• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • DevCon Technical Conference Is No More

    June 10, 2013 Dan Burger

    Times are tough in the IT conference business. Last week, the annual IBM i application development conference known as DevCon said that it is folding its tent as a result of declining attendance rates in recent years. Less than a month ago, COMMON Europe pulled the plug on its annual Power Systems conference. Disappointing pre-event registration totals and the loss of IBM support were cited as the cause. In April, the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition had its lightest attendance ever. Declining conference attendance is widespread throughout many industries. It is another sign of the times.

    A form letter was sent last week via email on behalf of the IBM i DevCon staff alerting readers that the conference would not take place. Rather than leaving a training and education void, the email recommended the RPG & DB2 Summit as “a worthy replacement.” Past attendees of the DevCon conference will be eligible for the same discount registrations that Summit alumni receive. Jon Paris and Susan Gantner–who along with Paul Tuohy organize the Summit as a company called System i Developer–were “long-time DevCon supporters,” according to the email.

    The RPG & DB2 Summit is scheduled for October 15-17 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Additional details about that conference can be found here.

    The DevCon event ran annually in the fall of the year for 14 seasons. The three-day technical conference focused on IBM i application development including Web and mobile, management and system administration, and emerging technologies. The list of subject matter experts who led sessions at the conference was a Who’s Who of IBM i training and education gurus.

    Wellesley Information Services, an IT publishing and training organization, was responsible for producing DevCon. It also works with IBM’s Notes/Domino collaboration software and IBM WebSphere to produce events and foster online communities.

    The demise of DevCon is a disappointing situation that underscores a lack of investment in developing technically advanced IT staffs. It seems to me that all the talk about aligning business and IT would not overlook the importance of formal, instructor-led training. This can’t be replaced by social networking, reading a book, or watching a video. There are still companies that invest in their people and their IT departments where technology is still the avenue to competitive advantage. A company that has no interest in building a better workforce is not a very healthy operation. I understand the need for assessing efficiencies relative to spending. What I don’t understand is turning a blind eye to technical training.

    RELATED STORIES

    COMMON Europe Cancels Its June Conference

    COMMON Europe Opens Up 2013 Top Concerns Survey

    COMMON Fights Off The Blues In Austin



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Trying to balance stability and agility in your IBM i environment?

    Join this webinar and explore Visual LANSA 16 – our enhanced professional low-code platform designed to help organizations running on IBM i evolve seamlessly for what’s next.

    🎙️VISUAL LANSA 16 WEBINAR

    Break Monolithic IBM i Applications and Unlock New Value

    Explore modernization without rewriting. Decouple monolithic applications and extend their value through integration with modern services, web frameworks, and cloud technologies.

    🗓️ July 10, 2025

    ⏰ 9 AM – 10 AM CDT (4 PM to 5 PM CEST)

    See the webinar schedule in your time zone

    Register to join the webinar now

    What to Expect

    • Get to know Visual LANSA 16, its core features, latest enhancements, and use cases
    • Understand how you can transition to a MACH-aligned architecture to enable faster innovation
    • Discover native REST APIs, WebView2 support, cloud-ready Azure licensing, and more to help transform and scale your IBM i applications

    Read more about V16 here.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: Renewing A Default *System Certificate IBM Chops Power Systems Memory Prices After Chip Upgrade

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 23, Number 21 -- June 10, 2013
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

SEQUEL Software
New Generation Software
looksoftware
Linoma Software
WorksRight Software

Table of Contents

  • IBM Rolls Out PureFlex-IBM i Bundle With Decent Discounts
  • Technology Drives More OS Upgrades Than Deadline Pressures
  • IDC Concurs That The Server Racket Is Rough
  • As I See It: Compassionate Computing, Or Dalai On The Desktop
  • DB2 LUW To Get MongoDB Hooks–Will DB2/400 Be Next?
  • IBM Buys SoftLayer To Build Out Hosting, Cloud Businesses
  • DevCon Technical Conference Is No More
  • IBM EMEA Gives Killer i License And SWMA After-License Deals
  • I Didn’t Know That About i
  • There’s No “i” In French Open Tennis

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
  • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
  • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle