Engage The Brain At Toronto IBM i Tech Conference

April 7, 2014 Dan Burger

There are IBM midrange companies that strategize and even prioritize plans for strengthening their IT workforces with the intention of improving business processes and solving business problems. If you attend an event like the Toronto User Group‘s annual two-day technical conference April 24 and 25, you find people who work for those companies learning to use IBM i and Power Systems like its 2014 instead of 1994. If you are sitting on the sidelines, 20 years of IT innovation is a long time to be out of the game.

We all recognize the challenges presented by budget cuts, diminished staff size, the gap between workforce skills and business requirements, and the misguided general impression outside the IBM i community that the platform is a relic.

The Technical Education Conference (TEC) is a pathway to gaining the IT advantages that only a small percentage of companies are implementing even though they see what modern IT can provide. Those who are getting things done through IT innovation are aware that skill sets need upgrading just like equipment. What they get from TEC is IT enablement from people who are re-energized, refocused, and better equipped to lead projects that have positive impacts on business objectives and advancements.

Like any level of education, much of the value comes from the instructors. This conference brings together top subject matter experts with excellent teaching skills. Not all experts are good teachers. This group, from top to bottom, is as good as it gets. Experience counts and when you go down the list, you’ll find deep experience. Along with that experience, comes modern thinking. These people don’t bring you yesterday’s news. Keynote speaker is IBM’s Tim Rowe, the business architect for IBM i application development. Rowe is going to emphasize a modernization strategy that goes well beyond the day-to-day effort of putting out fires. He knows the IBM i roadmap and the tools and options that companies can deploy. He’s also putting the finishing touches on the IBM i Modernization Redbook, which is available now in draft form. It should be on everyone’s recommended reading list.

The session agenda is divided into six educational tracks under the headings of performance management, Web and mobile development on i, IBM i application development with RPG, modernizing IBM i applications, accessing and optimizing IBM data, and IBM i administration and management. More than 50 sessions are available over the two-day schedule. A session list, sorted by instructors is available online as well as a session agenda noting times and locations.

The Technical Education Conference takes place at Seneca College @ York University Campus, which is located at 70 The Pond Road (Keele Street & Steeles Avenue West) in Toronto. Registration fees are $695 for TUG members and $795 for non-members.

The TUG membership roster consists of more than 350 corporations, representing more than 1,000 individual IT professionals.

For more information, see the Toronto User Group for Power Systems website.

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