IT Training Cincinnati

             PGM        PARM(&DBF &ZIPFILE &FORMAT)


             DCL        VAR(&DBF) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(32)
             DCL        VAR(&ZIPFILE) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(255)
             DCL        VAR(&FORMAT) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(6)
             DCL        VAR(&FILE) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(10)
             DCL        VAR(&LIB) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(10)
             DCL        VAR(&MBR) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(10)
             DCL        VAR(&CMD) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(255)
             DCL        VAR(&TEXTFILE) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(15)
             DCL        VAR(&TEMPFILE) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(40)
             DCL        VAR(&ERRLOOP) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(1) VALUE(N)
             DCL        VAR(&INTER) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(1)

             MONMSG     MSGID(CPF0000 QSH0000) EXEC(GOTO CMDLBL(ERROR))

             RTVJOBA    TYPE(&INTER)

             CHGVAR     VAR(&FILE) VALUE(%SST(&DBF 3 10))
             CHGVAR     VAR(&LIB) VALUE(%SST(&DBF 13 10))
             CHGVAR     VAR(&MBR) VALUE(%SST(&DBF 23 10))

             /* Ensure ZIP directory exists for error logging */
             MKDIR      DIR('/zip')
             MONMSG     MSGID(CPFA0A0)

             /* Delete &zipfile if it exists */
             RMVLNK     OBJLNK(&ZIPFILE)
             MONMSG     MSGID(CPFA0A9)

             /* build text file name */
             IF         COND(&FORMAT *EQ *DLM) THEN(DO)
                CHGVAR     VAR(&TEXTFILE) VALUE(&FILE *TCAT '.csv')
             ENDDO
             ELSE       CMD(DO)
                CHGVAR     VAR(&TEXTFILE) VALUE(&FILE *TCAT '.txt')
             ENDDO

             /* generate temporary file name */
             RTVTMPIFSN NAME(&TEMPFILE)
             IF         COND(&TEMPFILE *EQ ' ') THEN(CHGVAR VAR(&TEMPFILE) +
                          VALUE('/tmp/$$__tempfile'))

             /* export DBF to temporary file */
             CPYTOIMPF  FROMFILE(&LIB/&FILE &MBR) TOSTMF(&TEMPFILE) +
                          MBROPT(*REPLACE) STMFCODPAG(*STDASCII) +
                          RCDDLM(*CRLF) DTAFMT(&FORMAT) RMVBLANK(*TRAILING)
             MONMSG     MSGID(CPF2817) EXEC(DO)
                SNDPGMMSG  MSGID(CPF9898) MSGF(QCPFMSG) MSGDTA('Error +
                             converting Database File to Interface File') +
                             MSGTYPE(*DIAG)
                GOTO       CMDLBL(ERROR)
             ENDDO

             /* Send 'compressing' status message */
             IF         COND(&INTER *EQ '1') THEN(SNDPGMMSG MSGID(CPF9897) +
                          MSGF(QCPFMSG) MSGDTA('Compressing file ' *CAT +
                          &FILE) TOPGMQ(*EXT) MSGTYPE(*STATUS))

             /*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
             /* This command is using the unix environment to zip up the file */
             /* extracted above.  All errors are logged to a text file        */
             /* named error.txt.  The 2>> operator redirects stderr to the    */
             /* file following it, and adds any messages to the end of the    */
             /* file.                                                         */
             /*                                                               */
             /* The following unix utilities are used here:                   */
             /*  ajar - create an archive                                     */
             /*                                                               */
             /* The following environment variables are used here:            */
             /*  QIBM_QSH_CMD_ESCAPE_MSG - Sends QSH0005 as an escape message */
             /*        if the exit status is not 0 (Qshell error condition)   */
             /*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
             /* Send an escape message if the command fails */
             ADDENVVAR  ENVVAR(QIBM_QSH_CMD_ESCAPE_MSG) VALUE(Y) +
                          REPLACE(*YES)

