the community, I have seen that not only do the individuals learn at these events, but so does IBM. This is why I believe it is a reciprocal relationship, even mutually beneficial relationship. The COMMON America’s Advisory Council (CAAC) is a good example of the relationship between both the users of the community and IBM receiving value from this user-group relationship. If you don’t know, the CAAC works with the community to collect requirements from the users and then prioritizes their importance. Then with the IBM Rochester development team, they work to get these requirements into future releases of IBM i. Over the past few years, more than 64 percent of the community’s requirements have been incorporated into 6.1 and 7.1, with additional requirements scheduled to be included into future releases of IBM i. As you can see, user groups aren’t just about individuals coming to listen to what IBM is saying; yes, there is that, but there is also IBM listening to the needs of the users, and then delivering.

Last year, as president of COMMON during the opening session, I talked about COMMON’s strategic partner, IBM. I know that COMMON couldn’t ask for a better partner, and I hope that IBM feels the same way. Over the years each organization has worked together, supported each other and worked very closely for the benefit of the entire community. I think we as the community are extremely grateful for the work that they have both done for us.

IBM has proven over the years they aren’t just the vendor, but a trusted and valued member of the IBM i community. I am amazed at how fast the first 25 years have passed, and I am looking forward to the next 25 years. Put on your sunglasses because from where I am standing, the future of IBM i looks pretty bright.

 

Send Your Technical Staff to Conferences

This blog is written by Alan Seiden, an authority on PHP development with IBM i, who helps companies achieve best practices and top performance when combining PHP, Zend Framework, IBM i, RPG and DB2. An award-winning speaker, Alan is project manager of Zend's open-source PHP Toolkit for IBM i and owner of Alan Seiden Consulting, Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. You can reach him at http://www.alanseiden.com, [email protected] or @alanseiden.

 

At conferences, I'm swept up in the excitement of high-energy professionals learning, teaching and sharing. For weeks afterward, the adrenaline rush fuels sharper thinking as I use the information and techniques I've absorbed from presenters, vendor booths and people I've met. More IT professionals deserve to enjoy that “conference high.”

Some IT executives hesitate to send staff to industry meetings: it's too expensive, they think, or they can't spare the staff time. But I've seen staffers often return to work energized, revitalized and psyched to put what they've learned to practical use.

Sometimes a bit of knowledge has surprising benefits. For example, Jeb Bouchard, systems analyst at Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (WCVT), Waitsfield, Vt., saved WCVT $100,000 per year in printing and consulting fees by adopting InfoPrint for IBM i. Without the guidance of experts she'd met at COMMON, such a cost savings and enhanced self-sufficiency might have remained a dream.

Another conference success story involves Jorge Sanguinetti, IS Manager of ACIS Enhancements at Apria Healthcare, Lake Forest, Calif., who learned at the OCEAN Technical Conference how to enable mobile interfaces by adding Web services to Apria's legacy applications, avoiding an expensive and risky rewrite.

Jeb and Jorge achieved quick wins by seeking answers to their targeted questions. Conferences can also provide valuable “delayed wins” by exposing attendees to technology that they can call upon later. For example, yesterday a client asked me how to accelerate cached data stored on the Integrated File System (IFS). I remembered Margaret Fenlon's “IFS Advanced Topics” talk from COMMON 2011, at which IBM's Fenlon introduced temporary file systems, which are memory-based and fast. This solution will speed my client's application without code changes. How much is that solution worth?

To reap the most value from conferences, plan to approach IBM execs, reps or vendors for a solution to your issue. What you've assumed would be an expensive, time-consuming project might be simplified by a future release or Technology Refresh. At COMMON, you can submit requirement sheets directly to IBM.

To find an answer to a burning question, contact speakers or vendors ahead of time to let them know your staff will be there and suggest the topic you'd like discussed. Attend “Ask the Experts” events and panel discussions. Collect business cards and follow up after the conference.

I've heard secondhand that some IT executives believe that reviewing conference presentation slides online, after the fact, is sufficient education for their staff. In my experience, however, slides serve as reference material at best. They can't motivate and guide IT professionals toward success in adopting new ideas. For real value, attendance and active participation are crucial.

If your budget hasn't included a line for conference participation, consider the benefits of adding one. You're likely to find it a wise investment.

What have conferences done for you? Share your story in the Comments section below.

Recent Experiences Teaching i Students; the Importance of User Groups

This PowerUp blog entry was written by Rick Flagler, who teaches as an Adjunct in the Computer Science department at Keene State College (KSC) in Keene, N.H. Rick has 30-plus years in IT in various development and management roles in manufacturing, working at his day job Timken Super Precision. Rick started the IBM midrange program at KSC more than 10 years ago and has since taught DB2/SQL and RPG classes.

