The most important skill for IBM i Developers

Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly

News: The Retail industry is booming, IBM introduces new services and Blockchain partnerships. Cobolt Iron gives the IBM i backup options.
Career: The Apprenticeship model might be the answer to workforce shortages. The 13 things you should not do to be successful.
Learning: What is the most important skill for the IBM i Developers? Get a Raspberry Pi for the Holidays.
Modernization: IT Leadership needs to step back. DevOps offers a step forward for legacy applications.
Trends: Blockchain will radically change most industries.

News

IBM Holiday Retail Forecast U.S. Retail industry sees a 5% increase in growth for 2018 holiday season. In other news, IBM introduces new services to automate migration to cloud, launches two new Blockchain partnerships and expands its relationship with ServiceNow to serve multi-cloud environments. Cobalt Iron gives the IBM i a new Virtual Tape Library solution “The offering lets IBM i users back up their data to anywhere – including on-premise and the cloud backups, with automated replication in between — but without giving up IBM i-specific features delivered through existing tools like BRMS and native commands.” Why is this important? It shows the IBM i ecosystem is vibrant. While there are the tried and true players that continue to innovate we are also seeing new players come into the market filling the gaps. IBM Put and Call options for January 2019 For those of you who get into the numbers. IBM investors saw new options being traded this week for the January 2019 expiration.

Career

The 13 things you should give up to become successful If you think you are perfect, don’t bother reading this. On the other hand, if you see room for improvement, this is a great 6-minute read. If you take action on just one of them and implement it every single day for a year. Think about the changes it will bring in your life. Can the Apprenticeship model help solve the U.S. workforce demands? “Apprenticeship is full-time, competitive employment without the requirement of four-year degrees, narrowing the postsecondary achievement gap and reducing income inequality. Available to everyone, apprenticeships offer an alternative to academic-only, four-year colleges and offer a “learn by doing” environment suited for individuals of varied learning styles and educational backgrounds.” Could the apprenticeship model be implemented in our community?

Learning

Don’t have new skills? Then you better get motivated. “Just about everyone is talking about the future of work. Automation and artificial intelligence are changing job functions, from factory workers to attorneys. The skills that get someone hired today may not be the skills the job will require in a few years.” So, in the future:

Learning is the #1 skill.

This highlights what we talked about in lasts weeks issue, the best language for RPG developers, the language you learn is less important than learning a new language, no matter what it is. What is a Raspberry Pi? One of the key learning platforms for IoT is the Raspberry Pi. It is a popular platform because it offers a complete Linux server in a tiny package. Why is this important? The IBM i is all about integration. As the world of IoT gets bigger it is essential we understand how emerging technologies will be used in IBM i environments. Here is a Raspberry Pi quick start guide on how to get up and running.

Modernization

Why IT Leaders must start offloading work Why do so many modernization projects let alone Digital transformations stall? They stall because there are a number of different battles taking place. “According to Forrester, the CIO sits at the center of a storm, waging a three-front battle: addressing aging systems and longstanding data issues; driving a business strategy that harnesses the value of a wide range of new, powerful technologies; and maximizing the value and security of today’s environment.” How DevOps can make the most out of legacy applications Can you relate to this statement question? “Do you have an application marked with cryptic warning signs and a wealth of cobwebs that is running on legacy hardware hidden away in the back corner of your data center?” The common response to this is we have to rip everything out and start over. In reality, this is far from the truth. A hybrid model along with a DevOps strategy could be the solution. Here are four tips on how you can have your legacy team and DevOps teams work together to implement a hybrid solution.

Trends

Blockchain will radically transform these 24 industries If you think Blockchain is something you don’t need to worry about. Think again. The IBM i platform plays a role in every one of these industries.

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