             /* Create &zipfile from temporary file */
             CHGVAR     VAR(&CMD) VALUE('ajar -c -M' *BCAT &ZIPFILE *BCAT +
                          '''' *CAT &TEMPFILE *TCAT ''' :' *BCAT &TEXTFILE +
                          *BCAT '2>>' *BCAT '/zip/error.txt')
             QSH        CMD(&CMD)
             MONMSG     MSGID(QSH0005) EXEC(DO)
                SNDPGMMSG  MSGID(CPF9898) MSGF(QCPFMSG) MSGDTA('Error +
                             creating ZIP file') MSGTYPE(*DIAG)
                GOTO       CMDLBL(ERROR)
             ENDDO

             /* Delete temporaty file */
             RMVLNK     OBJLNK(&TEMPFILE)
             MONMSG     MSGID(CPFA0A9)

             /* Exit Normally */
             GOTO       CMDLBL(OUT)


             /* Process Errors */
 ERROR:      IF         COND(&ERRLOOP *EQ Y) THEN(GOTO CMDLBL(OUT))
             CHGVAR     VAR(&ERRLOOP) VALUE(Y)

             /* Delete temporaty file */
             RMVLNK     OBJLNK(&TEMPFILE)
             MONMSG     MSGID(CPFA0A9)

             /* Send Escape message */
             SNDPGMMSG  MSGID(CPF9898) MSGF(QCPFMSG) MSGDTA('Error +
                          Processing File') MSGTYPE(*ESCAPE)

 OUT:        ENDPGM

1. Document more than the minimum 7,500 hours of business analysis work.  This ensures that if your hours are reduced in the review process that you will still have enough hours to qualify to sit for the exam.  This goes for total hours as well as hours in each of the knowledge areas.  I personally documented 9,000 hours on my application.
2. Put the language on your application in the wording of the BABOK®.  By putting your work tasks and deliverables in the language of the profession it is less likely that the hours will be discounted in review.
    

Microsoft has announced that support for Office 2000 ends on July 14th, with Office Update closing on August 1st. In case management and application development members think "well that’s an old version, nobody hacking it anymore", 15 bugs were fixed this year, 12 critical. If you are thinking of upgrading, Office 2007 uses a new format. I would suggest using Open Office unless you using a lot of macros in your Office. Open Office can read your Word documents, but uses an open, readable format. My kids use Open Office for their school work, even though the school requires Word. The best part is that Open Office is free. Try it out in a test environment, and let some of your users try it out for a while. People are change adverse, but there can be valid concerns. Document the issues and create a transition document if you decide to use it in your business.

You guys have nothing to worry about, we're professionals…Professional what?  I think that is a great line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  I thought of it when I was looking at this post.   In it the author makes the point that is better to hire a IT professional sometimes rather than doing it yourself.    His rationale is that most companies are not in the application development business, so why try and internally do something that is outside your core competency.

Here are some reasons that you might want to bring in an IT Consultant.

1. Knowledge and Experience - The key advantage that an IT Consultant brings to the table is that they have a diverse amount of training and education that is expensive to hire in-house. They may also bring certifications to the table that gives them more credibility and knowledge about ways to improve your company’s use of technology.

2. Strategic Involvement - An IT Consultant could begin as a consultant for you and will investigate your current use of technology and will present you with a wide variety of options for improving your use of technology. Often, they will know more about what kind of options are out there and will have the ability to quickly identify with your business and help you choose the right solution.  Wellness Check anyone?

3. Custom Software Solutions - The ideal solution for your company will be something that is unique and works better for you than anyone else. A good IT Consultant will have the ability to either combine different software packages to best meet your needs or design and write a custom piece of software that is best for your company. In either case, they will have the ability to expertly match your processes with the software’s functionality, giving you the results that you’ve been striving for.  Open Source Solutions could work well.

4. Implementation - Unfortunately, selecting the right software is only half the battle. You must be able to implement the software and train your staff on the proper way to use the software. At STAR BASE we call this mentoring.