I’ve written about grooming new IBM i talent before and I see others writing about it frequently, so it continues to be a topic of interest. I have a larger than usual class for DB2/SQL this semester. Some students show promise already as they make tables with DDS and SQL, join data from here to there and begin to think about taking requirements from specifications to objects. While nearly all prefer GUI to green screen, every once in a while someone gets how cool commands are, utilizing F9 and F4 like old veterans. One student has Telnet on his iPad–this is an interesting combination but wouldn’t it be great to have an app that lets us run Rational Developer for Power Systems running IBM i  and IBM Access Navigator natively on the Apple iPad2? If you know how to do this, please write about it in Comments.

I don’t get to user groups as often as I once did. I always feel guilty about this. But, I don’t think I’m alone in this. User groups in some areas have lessened their number of meetings, are seeing reduced numbers of members or seeing less sharing of ideas. Why is this? Has the connectedness of the Internet killed the “community” in the world of IT? Maybe a little bit. And, what about the idea that you can “Google” anything to see how to do it? This is a quantity vs. quality situation many times.

We recently wanted to learn a little about Microsoft C# and how it could benefit us for applications and migrations of data to/from IBM i. So, we powered up the browser to look for threads about how to connect from C# to DB2. Many hits, some with dubious answers but eventually an excellent IBM Redbooks publication was located that provided a tutorial about this topic. Gotta love those Redbooks! This was great, but in the search process, I found websites where users apparently vie to be the best poster, the most frequent poster and, dare I speculate, the most “paid” poster? Do I have this right? A programmer, or someone pretending to be one, can author an article or tip about something and get paid a royalty for the tip? On IBM i, or any other platform, some of these tips appear, when read by a knowledgeable person, to be totally inaccurate; like the person writing them has never even been near the machine before. This is a trend I find disturbing. Caveat Emptor for sure! That’s where the user group meeting or website can be of real service. Some pre-screened topics by people you KNOW are competent.

I suggest the lack of the human interaction we found so popular in our earlier days of System/38 and AS/400 is something to be missed. The excitement of the sharing of great new technique, code snippets and ideas kept us coming to user group meetings each month. Sure, the Internet has great information, but the user groups provided a place to network face-to-face, exchange information, and hear about announcements and trends from interesting people.

One of my strategies has been to take a student to a user group meeting. Our local group will admit a student for free, a nod to growing the ranks of young IBM i professionals (YiPS). When I am teaching, every so often I see a student that suddenly “gets” the IBM i platform and its unique value. If so, I ask that student to attend a user group meeting. I hope this gives a sense of the ecosystem and maybe a job opportunity arises from the visit. At the very least, maybe the fledgling developer gets a vision of what these other IBM i programmers are considering important in their day jobs and what we’re all excited about.

I notice some of the frequent contributors to this magazine/website and others are getting younger. Hopefully this trend will continue. Long live the user group and IBM i!   

Tips for Keeping Skills Current

This blog entry was written by Bruce Guezkow, who's been an IT professional for more than 25 years, mostly with Power Systems on IBM i and its predecessors. He uses RPGLE, CLLE, SQL (in many flavors), REXX, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP when developing applications. He is currently webmaster for the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association (WMCPA), an advisor for the Programmer/Analyst Track at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Wis., and an independent consultant for GmanTech Consulting in Delavan, Wis.

Keeping your skills current is an ongoing struggle. Besides the issue of who's paying for it, there’s also the question of where to find educational opportunities. We've all received mailings and emails with offers for training (many worthwhile). Plenty of information is out there just waiting for you to make use of it.

Many of the top people in our industry write blogs with professional insights, tips, even code that you can download--all for free. Websites offer free code examples describing techniques or programs and commands ready for you to download, compile and use as-is or with your own custom modifications.

You can check out the IBM Academic Initiative website for schools near you offering IBM i-related classes. IBM needs to review these listings to ensure accuracy and that the schools are teaching current subjects, but it is an excellent resource.

User groups are another great place to learn skills and meet colleagues with whom you can share expertise. To find out if there is a user group near you, visit the eServer User Groups site. If one is located near you, join, and actively work with them to get the kind of education you want. You'll find groups open to suggestions from members. If none is located nearby, look into forming one.

Two of the strongest groups are found in the Midwest--WMCPA in Milwaukee, Wis., and OMNI in Chicago. They will be jointly hosting a Golf Outing on July 21. This event is a great opportunity for directors and CIOs to get together to learn more about the direction the platform is headed in. Registration is available online.

You can also find links to some of the aforementioned resources on the WMCPA website, as well as sites for most other user groups. Attend a meeting, join a group, or form your own. You might just learn something!