RE: Future of AS/400????????????

Finding new AS/400 positions has been very difficult in S.E. Michigan.  I went
through this myself in August.  Had a "possible" an hour and a half north of
me.  Also looked at the possibility of several jobs in Columbus, OH.  I would
recommend you consider relocation.  Especially if the AS/400 world in Toledo
is anything like what we've been experiencing in the metro Detroit area.  IMO,
I believe that the Y2K deal turned many contractors into hires and, for
whatever reason, everybody's staying put.

You sent a post to the midrange-jobs list.  You should be hearing from some
headhunters soon.  Also check out techies.com.  There _are_ AS/400 jobs out
there.

I disagree that the AS/400 is dying.  I know IBM marketing doesn't help the
cause, but the AS/400 will be around for awhile.  Did you really think that
you'd be coding RPG until you were 62?  Hey, I'm a coder too, but the
writing's been on the wall for quite awhile now: "LEARN NEW LANGUAGES"  I
think if you limit your skills to RPG, you make yourself much less marketable.
 Learn Java on your home PC.  Learn how to learn new languages, so that when
you *have* to learn a certain language, it'll be that much easier.

So much more to say, but you didn't really ask, and besides, this is the RPG
list.

Dan Bale
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------

From: Gerald Kern [mailto:gkern@buckeye-express.com]
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 2:35 PM
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: RE: Future of AS/400??????????????:(:(


I'm not sure where we'll land. I'm afraid it won't be the (economic) soft
landing the talking heads are predicting. I got laid off at the first of
this month after 15 straight years programming RPG in the midrange industry.
And currently there is no one doing any hiring in the Toledo area. I'm less
than an hour from metro Detroit and distribution and manufacturing is still
big in the area. If the past is any indicator - what happens here
economically ripples through the rest of the country in about 6-9 months.
Our county unemployment rate is the highest in Ohio right now. It's not been
this bad around here since '83. Back then when I was in college, I thought a
computer programming career would see me through to retirement. Boy was I
wrong - I've got 20 years to go until I'm 62 and am again feeling like I
have to start over by learning MS Access, VB & Java. And IBM isn't doing
anything to help market the best box on the planet either. Thanks Lou.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On
Behalf Of Parvez Mirza
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 2:03 PM
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: Future fo AS/400??????????????:(:(


Hi All,

for past three years I'm working on AS/400... but now I've started feeling
that its very difficult to survive with RPG...
The world is changing.. to Java and all... where are we going to land...
Please help me..

Regards

Parvez
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