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  • IBM i Community-Minded Planning

    July 14, 2014 Dan Burger

    There will be IBM midrange shops hiring entry-level employees this year. And there will be shops wondering where they will find these folks. Finding entry-level workers with the right mix of technology skills (that includes IBM i) is not as simple as buying a gallon of milk at the Piggly Wiggly.

    Anan Ayyad, a student from Moraine Valley College, won the Student Innovation Award at the COMMON Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, in May.

    One place you can shop for talent is the COMMON Fall Conference October 27-29 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The plan, according to Laura Ubelhor, is to bring as many as 20 college students to the event as an introduction to the IBM i community and an opportunity to potentially meet with prospective employers.

    Ubelhor is assistant executive director for the COMMON Education Foundation (CEF). She’s a strong supporter of the idea that IBM i community needs higher visibility at the college level and it needs more young people participating at the community level. She and CEF Executive Director Michelle August spearhead the efforts to bring students to the COMMON conferences.

    To make that happen takes funding. The students’ travel expenses and conference registration fees are covered by a “scholarship” program paid for by members of the IBM i community.

    “We won’t have a problem gathering students, but whether we can actually bring 20 students to the conference in Indianapolis depends on whether we can raise the funds,” Ubelhor says.

    Participants at the COMMON Conference earlier this year included Lisa Wisman, a student from Muskegon (Michigan) Community College; Herb Kronholm, an instructor at Mid State (Wisconsin) Technical College; Darlene Rose, project coordinator for the IBM Academic Initiative; and Benjamin Newman, a student from Ferris State University in Michigan.

    A portion of the funding looks solid based on continuing support from the IBM IBM Power Systems Academic Initiative (PSAI) and several IBM i vendors.

    PSAI has supported this program at the past two COMMON events, and Peter Glass, program manager for PSAI, is confident that support will continue, although it is yet to be officially approved.

    Also supporting the program in the past are IBM i software vendors Maxava, Velocity Technology Solutions, Zend Technologies, ProData Computer Services, and Profound Logic. Consultants and consulting companies adding financial support included Arbor Solutions, Consultech, iTech Solutions, Central Park Data, and Alan Seiden, plus IBM Systems Magazine.

    Increasing the number of students participating in the COMMON Conferences (spring and fall) is an admirable goal. It’s good for COMMON, good for IBM, and good for the i community. As it is, the students get a great introduction to everything the conference provides from education to networking, but more could be done with programs designed to introduce students with companies that are hiring. There could be formal job interviews that include vendors as well as companies that depend on IBM i to run their businesses. It could be much like a job fair, with conversations and meetings that lead to jobs. Up to this point, the financial support has been shouldered by the vendor community. They certainly have a stake in this, but so do companies with investments in IBM i that are developing skills-rich workforces.

    “When you get students to these events, it’s a beautiful thing because they are inspired by us and we are inspired by them,” Ubelhor says.

    For more information on this program, contact Michelle August by email or call 815-592-8924, or Laura Ubelhor via email or call 248-628-6800.

    RELATED STORIES

    Still A Community Of Common Interest

    Maxava Puts Up Another $50,000 For iFoundation Grants

    Education Foundation Airlifts Students To COMMON

    COMMON’s Fountain of Youth

    Industry-Driven Training Aims At Skills Gap



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    [Podcast] IBM i DevOps Techtalk : 3-Part Series on Key Git Topics

    Listen in to these 3 short episodes as our experts Jeff Tickner, Ray Bernardi and Alan Ashley share their expertise on GIT, and discuss how best to use Git with the IBM i and its advantages.

    Moving To Git

    The topic of this IBM i DevOps TechTalk is “Moving to Git.”  It features Jeff Tickner, Ray Bernardi and Alan Ashley as they discuss what is Git and how to best use Git with the IBM i. Listen in for tips on:

    • Key Git Advantages
    • Git Considerations for a successful implementation
    • Working with branches and automated merges
    • Getting started and ARCAD’s Centralized approach

    Moving to Git – Gitflow

    Tune into this IBM i DevOps TechTalk on a key Git concept – Gitflow. Jeff Tickner, CTO NA, shares his knowledge and experiences from real-world implementations. Learn:

    • What is Gitflow and the benefits.
    • Bi-directional development with push/pulls and merging conflicts. Why you need this 2-way integration.
    • Flexible Gitflow options.
    • How ARCAD’s tooling elegantly supports Gitflow for the IBM i Developer

    Listen to this episode to get a jump on Git and partner with an expert on your DevOps journey.

    Moving to Git – The Build

    In this episode, we’ll discuss an important Git topic – The Build. If you are not using Git for IBM i source control, you are likely planning for it. A key part of the process you must understand is “The Build”.

    You may ask, why? Isn’t it just a standard IBM i build?

    No! Tune in as Jeff Tickner, CTO NA and Alan Ashley, Sr. Solutions Architect, discuss:

    • The differences between a standard IBM i build and a build with Git.
    • Understanding options and advantages with ARCAD versus Better Object Builder (Bob).
    • What are personal builds?
    • Advantages of automated builds with tools like Jenkins and Azure

    Partner with the leader as you make the DevOps journey to modern, agile IBM i development.

    Listen Now

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    Admin Alerts: Old IBM i Backups, New Tricks DB2 for i 7.2 Features And Fun: Part 2

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Volume 24, Number 24 -- July 14, 2014
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

ARCAD Software
New Generation Software
System i Developer
Computer Keyes
WorksRight Software

Table of Contents

  • Counting The Cost Of Power8 Systems
  • Get Your IBM i Audit On: Tips For A Smooth Deployment
  • Small IBM i Shops Find Simple, Inexpensive Reporting Options
  • Mad Dog 21/21: Food Chain
  • IBM Wheels And Deals For Flex And Power Systems
  • IBM Ponies Up $3 Billion For Advanced Chip Research
  • Integrated Systems Sales Still Booming In Q1
  • Companies Look To Accelerate Tech Hiring A Bit
  • What You Don’t Know About SQL Won’t Hurt You
  • IBM i Community-Minded Planning

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