5. System Analysis - If you’ve already got a software package that meets your needs and are just looking for a couple of ways to manipulate your current software to improve effectiveness, an IT Consultant can help. They have a diverse knowledge and understanding of software and have the ability to work with a variety of packages, find ways to improve them, and find solutions for your company.  
 

There is trouble in the near future for talent needs and it is coming in various flavors:
 

• According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, in 2010 over 10M jobs in the United States will go unfilled – in 2022 it will be 30M jobs

• College graduation rates are down to 54% and 75% of new jobs will require a college degree

• Making the wild assumption that Baby Boomers (44 – 62 years old) will leave the workforce when they are retirement eligible (is that at 55 or 65?) – there isn’t enough Gen X (28 – 43 years old) to replace them (78M Boomers versus 40M Gen Xers). Gen Y (7 – 27 years old) is big (70M), but still lacks the experience (hello…most haven’t even graduated) to make an immediate impact

• The average time in a company for Gen X is four years; for Gen Y it’s more like two and while the Boomers have been pretty loyal in the past, but the technology market hasn’t exactly rewarded them for that loyalty.

• According to an AARP survey of Boomers - 31% of mature workers became responsible for a dependent parent; 23% had an adult child move back home; and 16% were providing child care or day care for grandchild.  50 to 80 hour work weeks, while tolerated by Boomers and some Gen Xers, won’t be tolerated by Gen Y and won’t be of interest to Boomers as they ‘mature’ in their careers and many take on the care of family members. So, since everyone knows that a 40 hour work week for technology professionals is a joke – who’s going to be doing all the work?

Well, I was thinking there are a couple of answers here but those answers will involve a major paradigm shift in the way we think about our workforce today. 

Baby Boomers are learning very quickly that retirement will have to be postponed because of our current economic conditions.  This wealth of knowledge can be instrumental in assisting those organizations that are struggling with Information Technology Staffing because these folks are going to be around a little longer than they planned!
 
Information technology departments will have to create a hybrid workforce model that will be made up of Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers.  Still another approach is to work closer with IT outsourcing partners to ensure you have the talent that you need.  My organization, STAR BASE, Inc. makes finding superior IT talent for IT jobs a fulltime pursuit.

Finally, another emerging model that will be downsized IT department with only mission critical personnel and several part-timers that will be used from time-to-time.  This model will be subsidized from time-to-time by outsourced to information technology staffing partners that can assist in bridging the gap.

On some level, we all know being a desk jockey is not the healthiest thing to be. I recently read in an article just how bad it is for us application development team members (and management too!).

This chart from the article shows it all:

Too much stress is hard on you mentally, but also physically too. Too much stress will make your body retain weight. Stress, combined with lack of exercise and a poor diet, is a great recipe for heart disease. Sitting in a chair for hours at a time is not great for your body either. Back problems are common, and are exacerbated by our weight issues. Coding is hard on your arms and eyes.

The bigger problem is we as application development team members recognize our weight issues, and injure ourselves by trying to exercise.

Can we do anything?

Blink – moving your eyes away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes helps with eye strain. I know this can be disruptive when you are "in the zone", but just looking at your notes will help

Stretch – Stretching every hour helps move the blood that collects in our legs. It helps with posture as you get reseated.

Eat right – caffeine is part of our culture, but cutting down on it helps. Reduce your portions and eating more fruits and vegetables helps too. Personally, I snack 3 times a day at scheduled intervals. I typically have an apple in the morning, meat for lunch, and a banana in the afternoon. I try to drink 16 ounces of water in the morning, and another 16 ounces in the afternoon.

Exercise… slowly – Many of played sports in high school… in the ‘80s. You are not 20, so don’t start your exercise regimen like you are. Light weights and/or 20-30 minutes of brisk walking is best to start. You don’t want to have a heart attack by trying to do the right thing.

