RE: Midrange Jobs National Discussion

Although Mr. Leverich makes a good point regarding "some" RPG/COBOL programmers 
not keeping their skills up, that does not hold true for all RPG/COBOL 
programmers.  Quite the contrary!  I learned COBOL in 1989, taught myself RPG 
though a CBT course in 1995 and have been working both RPG and COBOL contracts 
ever since.  I learned Unix, C++, and Perl however could never get a job or 
contract utilizing those skills because I had no experience and the employers 
mentality was that if he/she was going to hiring someone with no experience, it 
was going to be the person right out of college or technical trade school who 
can easily live off of $40,000 a year, and not the 25 year professional who may 
only make a modest $70.000, but is married, a homeowner with a mortgage, and 
two daughters in college.

Outsourcing offshore can not be denied as a major problem because the reality 
is, outsourcing is a big problem.  However, it's a problem that is not going 
away and aside from or in addition to ill attempts to get widespread 
Congressional support to put limitations on offshore outsourcing, it is 
imperative to learn how to effectively direct your career path given these 
conditions.

The reality is that there are fewer opportunities for those of us who remain.  
Mr. Leverich is correct in that if you want to survive you have to keep your 
skills current.  Everyone has different abilities and therefore not everyone 
can learn multiple high level languages.  However if if you're an RPG 
programmer you need to be one of the elite RPG programmers.  Take the time to 
learn RPG IV/ILE & VisualRPG.  More and more software is making it possible for 
RPG programmers to develop web applications.  Get familiar with these types of 
software.

The truth may be that it's time for a career change.  Not everyone has the 
mentality to live up to today's challenges and quickly changing circumstances.  
I've been there and have contemplated career change.  I obviously decided to 
stick around a while.

Writing letters to Congress may help but I believe we need more of a national 
political voice, one that would force congress members to take seriously or 
risk losing significant voter support.  Getting involved in ppolitics is never 
fun but let's face it, times have changed.


Jonathan R. Burrs

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The issue of out-sourcing is at the heart of all the lack of adequate

employment

we're all experiencing these days. 

Sorry, but I find that to be the biggest bunch of bull I've heard in a
long time. 

The lack of adequate employment is more based on the employees
unwillingness to learn new things than the fact that jobs have been
moved offshore. Maybe you're in the wrong geographical location, maybe
it's just bad luck, but speaking both as an employer in the NYC metro
area and as a friend to other employers in the area we're in need of
people that know .NET, c#, Java and web programming. 

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. These technologies didn't just
appear yesterday, they didn't  come out of left field, and the barrier
to entry isn't very high. For the cost of a cup of coffee and a seat at
the local bookstore you can learn the basics of any of the mentioned
technologies.

Both .Net and Java are supported by communities that are incredibly
active on the net. Some sites are good, some are bad, but you can take
the time to visit them. The java community has the Eclipse IDE and the
.NET community has Visual Studio, both available for the cost of the
time to download free from the net and they both run on the PC you have
at home, so there's no excuse for not having experience with them. 

Sure, as an employer I _could_ hire an RPG programmer and teach them c#,
but why should I? If they're not willing to spend their own time to
learn these technologies, why should I spend my money to teach them? If
an out of work RPG (or, um, Cobol <G>) programmer showed up at an
employers door and said, "I've got 20 years experience designing and
programming enterprise applications AND I've learned C#, gotten my
Microsoft certification, I'm an active participant on CodeProject.com
and I'm writing this ASP.Net application" I think they'd have a good
chance getting hired. But if they show up and say "Java what? Sure I can
learn it, just hire me" well, sorry, there are other more qualified
candidates out there.

JMTCW.
-Walden


-- 
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x3051
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com

Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)


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