Re: Recommendations for a newcomer?

On 5/14/2013 11:06 AM, Clay B Carley wrote:

Being new to midrange systems, I'm attempting to pick up skills that
will be useful for me in the future, in hopes to get a job working with
them. Reading articles that say things like COBOL is uncool, and RPG is
worse isn't really giving me hope for a future working with a midrange
system though.

Is it going to be worth my time to learn things like CL, COBOL, and RPG
now? Or are they fading away? It would be pretty sad to finally become
proficient with these languages, only to find out that they are dead and
replaced with <blah> instead.

What would you recommend a newcomer focus on (aside from system
operations)?

I've been responding to these sort of questions for years, and every
time I work on another one, I find I'm still not perfect. I think there
are 3 things to bear in mind if you want a job in the midrange computing
space.

1) If RPG 'fades away' it will be because IBM pulled the plug on the
entire platform. RPG is the midrange and the midrange is RPG. There
are a relative handful of Cobol and PL/I shops, but if you want to be
employable in the largest number of midrange shops, RPG is that way.

2) No one can perfectly predict the future but it's clear that the web
is not a fad. RPG will be used on the back end and something else on
the front end. Java and .NET are the big players there with Javascript
in addition to one (or both!) of those. The wonderful part about web
programming is that you can do it at home.

3) The midrange space is not about programming. It is about solving
business problems. Learn to speak to end users using their terminology,
not the jargon of programming. Don't be grumpy when they change their
mind for the nineteenth time; appreciate that they don't know exactly
what they need until you've shown them /something/. Consider each of
your revisions to be a step in the right direction. Write your code so
it's easy to change without breaking. More than any programming
language choice, this ability to embrace and implement change is what
will serve your employers the best. And therefore you as well.
--buck