Vacation – Those projects are important, but nothing is more important than your health. Everyone needs to drop the stress and not think so hard. You may not have the cash for that dream vacation, but the time off is good to attend local events, or start a new hobby. Anything as long as computers are not involved. Don’t check your email!

With all these dangers lurking, I am hoping to be on the first season of "Deadliest Code".

According to Merriam-Webster one definition of certifiable is to be genuine or authentic.  The second definition is to be insane or crazy.  I describe myself using definition number one, but being in IT consulting, some people think that definition two fits better.  I guess its all perception.

Speaking of being certifiable, have you heard the news, Aaron has been certified.  Since Aaron has been in IT consulting for years, I believe he could use either definition as well;).  In his last blog post, Aaron brings up the question is certifications are worth it or not.  The problem, in my opinion, is that too many people are NOT using definition one, or at least as I have outlined it here.  I tend to think of myself as being honest and having integrity.  If I could describe myself with one word it would be authentic. 

Perhaps these people that are not earning their certifications also fit definition one, they are genuinely and authentically being dishonest and don’t have much integrity.  Nothing turns me off more than a dishonest IT consultant.

My last post was Losing the Battle and Winning the war.  Today I have a similar title, but that is the end of the similarity.  I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to hear a talk from a professor at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State.   His topic was pretty interesting.  He was talking to a group of IT staffing company owners.  Most IT staffing companies have some sort of CRM, but what he was talking about was the opposite side of this which he called SRM or Supplier Resource Management. 

I’m not going to be able to adequately summarize a two hour talk in a few paragraphs, but one of the things that I thought was interesting is how companies are trying to commoditize IT staffing.  Looking at it from a numbers only point of view, he said that some companies have been able to reduce the cost of IT staffing by as much as 70%.   They have used a variety of purchasing techniques to accomplish this such as reducing suppliers, buying “in bulk”, instituting a VMS (vendor management system).  Being an IT consulting firm that also does IT staffing, I was not feeling too good about some of the trends discussed.  That was until he started talking about the real cost of savings.  

These same companies that have saved so much money, have also reduced their talent level to the point of not being able to accomplish anything.  The reduction in price has come at a cost of reduction in talent.   In some cases, companies were actually spending more than before.   This is because instead of one IT consultant, they may bring in two or more consultants.  There measurement was cost per hour by job title.   Cost per hour was indeed way down, but IT spend was up.

Another problem with the reduction in talent levels is that progress was not accomplished and that resulting in bringing in a high paid expert(s) toward the end of the project to try and salvage it.  The end result was little to no savings and huge opportunity costs to the business.   I guess the moral of the story is like the old saying “you get what you pay for.”

As an Enterprise Application development team member, I deal with information all the time. The reason I am usually called in to work on a project is because communication has broken down in some area, or information wasn’t gathered. I recently went through a terrible wind storm, which knocked out power to most of the city for a couple of days. The first thing you need in an emergency situation is information. How long is the power out? How big is the outage? When those questions are answered, other questions remain. Are schools and my client open? What about my office? These seem like easy questions, but with more reliance on wireless landlines and cell phones, battery power is limited. Since this was the weekend, there is an additional difficulty getting answers.

A situation like this also gives you information. My colleagues have written in the past about the value of continuity planning. This information is true for your family. My wife and I belong to an organization that supports the city fire department. We have been trained in some aspects of first response, so we have a plan. At a minimum, have some cash, a battery powered radio, and gasoline (or a fully gassed car). After a disaster is bad time to plan, but learn from your mistakes. Use your knowledge gained from application development; review the information gathered, fix the deficiencies, and make a plan for when the next time something strikes.

Even an application development team member with his hand on the pulse of technology can have tough decisions to make. My children are at an age where a laptop is becoming a necessity. School work, creative projects, music and games are important software criteria for their new machines. For hardware it’s either a Mac or a PC. The OS, well there you have it.

