IBM i open source revolution and podcast; automotive industry investments by Ford, Amazon, and Aurora; staying current with industry trends; RPG development tips and ILE/7.4 updates; hiring youth talent in the IBM i market; IT modernization and digital transformation challenges; Python and other open‑source tools on IBM i, including blockchain applications; broader open‑source ecosystem and its business impact.
History in the making on the IBM i.
IBM Bi-Weekly: A new Podcast hosted by Liam Allan and Josh Hall
IBM i and the open source revolution. A podcast covering the "technical" aspects of the IBM i and open source technologies.
Liam Allan and Josh Hall co-host the bi-weekly podcast, where they interview experts in the IBM i community.
There could not be a better way to learn why we are at a tipping point in the IBM i and open source community.
As Josh Hall and Jesse Gorzinski, Business Architect of Open Source for IBM i at IBM, point out in Episode 3:
If you want a part of history being made, that time is right now on the IBM i. - Josh Hall
This is an Open Source revolution. There is an explosion of the number of people that are deploying things to production with open source. This is the most important period in IBM i's history in a very long time. Its a hybrid world where we are letting ILE and Open Source technologies work together to get real world results. - Jesse Gorzinski
Listen to Episode 3: Open Source Software on IBM i
Welcome to another edition of Talsco Weekly
- News: Newcomers to the Auto Industry. You need to be willing to shift gears.
- Career: Easy ways to stay on top of trends. You better think about the future.
- Development: Making sense of the old and new RPG by Nick Litten. IBM i 7.4 quick tips. Why developers must write user stories.
- Hiring: RPG youth market is on the move. Yes, there are young people in the IBM i market!
- Modernization: Enterprise IT is changing. Looking to Modernize? You must read this.
News
Ford invests $500M in electric-vehicle company
This is a game changer. Technology is revolutionizing the world around us. Industries are being disrupted.
Why would Amazon invest in not one but two, new-to-market car companies?
Why would Ford make similar investments?
It's because "how quickly they can turn around ideas."
I think what is inspiring about this is we have to be willing to shift gears, believe in the impossible, and do things differently.
I just started working with a new client on an IBM i Applications Manager position. What's interesting is they tried to move away from their legacy ERP system, but they saw the writing on the wall and pulled the plug because it was not going to work.
It's an impressive organization because, like Amazon and Ford, they recognized they were on the wrong path. They have quickly shifted gears and have turned to embrace their ERP by modernizing it and then looking at leveraging other technologies, including open source solutions.
We keep hearing this story over and over. It's more than a trend.
Career
Six Low-Stress Ways Of Staying Up-To-Date On Current Industry Trends
The article is written for entrepreneurs, but applies to each one of us in the IBM i community.
“In order to make the best decisions for a business, leaders need to stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends. Yet, for many entrepreneurs, sorting through news sources to determine the necessary information may be too tricky for a busy schedule to bear.”
Here are some tricks on how to do it.
If you don't think about the #FutureofWork, then your organisation has no future
This article compliments the one above.
“It was Stephen Hawking’s in 2007 that said ‘Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change’ and this quote has never been more relevant than in todays society.”
Be curious.
Development
RPG Divide and Move Remainder – DIV MVR in ILE RPGLE /FREE
“I just upgraded an old program that had a piece of code doing this.”
Does this look familiar?
More about IBM i version 7.4 and 7.3 TR6
Here are some quick hits, including charts from RPGPGM.com and some of the updates with IBM i 7.4 as it relates to RPG and SQL.
RPG Developers: This article shows "you how we can use beneficial plugins to enhance our RDi environment.”
How (and why) to write great User Stories
The best RPG Developers know how to write great user stories.
Here is a great article to help you craft and develop rock solid specifications for your next application project.
Why is this important?
Because "user stories provide an excellent way to define your product with clarity. A set of well-defined, prioritized user stories can help you articulate the functionality of your product using ‘plain English’ — with no technicalities and implementation details."
Hiring
Club Alan: Seiden Signs Liam, Corners Youth Market - IT Jungle
“The Seiden Group solidified its position in the futures market this month by signing the young British-born IBM i phenom Liam Allan.”
I think this is really big news in the IBM i community.
Beyond the obvious, it signals a shift in the mindset, and a paradigm shift that is taking place both inside and outside the IBM i ecosystem.
It's not a secret anymore.
The IBM i platform combined with open source technologies delivers enterprise class business solutions.
Modernization
From IT stacks — the old way of doing things — to cloud ecosystems — the new way — we are at a "tipping point for best of breed IT."
"We’ve reached a new era of enterprise software and companies are coming around to this model in droves. What seemed unfathomable merely a decade ago is now becoming commonplace as Fortune 500 companies are mixing and matching best-in-class technologies.”
Overcoming roadblocks to IT transformation
A must read for any organization that is thinking about IT Modernization or Digital Transformation. It's packed with insight.
Far too many organizations fail because they underestimate how important their legacy systems are to them and their business.
“IT teams today are faced with two equally challenging strategic transformation missions. On the one hand, they’re charged with spearheading digital initiatives that will drive business growth, efficiency and competitive advantage. On the other, they must execute IT modernization projects to keep pace with technology changes that have upended both the infrastructure and the management of the data center. Progress can be slow on both fronts.”
Open Source
Guru: Creating Excel Spreadsheets With Python
It seems anything is possible on the IBM i. Python is steadily becoming more and more popular on the platform.
Here is another example of its use.
How to Build a Blockchain Application with Python
“Python as it’s one of the most comprehensive and versatile languages out there. Today we will show you a simple app created with Python, launch it and explain how it works.”
Open Source Software: The Complete Wired Guide
Many wonder how open source companies make money when their software is free. This article sheds some light on this.
“As crazy as that might sound, the open source way of building software is now embraced by the likes of IBM, which plans to pay $34 billion for open source company Red Hat, Microsoft, which paid $7.5 billion to acquire the code hosting and collaboration platform GitHub, and Walmart, which released its own open source software.”
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