RE: Chasing the wrong target? (was "giving an iSeries system to eachcollege")

Jon,

<snip>If you can't rely on graduates to fill the vacancies - where are the 
System
i programmers of the future to come from?</snip>

Same place they've always come from?  There has always been a culture in 
midrange where Bobby from the warehouse wants to learn computer operations.  
Later on, he starts programming little utilities, and the next thing you know, 
he's become one of the programmers....

That's not an uncommon scene in many SMB environments.  However, there can be 
serious flaws in this scenario...

The scope of education is often very narrow, and often there is NO formal 
training provided.  The RPG manuals are great for learning what the language 
can do, but is a lousy guide for "how to think like a programmer".  Experience 
will usually help correct these deficites, but think of all the sloppy code 
that gets slung before the light shines upon them.....  

I dunno, education is key to the success of our platform.  

Eric