The IBM i Market Needs to Pivot

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: Skytap and Azure offer migration services. Profound Logic Modernization Survey.
Career: Should you accept a salary cut?
Hiring: A shift to hiring apprentices. The talent drought in the cloud market.
Leadership: Upskilling in the IT market. Follow the Brewers lead when it comes to staffing.

News

Skytap Launches Azure Migration Service for IBM Applications What does an Azure Migration Service mean for IBM i Applications? This is the big question. Does this mean Microsoft is trying to lure IBM i clients over to Azure, basically taking a piece of their business? Or does it mean there is an opportunity for IBM i shops more completely to leverage the value of their legacy applications by extending the reach of core business applications? My guess is it is a little bit of both. Afterall Microsoft and IBM are both in business to profit. What do you think? Please Take Profounds The 2020 State of Modernization Survey As IT Jungle writes this week, the IBM i community has done an incredible job by publishing various reports that help the community push forward. Profounds' State of Modernization Survey in 2019 revealed that " 37 percent of those polled developed their own applications in-house, and another 61 percent used a mix of packaged applications created by third-party software makers and in-house applications; only 3 percent use third-party applications solely." This is valuable insight. It will be interesting to compare the 2020 report to 2019. You can, help by taking the survey.

Career

Should I accept a job offer with a pay cut? Everyone's situation is different. There are times taking a salary cut makes sense. Other times, it doesn't.

Hiring

Small Businesses Are Now Hiring Apprentices. Should You? The value of hiring apprentices. "To understand why apprenticeships suddenly became so popular, look no further than the tech skills gap. There just aren’t enough candidates to fill the open jobs in fields like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and software development. Currently, more than 500,000 of these “new collar” jobs are unfilled, and analysts predict the number will grow by 20 percent in three years." The Cloud Talent Drought Continues (And Is Even Larger Than You Thought) What does this mean?

We are in the midst of a talent drought within the IT market that is plaguing enterprise organizations, causing business bottlenecks, competitive disadvantages, security issues, and compliance risks."

As with any new and emerging technology, there is a shortage of talent. It makes sense right? If you require cloud experience but can't find it, there is a "perceived" shortage. But what if you drop the requirement? No shortage. This, of course, is not always possible. But, oftentimes it is. The key, be flexible.

Leadership

The Good and the Bad of IT Upskilling Let's dissect this statement:

IT can be perceived as the “bad guy,” adding too much governance or bogging down the business with standardized technology selections. But IT can be the “good guy” using its unique position to partner and bridge gaps across the business to drive efficiencies at scale.

This is one of the questions that I ask both candidates and clients. How is IT viewed in your organization? It tells me a lot about where they have been, current state and what the future looks like. It tells me if IT is the "Good Guy" or the "Bad Guy". A shift is taking place. Technology is being introduced from outside of IT. If IT is perceived to be a good guy. It makes sense for IT to embrace these conversations or be the one leading. How is IT perceived at your company?