Career

The Business Analytics Program

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 06:00:15 +0100

Create a program that is right for your organization's maturity and culture. Written by John Boyer, Bill Frank, Brian Green, Tracy Harris, Kay Van De Vanter Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the book 5 Keys to Business Analytics Program Success (MC Press, October 2012). Many organizations overestimate the ease by which a formal Business Analytics Program is put in place. They may not recognize the breadth of impact the program will have on the organization. It is often believed th...

In the Wheelhouse: Preventative Maintenance for the Fall Blues; Educate Yourself!

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:00:15 +0100

This week, I'm talking about education offerings coming this fall, highlighting where you need to be and why you need to be there. Plus there are podcasts, tweetups, and all sorts of other free, community-driven content to keep you in the know. Written by Steve Pitcher Yes, I know it's only early August. You know what? The fall conference season is coming faster than we think. There's plenty to choose from, so it's time to start planning. I've taken the liberty of collecting information on a fe...

OCEAN 2012 Technical Conference Wows Attendees with 30 Sessions

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:00:10 +0100

This year's event draws 180 people interested in keeping up to date on the latest advances in IBM Power technology. Written by Chris Smith The annual OCEAN Technical Conference drew 180 registered seminar attendees, speakers, vendors, and volunteers this year as IT professionals from throughout Southern California gathered to sharpen their skills and learn about the latest wrinkles in IT's ever-changing landscape....

Technology Focus: Educational Services for IBM i Professionals

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:00:10 +0100

As the generation of RPG programmers who built some of the great IBM i application systems that run many SMBs drifts toward retirement, replenishing their ranks poses some urgent problems. Written by John Ghrist Even as long as 20 years ago, it was fashionable to say that if you didn't keep your technology skills sharp, the only thing you'd need to learn for your next job was how to say, "Do you want fries with that?" While that was clearly some hyperbole designed to shock, the base sentiment r...

Values: It's All in the Feet

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:00:15 +0100

Leaders must continually communicate the organization's ethical expectations. Written by Jack Beach Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the book Leadership in My Rearview Mirror, published by MC Press. Just before Thanksgiving 1969, I was officially informed that I would be getting orders to the Republic of Vietnam following my Advanced Individual Training. This news came as no surprise to me, but Maureen had managed to convince herself that something would change before I got m...

IBM i Growth Up, Escape the Family with New Redbook on IBM i 7.1

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:00:10 +0100

The product of more than 100 people, the latest IBM Redbook dissects IBM i 7.1 into a thousand bite-sized pieces. Written by Chris Smith The Great Recession may have put a crimp in many people's lifestyles, but apparently it has only renewed interest in IBM i, according to Steve Will, chief architect for the venerable OS. According to Will, companies have been forced to reevaluate all their IT systems with an eye toward efficiency, and the numbers don't lie; IBM i on Power Systems delivers to c...

What Do You Need to Know to Turn an Idea for an Article or Book into a Published Work?

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:00:15 +0100

The answer to that question is right here! Written by Roger E. Sanders According to a 2003 survey conducted by Jenkins Group, Inc., a Michigan publishing services firm, 81 percent of Americans would like to write a book. And, although it appears that a similar study about writing articles has never been done, it's probably safe to say that a fairly large number of people have entertained the thought of writing for a magazine as well. There are certainly enough books on the subject to back up th...

What Do You Need to Know to Become DB2 9.7 Certified?

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:00:15 +0100

The answer to that question is right here! Written by Roger Sanders Shortly before my book DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Database Administration: Certification Study Guide went into a second printing (which was in May 2009), IBM invited me to help develop the DB2 9.7 for Linux UNIX, and Windows Database Administration (DBA) certification exam (Exam 541). Knowing that a new version of the DBA exam was about to be created, I contacted my editor and asked if we should update my DB2 9 DBA book...

Is Corporate Tunnel Vision Blocking the Next Generation of RPG Programmers?

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:00:10 +0100

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 program...

New Digital Communications Etiquette Manual a Must-Read for the Upwardly Mobile

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:00:10 +0100

Did you offend a member of your professional "twibe" when you meant to tweet your sweet? Written by Chris Smith A "twibe" on Twitter, for the uninitiated, is a group of Twitter users interested in a common topic. Next week is National Business Etiquette Week, and one staffing firm is marking the occasion by issuing a handy little pamphlet—Business Etiquette: The New Rules in a Digital Age—revealing the dos and don'ts of social networking. All who already know the rules please stop read...

COMMON Certification Program Builds Momentum

Fri, 20 May 2011 06:00:10 +0100

After three years of work, the COMMON Certification Steering Committee introduces a second certification exam while work continues on the curriculum. Written by Chris Smith When you think of what an education today can cost, those of us who emerged from college with degree in hand two or three decades ago and didn't have to spend the ensuing years paying down student debt were truly fortunate. In fact, the best gift my father ever gave me was my college education, which, despite a little grumbl...

