Training for RPG developers (mentorship, API building, modern RPG practices, IBM i cloud, REST integration, Merlin, Python APIs); leadership advice on empowering employees and avoiding micromanagement; security insights on abusing Adopted Authority on IBM i; trends including IBM i workforce succession, modernization, API development, staffing challenges, and industry consolidation; promotion of iCON 2023 conference.
Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly
- Training: Where Can RPG Developers Find A Mentor? & iCON - WMPCA's Annual Spring Technical Conference.
- Leadership: Learn to Empower Your Employees Instead of Micromanaging Them.
- Security: Abusing Adopted Authority on IBM i.
- Trends: 2023 IBM i Predictions, Part 4.
Training
RPG Developers: Where do you look for a mentor?
The #1 mistake made by developers:
Not seeking feedback (having a mentor).
A large percentage of the IBM i (RPG) developer community works at small to medium-sized organizations, where there are often limited opportunities to get feedback and learn from others.
Who do you learn from if you:
- Are looking to learn how to build APIs or web services?
- Desire to Learn modern RPG development practices?
- Are curious to learn the latest tips for Administrating IBM Navigator for i?
- Looking to leverage the "Cloud" by Streaming/Replicating Db2i Data?
- Looking for Options for Consuming REST APIs from RPG?
- For an Introduction to Merlin and IBM i Developer (What is Merlin?)
- Looking to Remain Relevant in a changing IT Environment?
- Need guidance on how to use Python APIs aka Web Services?
The answers to the above can be found here.
As this article points out, here are five things developers can do to get feedback and learn from others.
- Open source your code 📖
- Pair program with peers 👥
- Join Developer Communities 👪
- Build in public 🔨
- Get your code reviewed by peers 🖥️
The one that stands out for those of us in the IBM i community is to Join Developer Communities.
Developer communities offer the easiest way to grow as a developer. Especially for the RPG developer.
In a community, you can get feedback by:
- Working with senior devs
- Asking technical questions
- Sharing your work
- You will learn a lot more than just coding.
The IBM i community has one of the most robust, forward thinking, inclusive, and welcoming developer communities in all of IT. It does not matter if you are a seasoned RPG developer or a developer new to the platform. Everyone is welcome.
User conferences are a great way to become engaged in a developer community.
Come join us at iCON 2023 - WMCPA's Annual Spring Technical Conference.
iCON - WMPCA's Annual Spring Technical Conference
Leadership
Learn to Empower Your Employees Instead of Micromanaging Them One of the reasons professionals look for a new job is because they are micromanaged. We hear this all the time.
"It's difficult to take ownership and focus on being productive with your boss leaning over you, watching your every move."
Micromanagement = Stagnation
"At its core, micromanaging is about control, which is fine to have, but control is not the backbone of a successful, long-term management strategy."
We often see hiring managers make the mistake of hiring in their own image. That is, they’re looking for someone just like them. Then, when that candidate brings forth, new ideas, they are often shut down and micromanaged. The end result, the employee quits. Is this the reason the RPG applications at some companies are not as modern as they could be?
It makes hiring challenging, by chasing away top talent, which "leaves a group of average workers who don't know how to challenge the standard or aren't motivated to improve their performance."
Empowering employees improves job satisfaction and morale This is especially true for developers that want to be creative, bring forth new ideas, and explore new technologies and ways of doing things. As we know, this is not always easy to do. Making the culture shift "This won't happen overnight. It requires a great deal of self-reflection, self-awareness, and growth on the part of all managers. That control will loosen and turn into guidance and strong leadership. The company will benefit as a result."
Security
Abusing Adopted Authority on IBM i Silent Signal runs a blog where they offer Professional Hacking Services. They have published a series of articles where they detail their effort to hack the IBM i. Part One: The first post is titled "Simple IBM i hacking" where they share a walk-through of the penetration testing result from an IBM i system. Read the quick IBM i "Security" summary. Part Two: The second post, "Another tale of IBM i Hacking". This post focuses on menu security and uses the infrastructure at a bank for its use case. The key takeaway here is that IBM i shops "must work hard to get these problems that are carried over from legacy environments out of the way, so we can see what IBM i really has to offer when it comes to security." Part Three: They kicked off the year with yet another post titled: "Abusing Adopted Authority on the IBM i". This time they "look into how the so-called Adopted Authority mechanism can be abused for privilege escalation if privileged scripts are not implemented with enough care."
Trends
2023 IBM i Predictions, Part 4 If I were to recap the most important trends to pay attention to in 2023, they would be the following: Succession Planning & Modernization The IBM i workforce is retiring. Oftentimes, there is only one or two RPG programmers at a company, and when they leave - it can be a problem. It’s a risk, and the need to replace those resources, whether with a full-time replacement or a partial replacement for business continuity, is critical. The need to modernize is as important, and we see many companies successfully taking an incremental approach to modernization projects. They start off with small pieces, such as the UI or database, and then move to code transformation. API Development - Making the IBM i Interoperable "APIs have become indispensable connective tissue for IBM i shops that bring together a growing and changing world of digital business applications. As API development continues to skyrocket, organizations will be focused on simplifying API management, enhanced API security, and new API architectures that support faster times to implement.” Demand for Staffing Resources "Staffing and skill challenges will continue to rise as the demand for experienced professionals grows faster than the supply of qualified individuals with IBM i, RPG, COBOL, and IBM i ERP experience." Consolidation in the IBM i Software and Services Sectors
"We anticipate additional consolidation in the IBM I software and services industries this year, which makes sense given that many business owners have 35, 40, 45, or even 50 years of experience working with IBM I midrange systems. Such consolidation bothers me because it lessens the IBM I ecosystem's variety and, consequently, its health. I can only hope that more businesses will enter the market and that some smaller ones will develop to fill gaps and successfully compete with the growing number of equity-backed conglomerates in existence." - Timothy Prickett Morgan
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