IBM i Brief, AI paradox and security risks, outcome‑driven interview strategies for IBM i professionals, new streamlined SQL INSERT syntax, hiring tips for IBM i talent, learning resources and AI events for the IBM i community, secure coding webinar, IBM i 7.6 security enhancements, and the concept of PolyIntelligence combining AI, technology, and human judgment.
Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly
- IBM i Brief: 👏 Why aren’t more people using the IBM i? 🎊 IBM i gets MCP server support.
- AI: The AI Paradox: people often use AI but don’t want it used on them when subtlety matters.
- Career: 🎯 Why IBM i Professionals Are Built to Win Outcome-Driven Interviews. 💪Why This Plays Directly to IBM i Professionals’ Strengths.
- Development: đź’» IBM i introduces streamlined SQL insert syntax.
- Hiring: 🎙️ The Secrets to Attracting IBM i Talent.
- Learning: 📓 The IBM i sysadmin handbook. 🎠AI takes center stage for IBM i community. 📢 FREE Webinar - Secure Coding Strategies for IBM i Developers.
- Security: ⚠️ AI platforms exacerbate existing security risks. 🔒 IBM i 7.6 strengthens security with major updates.
- Trends: đź’ˇ PolyIntelligence: Why human judgment still matters in the AI era.
IBM i Brief
👏 Why aren’t more people using the IBM i? Because POWER and IBM i are so reliable, they rarely make the news—unlike the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloudflare’s of the world who don’t have 99.9999% uptime. 🎊 IBM i gets MCP server support
The release brings Model Context Protocol to IBM i, enabling AI agents to connect directly to IBM i services through SQL. Agents can now inspect system state, reason over performance and security data, and invoke controlled operations with safeguards.
This marks a crucial step toward making IBM i ready for agentic workloads, with more demos and use cases coming soon.
See the first official tech preview.
AI
The AI Paradox: people often use AI but don’t want it used on them when subtlety matters
There is a fundamental tension in customer experience: while AI excels at routine tasks like password resets and FAQs, 68% of customers still prefer phone support for complex issues. Yet paradoxically, 34% stopped doing business when self-service wasn’t available.
The deeper contradiction: people readily use AI for convenience but resist it when nuance and empathy matter. This creates a strategic challenge—organizations must discern not just what AI can do, but when human connection delivers superior value.
The answer isn’t picking either automation or people. It’s about using each one for what it does best.
Career
🎯 Why IBM i Professionals Are Built to Win Outcome-Driven Interviews
The Context: The 4 Questions™ (Ask The Headhunter)
The core idea of The 4 Questions™ interview framework is simple but powerful:
Hiring decisions should be based on real work, not résumés, buzzwords, or generic interview answers.
Instead of focusing on credentials, the candidate should be able to clearly answer four implicit questions every employer is asking:
- Do you understand the work that needs to be done?
- Can you actually do that work?
- Can you do it the way our company operates?
- Can you deliver measurable value for the business?
The framework pushes interviews away from personality tests and keyword matching, and toward problem-solving, outcomes, and business impact.
💪Why This Plays Directly to IBM i Professionals’ Strengths
This interview model aligns perfectly with how IBM i professionals actually work.
IBM i developers and engineers are rarely siloed. They typically wear many hats—developer, analyst, integrator, performance tuner, production support, and business analyst. They understand not only how systems are built, but how they run, how they fail, and how they impact the business.
Because of that, IBM i professionals naturally think in terms of:
- end-to-end workflows,
- operational risk,
- system reliability,
- and business outcomes—not just code.
That breadth and depth makes them exceptionally strong in interviews that prioritize real work and real impact. When IBM i candidates frame their experience around the problems they’ve solved, the systems they’ve stabilized or modernized, and the value they’ve delivered, they are answering the four questions without even trying.
The key isn’t learning a new interview trick—it’s recognizing that the way IBM i professionals already work is exactly what outcome-driven interviews are designed to surface.
