Re: Work remote -- MIDRANGE-L

Hank,

In a message dated 98-11-15 12:33:01 EST, you write:

<<snip>>
> I've been called by a recruiter outside of the country for a LANSA
programmer.
> This is not an offer of a job. I would put that on the other job list, if it
were. 
>  
>  The question I have is: are LANSA programmers that scarce? I thought there 
>  was quite a number of them trained.

Actually, _ALL_ CASE programmers are that scarce.  With the possible exception
of Synon (whose ranks _MIGHT_ encompass as many AS/400 developers as do all
the other AS/400 CASE tools combined), CASE just never "took off" in _any_ of
its many forms on _any_ platform.  CASE was too expensive to purchase,
generated code that was too resource-intensive and, (due to the fact that it
didn't take off) too specialized.  An RPG/CL/COBOL/FORTRAN/C/JAVA programmer
can find work anywhere, can an AS/Set/Synon/Lansa/New World programmer say the
same?  No.  No CASE supplier _EVER_ provided a decent interface between upper-
and lower-CASE, which was the entire premise behind the paradigm in the first
place.  The RAD (rapid application development) promise was never fulfilled --
you just wrote better programs than you would have in the same amount of time
a 3GL would have taken.  Some applications are written with (now proprietary)
CASE tools, but there just aren't that many CASE programmers out there.

>  My response was that I would be happy to work remotely. However, the
company
>  management nixed that due to control issues, which I cannot entirely
disagree
>  with.
>  
>  So, a follow up question: are many of you getting opportunities to work on
>  AS/400's remotely? I know the technology is there. Just a matter of
management
>  being flexible enough to work with you, in my humble opinion.

What sort of "control issues" were you dealing with?  Sounds more like the "we
don't know how to control" issue that comes up with most companies that
disregard this easy way to attract talent.  If the latter is true, I'd suggest
defining the "issues" and offering means by which they could be overcome.
I've been working out of town every-other-week for the past two years (at an
unfortunate 9,600 Baud via IPCS) with great success.  Over the past six
months, I've done "moonlighting" work at 56K over a RAS line at another
client.  You are correct in that Management flexibility is the big issue.  If
"I'm agin' it" is the big problem, you have no recourse.  If "I don't know how
to measure it" is the big problem, present parameters and reporting criteria
with which the customer should be comfortable.  Trust is the biggest issue,
and I spent a year on site before achieving my every-other-week arrangement.
Trust should be an acheivable goal inside that time-frame, and without a
threat to quit as the basis for it...

HTH,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason the human race has not
achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be
'meetings'". -- Dave Barry
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