RE: Service Programs VS normal Programs (Jon Paris)

["Dan Bale" <dbale@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / Jon Paris
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 12:24 AM
>
> I knew I should have stayed out of this discussion ..... hey ho ....

ha!  Maybe me, too.

>  >> Now, Jon, don't take this the wrong way, but being on the outside
> looking in it's too easy to be judgmental in this
> manner and especially on this topic.
>
> I'm not sure which "outside" this is but ... I'm not running a programming
> shop day-to-day at the moment - but I did for many years.  I found I got
> significant ROI by "forcing" my staff to take a half-day of "play time"
> every week.  They learnt a lot and the shop benefited greatly from it.

See, this is where you are "outside looking in".  My jaw would drop to the
floor if I saw such a shop.  Maybe it's time for an informal poll?

>  >> Yes, I'd love it if everyone kept up to speed, but sometimes it's just
> hard to find the time and resources.
>
> I'll play devil's advocate here and simply ask why would one continue to
> employ people who don't "keep up to speed"?  I am constantly hearing about
> the large number of highly skilled RPG programmers who are out of
> work - so....

Two words: "Business Knowledge"  I worked in a shop several years ago where
my programming colleague had been there for 17 years, and still coding
RPG-III.  He probably could have been manager material if he wanted.  I got
whacked in a review for writing an ILE RPG application, because "senior"
wouldn't be able to understand it.  Heaven help this company if "senior" got
hit by the Mack truck, cuz it would surely mean serious trouble for this
large company that relied heavily on the AS/400 to run their distribution
centers.

> I also happen to believe that any employer who doesn't give his staff time
> to improve their skills is an idiot, but that's not pertinent to
> the current discussion.

Just concurring here.

db