Development
đź’» IBM i introduces streamlined SQL insert syntax
The latest Technology Refreshes unveiled a new approach to SQL INSERT statements that pairs column names directly with values using the => operator.
This eliminates the need for separate column lists, allowing developers to specify columns in any order while maintaining clarity.
The enhancement works in both native SQL and embedded RPG programs, making large insert statements more readable and maintainable across IBM i applications.
Hiring
🎙️ The Secrets to Attracting IBM i Talent
Many discussions about IBM i talent focus on the shortage itself, here Steve Wolk focuses on how to solve it:
- Hiring for potential, not experience
- Making modern work real (not just rhetorical)
- Treating the IBM i community as a growth ecosystem, not a shrinking relic
That practical lens — backed by actual hires and retention metrics — is what makes this worth sharing beyond the usual “we need more IBM i people” narrative.
Learning
đź““ The IBM i sysadmin handbook
Here is a documentation page to centralize the most commonly used commands for IBM i system administrators.
The toolkit page includes browsing ACS and 5250, user profile preferences, system management, networking, working with objects, disk space and backups, FTP, jobs, performance, logs, links to IBM i web-based interfaces, and useful ACS parameters.
Provided by: Zouhair Oulli
🎠AI takes center stage for IBM i community
On February 17th, 2026, industry leaders including Steve Will, Edmund Reinhardt, and Adam Shedivy will gather at VistaTech Center in Livonia, MI for a full-day event exploring AI’s impact on IBM i.
The program runs 9 AM to 4 PM, featuring practical use cases, strategic direction from IBM, and enterprise-focused discussions designed for immediate application by IBM i professionals.
Why is this important?
AI is changing the pace at which the IBM i community modernizes. The topic of re-platforming has shifted to, how can we use AI to leverage our IBM i.
📢 FREE Webinar - Secure Coding Strategies for IBM i Developers
Embark on an exploration of IBM i security challenges as we navigate the dangerous landscape of common vulnerabilities on IBM i. Learn how to fortify your coding skills and conquer the challenges of secure IBM i development.
Security
⚠️ AI platforms exacerbate existing security risks
The concept of technical debt is routinely discussed around modernization and security, but what many overlook is how AI is accelerating technical debt faster than ever.
One of the most dangerous drivers of data risk today isn’t even on the radar of most security teams. AI technical debt is all the more perilous for being poorly understood.
Organizations rushing AI adoption are creating security vulnerabilities through poorly governed data pipelines, overly permissive access, and unmonitored agent-driven workflows.
This article dives into why the attack surface is expanding, and why traditional security tools are ineffective.
What does this mean for IBM i? Time will tell.
đź”’ IBM i 7.6 strengthens security with major updates
The release introduces tighter password defaults, realigned authority requirements, and new function IDs for better access control.
Enhanced file share management with audit tracking, six new IBM-supplied profiles with limited privileges, and profile protection against exploitation strengthen system integrity.
A new IFS-specific Authority Collection view improves analysis, while expanded encryption support and multi-factor authentication underscore IBM’s commitment to secure-by-design architecture.
Organizations should review changes even before upgrading.
Trends
đź’ˇ PolyIntelligence: Why human judgment still matters in the AI era
Organizations don’t fail from lack of intelligence or resources—they fail when they violate basic human requirements: the need for orientation, motivation, and meaningful participation in complex systems.
This article introduces PolyIntelligence: the combined intelligence of AI systems, enterprise technology, and human judgment working together to produce better outcomes.
PolyIntelligence is the combined intelligence of AI systems, enterprise technology, and human judgment working together to produce better outcomes.
For IBM i developers, this framework validates what you already know: certain capabilities remain irreducibly human—contextual judgment, ethical decision-making, creative synthesis, empathy, and stewardship through experience.
The future isn’t about choosing between automation and people. It’s about combining machine speed with human wisdom.
And that’s exactly where IBM i professionals excel.
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