RE: The Future -- MIDRANGE-L

Yeah, I don't disagree with you.

There is always something else to spend money on, believe me I know!

I will just offer one more suggestion though...if a person were to sign up
for even a single course at their local community college, in any subject,
and became an accredited student, that person could then reap the benefits
of student discounts on software and conferences (not sure if Common has
such a discount...) and save a TON of money.

I bit the bullet last year and purchased one of the Adobe suites because I
wanted to learn more and learn some new skills, branch out if you will...and
I paid retail, which was stupid in retrospect because if I'd been thinking,
I could have taken a course at the local college and not only learned
something new there (which is a benefit all by itself) but I could have
ended up paying 1/3 the price of the Adobe tools.

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Charles Wilt
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 11:27 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: The Future

Shannon,

There are some of us that don't have the budget for boats nor $2,000
on a conference...even though we may want to something else always
comes up. :)

So what really amazes me are the people that won't spend a couple
hundred a year on a ProVIP subscription to the System i Network and
one or two new books.

But I agree that it's up to us to be looking out for our own
professional careers.

Charles

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Shannon O'Donnell
<sodonnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I dunno...if I was hiring someone and I had a choice between two people,
one of whom took the time and made the effort to learn a new technology
using a "learn xxx in 24 hours" book or similar resource, and who could
SHOW! Me how they created their own web site and discuss the technology
intelligently, if not fluently...versus a person who had done nothing but
RPG for 30 years and wanted ME to train them because they didn't want to
bother learning on their own...

I'd choose the first person every time.

My point being that while there is no substitute for actual
on-the-job-experience, I would still always choose someone who had proven
to me that they were willing to take the time to learn on their own and to
invest their own dollars into their own future via books, seminars or

online

courses.

This is a bit off the topic of your question, but one quick

observation...I

am amazed at the number of people in our profession who think nothing of
buying a new boat for the family vacation, but will not invest $2000.00 of
their own money to pay their own way to COMMON or RPG Devcon or similar
conference. Both expenditures benefit the same family, but try to get

most

people to pay their own way to something like that, and they look at you
like you're nuts. There is this idea, perhaps a sense of entitlement?,

that

the only way that a person should ever attend a conference like that is if
their company pays for it for them. The mantra being "Why should I spend

money to learn this technology that (as far as I can see with my tunnel
vision) only benefits my company? If they want me to learn it, let THEM!
pay for it!".

To my way of thinking, that mindset is nuts.

My opinion (only an opinion so don't crucify me over it!) is that there is
NO ONE! Who cares more about your professional future than you and if you
want to succeed at it, you will do whatever it takes in terms of time and
money to achieve your goals.

The O.P. here appears to want to do that very thing and I for one applaud
them.

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kelley Shaddrick
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 10:40 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The Future

We've all read of the impending demise of RPG green screen programmers

(30+

years here). It has been suggested that we branch out into HTML, CSS,
Javascript, PHP, Java, XML, SQL, etc. The list appears to be endless. The
company I work for has NO interest in web based user interfaces. The folks
who work in the customer service, order entry, accounting, and shipping
areas have been here for years and years (they average 20+ years). They

WANT

the old green screen interface.

The short story is there is no opportunity to learn any of these "new"
technologies here at work. Sure, I could grab one of the "learn (fill in

the

blank) in 24 hours" books and create my own personal website. But, in past
experiences at job interviews, these kind of "development experiences"

were

not viewed in a good light. The interviewer is looking for solid business
applications development in a business environment.

So, my question to all of you is, do you know of some kind of degree or
certification program offered by an accredited institution that one could

through that would, with the previous 30+ years of developing business
applications, help to offset the "looking for business development
experience" issue?

Kelley
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