Bridge the RPG programmer skills gap with training

Is there an RPG programmer talent shortage or a skills gap?

Do we think that we are the only ones challenged with a gap in available talent? No matter where you look there seems to be a shortage. It certainly makes for good headlines. Here are some of them:

If you don’t think that is enough, here are the industries that will face the biggest talent shortages by 2030. Even within IT it is not hard to find news about shortages. Here is one, How bad is the SAP Talent Shortage? Its clear that the skills gap is not just a problem for the IBM i community. The real truth about talent shortages

there’s a talent shortage whenever employers complain that they can’t find people with just the skills and the background they want, at exactly the price they’d like to pay

There are a combination of factors that are leading to the skills gap:

Technology advancement is accelerating at a rapid pace.
Baby boomers are retiring.
Entry level professionals are entering the workforce don’t have the skills.

The solution.

Hire for natural talent, then take the responsibility to bridge the RPG programmer skills gap by training. We have recently introduced a Hiring/Training package that does just this. If you are a manager looking to hire and see the value of training, feel free to schedule an introductory phone call to find out more. On to this week's issue.

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

Here is what is happening in and around the IBM i community this week.

News: IBM i Legacy Image is challenged.
AI: What AI can do to help with talent shortages.
Career: 20 pointers for graduates and when laid off think of your strengths.
Learning: IBMs culture of education and how to pick up a new language.
Trends: What are the tech giants doing and what is serverless computing?

News

County Battles IBM i Server’s Legacy Image Here is a story of a local government who is struggling to modernize their IBM i environment. There is a perception that it’s old and outdated. What is often missed is, “that the platform is not the same as the applications that run on them. There is a huge difference between the applications that run on IBM i and the platform itself, but all too often, the two get thrown into the same bucket.” The IBM i if used right, “is just as capable of supporting new, modern, and secure applications as it is capable of supporting old and unsecure applications”. This is what is all too often missed when looking to modernize vs move to another platform. Firms brace for the wave of retiring IT workers “Baby-boomer retirements over the next few years could leave companies without the IT expertise required to operate their legacy systems, even as they race to update older apps and shift more workloads to the cloud, industry advisors warn.”

AI

The Security Talent Gap is Misunderstood and AI changes it As this article suggests, some of talent issues in the security industry are eliminated because of AI. “Security professions (such as auditing & compliance, penetration testing, and threat hunting) AI-based systems are already capable of performing at tier-two (i.e. 2-8 years experience) levels for 80%+ of the daily tasks.” 5 Ways AI can solve talent shortages This article offers some interesting insight. “Take control of your company’s talent crisis and get in front of these challenges, turning them into competitive strengths. Start by seeing what’s working in your organization and what can be successfully scaled across all departments.”

Career

20 pointers for graduates entering the workforce “Are schools suggesting to students that wild success will be their experience once they get a job? Or are schools failing to give their students a realistic idea about the roadblocks they’ll encounter?” Is lack of awareness holding you back? Awareness is the“ability to have knowledge of or are conscious of yourself and your surroundings in real time. Without it we tend to be reactive, disengaged, an unimaginative.” Have you been Laid Off? Think about your strengths. “Being laid off is one of the most difficult experiences a person may face in their career. It can make you feel shock, grief, and anxiety — but it doesn’t mean your career is over.”

Learning

IBM is advancing a culture of education “Some companies say that they are a learning organization, but IBM actually is one. The numbers alone prove it.” How to learn a new programming language New programming languages are born every day. So the question is, where do I start? The trick is “there are some steps you want to take to accelerate the learning process and increase your fluency in the programming language or framework you are learning.”

Trends

Here is what the tech giants are doing to get a competitive advantage This is “transforming the way we live, and the tech giants are racing to stay ahead of the curve.” Serverless Functions vs. Virtual Machines “Contrary to popular belief, you can deploy high-throughput workloads on higher-level abstractions like Serverless Functions-as-a-Service (Faas) instead of defaulting to virtual machines.”

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If you are an RPG programmer looking to explore opportunities or a client who is looking for a talented IBM i professional, please contact us. We look forward to assisting you.

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