Re(2): The economy and developers

["Mike Naughton" <mnaughton@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While perhaps not a perfect answer, I think  that trying to keep as
current  as possible in a range of areas is one form of insurance (as some
earlier threads have indicated, learning new technologies may not just be
a matter of professional responsibility, it may be a survival technique!).
Having said that, I think recognition that "information systems" (formerly
know as "data processing") has important skill sets that are relatively
platform-independent. I moved from the DEC PDP-11 world (talk about a dry
brook!) to the AS/400 eight years ago, and while RPG is pretty different
from DIBOL, the issues surrounding storing, retrieving, and presenting
data were (not surprisingly, I think) very similar. Differences in tool
sets lead to different methods of solving the same types of problems, but
experience and expertise in developing solutions should continue to be a
marketable skill (IMHO). Also, some tools are definitely cross-platform --
SQL, for example, and Java, which IBM seems to doing its darndest to get
us RPG-heads to look into ;-) . . . .

One final suggestion: don't think of yourself as an "AS/400" expert, think
of yourself as a "business applications systems" expert. I work on an
AS/400 now, but I write and maintain order processing, inventory control,
and production management systems -- doing everything from requirements
definition to end-user training -- and those are the skills that I will
(if necessary) take to another platform. . . .

jmho

MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com writes:
>I guess what we need is some kind of skill set market need shift
>insurance 
>... after working decades in the 400 world, it might die & I will need to 
>relearn computers into perhaps the Linux world, but I can't predict which 
>world I will need to relearn, and when I find out I might be unemployed,
>so 
>time to cash in my skill set insurance on education into whatever is now
>the 
>hot area.


Mike Naughton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Judd Wire, Inc.
124 Turnpike Road
Turners Falls, MA  01376
413-863-4357 x444
mnaughton@juddwire.com

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