Seminars and Training Key to Embracing Change in IT

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:00:15 +0100

OCEAN's 17th Annual Technical Conference focused on modernization and the need to keep abreast of new technologies. Written by Chris Smith Looking back on the recent OCEAN Technical Conference this summer, it's clear that PHP is one of the core technologies permeating changes in the IBM i world today. Of the 36 educational sessions, eight had direct references to PHP applications, frameworks, utilities, or middleware. Whether an oversight or a mere reflection of user interest, nothing related t...

Can Corrective Thinking and Good Ideas Lead Us out of Recession?

Fri, 21 May 2010 06:00:05 +0100

Jobs are a product of growth, so let's think about growing jobs. Written by Chris Smith In discussing whether or not Denmark was a type of prison, Hamlet asserted to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor actors in the Shakespearian play named after the famous protagonist, that it's all in the mind: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," claimed Hamlet. With this perspective, we might assume that some people in the U.S. today might actually enjoy being out of work. It...

Don't Think About Whom You Have Been. Who Are You Now?

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:00:10 +0100

OCEAN members get briefing on AJAX technologies by author Jeff Olen; board sets date for this summer's technical conference. Written by Chris Smith The room was filled with RPG programmers, and the question on the minds of many was: Where do we go from here?...

What Is the Role of Open Source in a Down Economy?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:10 +0100

Making contributions to the common good is fine if you have a job, but what if you don't?

Written by Chris Smith

Sometimes I wonder if the government shouldn't just give programmers a free pass and, in the interests of developing more open-source software, put them on the dole.

Employment (and Unemployment) Take Center Stage at OCEAN

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:00:10 +0100

With California's unemployment rate at nearly 12 percent, finding a job means sharpening up your technical skills and knowing how to present yourself during an interview. Written by Chris Smith As usual, the OCEAN User Group meeting Wednesday night was interesting and well-attended, particularly for an August meeting. Both Bob Langieri and Carole Comeau got a round of applause from the members, who undoubtedly were expressing their appreciation for the work they, Margaret Matthews, and the other ...

Leverage Your Staff's Skill Sets

Sun, 10 May 2009 01:00:15 +0100

A good leader knows his employees' strengths and plays to them! By CJ Rhoads Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of JDEtips Journal and is reprinted with permission from Klee Associates, Inc. Is your staff technically adept, non-technically adept, or a mixture of both? Leveraging your staff members' individual skill sets (and corresponding personalities) is often the key to improving your business health through technology...especially when you...

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:00:05 +0100

The U.S. is in a recession, massive layoffs are occurring at an alarming rate, and the trend will continue into 2009. So it's time to party like it was 1999. Right? No! By Maria A. DeGiglio In early December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that 533,000 jobs were lost in November and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5 (in October) to 6.7 percent. The National Bureau of Economic Research also announced that the U.S. has been in a recession for about a year. ...

What Is Social Networking, and How Do You Use It to Achieve Business Objectives?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:00:15 +0100

If you think social networking is just for finding lost classmates or announcing your favorite bands, boy, are you wrong. By Christopher Jones "Baby, check this out. I've got something to say." That's probably the mantra that first comes to mind when someone mentions social networking. People posting their opinions, their photos, what they ate for lunch. But if that's your image of social networking, you haven't looked lately. The MySpace-dominated virtual dormitory h...

Build Real Teamwork in a Virtual Team

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:00:05 +0100

If your virtual team is spread far and wide, how can you help them to be a real team? By Colleen Garton Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from Managing Without Walls, published by MC Press. Virtual teams are a growing phenomenon in today's business world. It is becoming more and more unusual to find an organization that doesn't have some virtual aspect to it. Sales teams have been virtual for decades. They just didn't have such a fancy title! Today, organizations have more than sal...

Does "Monitoring the System" Mean Checking Our Mental Health?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:00:05 +0100

The breakdown of San Francisco's network administrator Terry Childs serves as a warning sign to us all. By Chris Smith Reading about the fall of network administrator Terry Childs in San Francisco sends a chill down my spine. Childs currently is in jail on $5 million bond for commandeering the city's FiberWAN fiber optic network. The network carries most of the city's network traffic, including employee emails, personnel information, and even law enforcement documents. ...

AS/400/iSeries/System i/IBM Power System Skills: What Was Needed Then and What Is Needed Now

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:00:05 +0100

How is an organization or an ISV supposed to keep up in these challenging times? By Mark Duignan The IBM Power System marketplace is in decline. Some in the IBM i user community petition and plead with IBM to "market the IBM i server" so that it is acceptable within their organizations. However, the level of IBM marketing is not the real problem. Most IBM i users got involved with the platform simply because their organizations purchased an ISV solution that exe...

Could Your Productivity Use a Boost?

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:05 +0100

Old habits can be hard to break, but sometimes it's worth the effort.

By Susan Gantner

Are you as productive in your programming as you could be? If you're still using the same toolset you used five or 10 (or more) years ago (i.e., PDM, SEU, SDA, and a green-screen debugger), then almost certainly not. Maybe it's time you gave some modern tools a try.

