A key point to add to Scott's observations. PLEASE make sure during the
interview process that the PHP or C programmer (or whatever) is interested
in "business" programming. I have seen IBM i shops hire good people who
simply are not interested in business programming and after 6 months they
leave because the wok isn't "exciting" for them. Please realize that
there is a lot more to hiring someone than just skills and attitude. If
you want just a web designer, they are out there. If you want someone
who will work with the next generation of technology AND BUSINESS which
could by any of the languages discussed in this thread, please make sure
that are headed in that direction. We went through quite a few developers
at another company before we finally figured out that part of the
equation. In other words, someone who wants to just write games may not
make a good business developer on IBM i, let alone learn RPG/Free.
One more observation has to do with hiring religious wars. Let's say the
resource you are looking at has Linux all over her resume. This is not to
say that they would be opposed to learning IBM i. But, make darned sure
they have a VERY open mind or you may spend the next 6-12 months fighting
an internal religious war about platforms. Many people who have an open
mind find IBM i quite nice. Others can find a million excuses for why they
"think" they can't do their job. Scott is a perfect example of "NO
EXCUSES" :)
My $.02.
Mike
Office Phone: (708)233-5880 Cell: (408)679-1011
-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Scott Klement
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2012 1:51 AM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] Web Enabling Applications
Todd,
What I've discovered is that RPG is simply a better language for writing
business rules and business logic than the others.
I agree with your assessment that it's often hard to find qualified RPG
developers. That's not to say that it's hard to find RPG developers --
but rather than most RPG developers on the job market have out-of-date
skills, so are not "qualified." The reasons for this vary, but it's
mostly because too many businesses have this idea that RPG and IBM i are
not capable (Which is completely untrue) and therefore delegate modern
tasks to other platforms. This becomes self-fulfilling, because the
RPGers don't get real life work experience with modern work.
To combat that, you have to start somewhere... and one approach that
has worked well for several shops that I've talked to is to hire PHP or C
programmers, and then TEACH them RPG. Many of them, once they get past
the learning curve, are REALLY impressed by the RPG and IBM i environment.
The integrated platform with integrated database is a positive boon for
them. Being able to write business logic and database logic in RPG is
something they enjoy, because it makes their job easier than attempting
the same thing in languages like PHP or C. (Especially C!)
And they bring a fresh viewpoint to old shops, and their experience with
modern development techniques comes along with them -- and the results are
great.
So please don't be dismayed when you can't find RPG programmers... just
hire a PHP or C programmer, and teach them. I think you'll be pleased
with that.
However -- and this is a mistake I've seen too many times -- don't try to
thrust them into old-fashioned ways of doing things, that will turn
them off. Give them Rational Developer, not SEU/PDM. Have them learn
and write apps in Free format code, with subprocedures and other modular
techniques, and SQL for file access. Don't start them off with legacy
stuff, or it will discourage them. (Though, probably down the road,
they'll have to learn the legacy stuff to maintain older applications --
but don't start them there, or they'll get turned off of the platform.)
-SK
On 12/7/2012 1:06 PM, Allen, Todd wrote:
I may be in the minority here but I'd shy away from using CGIDEV2 for
any sort of web development. I say minority on this list only. The
percentage of all web developers that have used or heard of CGIDEV2 is
probably less than .001%. We've found that RPG developers are hard to
find. RPG developers that have web experience are even harder to
find. If JSON is a requirement then I'd also be concerned about
processing JSON data with RPG. There are plenty of libraries out
there for JSON processing but I don't know if you'll find one for RPG.
--
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