Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: Fresche Solutions has a new leader. Application Modernization Forcast. How does your state rank in GDP?
Career: How to close the interview. Interest in remote work? Read the report.
Development: Javascript on the IBM i helps you to create beautiful UI’s. R programming use case.
Leadership: Digital Transformation is about culture. Create trust with your remote workforce.
Learning: A different model of learning for training RPG developers.
Trends: The DevOps Movement. How does the electric vehicle adoption relate to the IBM i?

News

Fresche Solutions Announces New President & CEO

“The world’s leading provider of IBM Power Systems IBM i application management and modernization solutions, announces the appointment of Daniel Crépeau as President & Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1^st, 2019.”

Application Modernization Services Market 2019 Business Analysis, Review, Updates and Forecast 2024

If you are a full-stack IBM i developer and interested in helping modernize your current IT department you are in good company because

according to this study, over the next five years the Application Modernization Services market will register a 16.3% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ 25600 million by 2024, from US$ 10400 million in 2019. Application modernization is the refactoring, re-purposing or consolidation of legacy software programming to align it more closely with current business needs.

Why is this important? It’s a signal that there are endless opportunities for RPG Developers who have a desire to modernize.

The 20 Largest State Economies by GDP in the Last 50 Years

Have you ever wondered what state might give you the best prospect for employment? Here is a great visual of the largest state economies in the United States.

Career

How To Close A Job Interview To Land The Job

How do you close the interview? Here are some useful tips.

The Remote Work Report

Everything you wanted to know about Remote Work, and more.

This is a really, really in-depth report that gives evidence that remote work is not going away.

For both the employer and the employee a shift in mindset is required. One thing is clear, communication is by far the most important aspect of remote work.

Development

Use Javascript for the Excellent User Experience on your IBM i

This article will show you just how to do it.

“A popular myth surrounding the IBM i is that its user interface is limited to green screen 5250 displays. It’s NOT! You can build the most modern, functional, easy-to-use user experiences using JavaScript running natively on IBM i.”

Using R for Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

Since R programming is becoming more popular in the data world and is officially supported by the IBM i, here is just another example of how it can be used.

Leadership

How Organizational Culture Shapes Digital Transformation

Understanding what Digital Transformation is and what it means to the organization is one of the most important challenges for IBM i organizations to embrace. The IBM i is one of the most capable platforms for the enterprise.

While those who don’t understand it seem to cast it aside. The ones that do, understand that,

digital transformation a business change-management journey. It’s about adopting new technologies, but it’s also about adopting new ways of working and new mindsets to deliver new business value. It’s this new business value creation that differentiates the concept of digital transformation from what others may call digital optimization.

3 tips to creating trust with your remote workforce

Allowing for remote work is growing within the IBM i community. However, there are many organizations who are stuck in their ways. I can’t blame them. It comes down to trust.

Today, the notion of trust is being constantly questioned in multiple ways. This lack of trust in people and eco-systems is seeping into the workforce. Cue ‘the crisis of confidence’. But this must change. When considering remote working, building a sense of trust is essential.

Learning

How Learning Can Catch Up With Technological Change

Some argue there is a shortage of RPG Developers. There might be. Or maybe not.

Let’s look at this from a different perspective. I think there has been a lack of learning.

Part of the problem we are experiencing in the IBM i market is there are fewer formal academic institutions teaching the RPG programming language. Thus, we have had a significant drop in the supply of RPG developers who have come into the workforce over the past decade or so.

The solution is simple and does not have to take as much time as you think. Consider a different education model like a just in Time Learning or a turnkey training approach. It is going to require organizations to take a vested interest in their employees. At the same time, it will require developers to take a vested interest in their own career.

As this article points out the world is changing and the new skill is knowing how to learn and part of that is having the right models of training in place to support that is the first step.

The future of training RPG developers will happen with a hybrid training approach. A mix of remote, onsite and mentorship.

Trends

2019 State of DevOps Report Gives Insight into Improving Performance

The IBM i community is hearing more and more about DevOps. Here is a study that finds “the DevOps movement is gaining traction and delivering positive outcomes.”

It’s important for the IBM i community to understand just what DevOps is.

Expanding electric-vehicle adoption despite early growing pains

You might think, what does this article have to do with the IBM i market?

There are some parallels. Just like the Electric Vehicle market is growing, so is the Application Modernization Services market. Both have a number of challenges ahead of them.

With industry leaders like Tesla, legacy car manufacturers like Ford, have had to think outside the box. Ford has invested big in Rivian as a solution. Much like IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat.

It’s interesting to think about the similarities and differences between the two markets.

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