Book Review: SOA for the Business Developer

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:05 +0100

If you want to know how SOA works in the real world, this is your book. By Phil Law There's a lot of hype and fanfare surrounding service-oriented architecture (SOA), but the authors of SOA for the Business Developer have obviously gotten their hands dirty participating in real-world SOA projects. The content of their book reflects that experience. They begin by pointing out the simple truth that "SOA includes ideas that have been around for decades." Comparing and cont...

MC Press Online Celebrates Launch of Redesigned, Feature-Rich Web Site

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:02:00 +0100

MC Press Online is pleased to announce the launch of its completely new Web site designed to help System i professionals be more productive on the job and get more out of their career. Rest assured that the site still contains all of the content and features that you've come to expect, but it now also offers several powerful enhancements you're sure to find extremely useful:

Education Is Your Responsibility

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Quit whining about the fact that your company isn't educating you. Educate yourself! As I write this article, I realize that this will be the final installment in MC Press Online's iApplication Designer for 2007. I can't believe that 2007 is almost history! Traditionally, the last column of a year is used for reflection. And who am I to flout tradition? I'll soon be celebrating another birthday, one that puts me within spitting range of the half-century mark...

Training the Cross-Platform Team

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In these days of multiple languages and architectures, how do you cohesively train a group of people with very different development goals? "We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." —Benjamin Franklin Two schools of thought exist in preparing software development teams. One is the compartmentalized approach, in which each person is involved in only his or her specific portion of the code and has no real contact with the other ...

Book Review: The Modern RPG IV Language, Fourth Edition

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

This book isn't a training manual; it's a reference book. The Modern RPG IV Language, Fourth Edition by Robert Cozzi, Jr. is the latest version of a book that has enjoyed a long history of popularity in the RPG community. With this book, MC Press continues its tradition of providing relevant and timely materials in a quality book format....

Book Review: Managing Without Walls

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

I really loved this book! Over the years, I have managed satellite developers in England, France, India, Australia, and Canada (I'm currently in Southern California). I wish I had read Managing Without Walls years ago, before I started managing remote developers. Some of the book is based on just pure common sense, like the parts about dealing with time differences, speaking clearly, understanding gestures...the sort of stuff you have to include for completeness. But there is also some real meat ...

Rejuvenate Your IT Career

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Job got you feeling stressed, bored, tired or trapped? Discover enjoyment and growth in your information technology career.

Introducing the New RPG Developer

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The new RPG language is not your father's RPG, and the industry needs a new publication devoted to this new language and to the new generation of programmers using it.

Filling the Skills Gap: It's Academic

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The IBM Academic Initiative for System i is increasing platform awareness in the education arena and filling a real need for System i skills.

Knowledge Management and Collaboration: Listening to Your Users About Corporate Collaboration Needs

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Involving business users in practically every step of a technology's implementation is essential to the project's success.

Instigating Change Within IT

Wed, 23 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Use these practical approaches to introduce new development technologies into your IT organization.

Upgrading Business Management Systems

Mon, 14 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

All at once or in phases, integrated document management is the next big thing for better business performance.

The Keyboard Is Mightier Than You Think

Mon, 07 May 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Urban legend has it that IT professionals cannot string two coherent sentences together. The time has come to debunk this myth; here's how.

Open New Doors

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Maybe you'll stay employed if you take the initiative to learn about the industry you're in.

Collaboration: Working with Non-IT Personnel in Building Technical Solutions

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Overheard from frustrated programmer: "Boy, I really messed that project up. I gave them what they asked for. Now I have to give them what they want."

Managing Without Walls

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

By going "virtual," many companies are reshaping their business models to guarantee higher revenues, better profit margins, and faster time to market.

The System i Academic Initiative

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Where have all the students gone (and are they coming back)?

Fall 2006 Job and Career Trends for IT Professionals

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

What's really going on in the IT job market?

IBM System i Initiative for Innovation

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Accelerate your growth and invest in your future.

Women in IT Speak Out

Mon, 15 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Two successful women share their stories.

How to Lead, Manage, and Motivate Corporate Programmers

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0100

You'll need more than instinct to become the best manager you can be.

Local User Groups: Out of Date or Coming of Age?

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Depending on who you talk to, local user groups (LUGs) are either crumbling away or going strong. What's the real story?

IT Hiring and Salary Trends for 2005

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0100

What are the chances your IT career will survive?

The Virtue of Virtual Employees

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Low-cost, broadband networking can make geography irrelevant to work and workers, thereby reducing costs and improving productivity, but only if you do it right.

Should You Hurry Up or Should You Wait?

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Is your negative behavior or someone else's risking the success of your project?

The Best Resume Gets the Interview

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0100

If you really, really want that interview, the first step toward it is a top-notch resume.

Make Your Career Shockproof

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Actively managing your career can help to protect the continuity of your employment even in the face of turbulent labor conditions.