Scott Klement Joins Profound Logic Staff

Published: July 16, 2012

by Dan Burger

Like the Dos Equis beer commercials featuring "the most interesting man in the world," Scott Klement just might be "the most interesting man in the RPG world." At the end of the beer commercials, the star always says, "Stay thirsty, my friends." I picture Klement wrapping up his COMMON conference sessions or webinars by saying "Stay thirsty, my RPG friends." Makes sense given his personal thirst for RPG.

That thirst for expanding his knowledge and experience has led him to joining the staff of Profound Logic, the IBM i application development and modernization tool vendor based in Dayton, Ohio. This may come as a surprise to many who know Klement and his ties to the family sausage business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It came as somewhat of a surprise to Alex Roytman, CEO of Profound Logic, who is well aware that people of Klement's talent are few and far between.

Roytman, a technically gifted product designer who likely talks RPG code in his sleep, has casually known Klement for years. He has recommended Klement's work--particularly his open source HTTP API library of RPG IV functions for integrating HTTP into IBM i (or iSeries or AS/400) software--to Profound customers.

"We often considered hiring him, but didn't figure he would leave the family business," Roytman told me last week. "This is good for both sides. He wanted product development work, and his skills are a match for what we are doing and what we want to be doing."

The expectation from both sides is open ended in terms of developing ideas, Roytman says. "Ideas get pitched back and forth. As product manager, Scott will be part of the team that bounces ideas around. He will be integrating with us, our products and processes, and learning how our existing code base works."

A few of the short-term initiatives Profound is pursuing include improving PHP and mobile offerings. Gaining the capability to publish Profound UI native mobile apps is part of that effort. Work is also under way on a module for code generation and wizard-based app development, he says.

Adding Klement to the Profound staff is the second high-profile hire the company has had in the past year. The other was Brian May, one of the key people in the Young i Professionals organization and, like Klement, a busy conference session presenter, local user group speaker, and author. After his first year at Profound, May describes his duties and responsibilities as "ever evolving." He's been involved in product development, customer support, managed application modernization projects for customers, led on-site training, and developed a wiki-based product documentation site.

Both May and Klement are among the short list of IBM i advocates recognized by Big Blue as Power Systems Champions.

You can find out a whole lot more about Klement by taking this link to the Scott Klement Web page. It includes the dates of his scheduled appearances at the Fall COMMON Conference and the RPG & DB2 Summit; abstracts, handouts, and other material related to presentations; RPG tutorials; and downloads to his open source software.

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