Windows Vista
Since Microsoft no longer sells XP, Vista is my only choice. Do I want to get a machine 2 Gig of ram, just to run Vista? The main reason for getting Vista is that a decently featured Dell runs about $600. My main concern is that I am the family’s Networking/Software/Hardware tech. I seem to spend more of my free time fixing issues than I would like. My kids are not writing software, so application development tools are not in this equation.

Apple
The company that makes things "just work". I think the Mac is a good choice for my kids. They use iTunes, like to create movies, and can write papers on it. Apple seems like the best choice. My two concerns are that they are too expensive, and they are too closed. Apple doesn’t have many third-party vendors. If I need another hard drive, I must by an expensive Apple hard drive. If I want a docking station, it has to be Apple. I understand that their docking station is very cool, and works out of the box, but because they are closed, I have to pay a high price for it. A low end Mac runs about $1200 dollars. I would like to by 2 machines, so this isn’t the kind of money I have just lying around.

Linux
The desktop Linux OSes have made great strides recently. The Ubuntu desktop is pretty cool. I could just buy a dell and put Ubuntu on it. My problems are that windows apps like iTunes and Office doesn’t run on it. I know I could run Wine, but this is my kids’ machines. And yes I could install Open Office, but their presentation piece still needs some work. My kids have to submit their work in Microsoft’s format.

I run a wireless network at home, and it would be great if the machine just connected and worked. That would make my life easier. What do you think?

• Limiting the number of test vendors with which they work.
• Dumping paper-based tests in favor of computer-based tests, which allows test companies to analyze data to flag individuals whose scores or behavior indicate something fishy.  This can allow companies to “ban candidates for life”.
• Constantly monitoring security at testing facilities.
• Photographing test takers to ensure they aren’t using proxies to take tests for them, and providing these photos to hiring managers to prove they’re interviewing the person that took the test.
• Changing tests so they’re more difficult to memorize or reproduce, by including for example, simulations that force candidates to draw network diagrams rather than answer multiple-choice questions.

• Just as there’s a difference between Harvard and your local community college, not all IT certifications are equal. The highest-valued certification programs are the most in demand, command the highest salaries, and are most relevant to the job.
• Pay attention to how often a certification needs to be renewed. In a profession where hardware and software updates happen yearly or more often, how relevant is a certification someone got 10 years ago? How self-critical is the re-certification program?
• Don’t base hiring decisions solely on a candidate’s certification.

Cincinnati, OH IT Community

I have been involved in the Cincinnati, Ohio Information Technology Community for twenty years and during that time I have witnessed a great many changes.  Perhaps the biggest change that I have personally witnessed is the trend of companies to leave the city of Cincinnati and the State of Ohio in pursuit of a better tax base or more favorable land deals.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Self-Inflicted Economic Death of Ohio” Chester E. Finn Jr. states that Ohio has the fifth-heaviest state and local tax burden in the country (up from 30th in 1990) and finds itself stagnating.  The unemployment rate, 6.3%, is above the national rate of 5.5%, even as the state's work force shrinks as people leave.

The company I work for STAR BASE, Inc. a company that was founded to serve the IT needs of organizations in and around the Greater Cincinnati area.  We have built subject matter expertise in the areas of information technology, application development, system integration and custom applications.  Clients in the area have also have asked us to provide them with candidates as well for their own internal information technology projects.

However the overwhelming question remains, if companies are moving out of the areas as the above article indicates, what value is there in claiming we are a local owned IT consulting firm?  Being an active member of the technological community I attend meetings at The Cincinnati Circuit  which is the Information Technology Association of the Cincinnati region. The organization is very good and all of its members are sincere in the goal to support the growth of Cincinnati technology.

However, I would suggest there is a real disconnect in the pursuit of this goal.  Not only are companies leaving but a recent article in the Cincinnati Enquirer suggests that bright students are choosing to go out of state to study.  The article states that almost half of the top high school seniors are planning to pursue their education at out of state campuses.  National statistics have shown that once these individuals graduate they go where the opportunity and money is and right now that does not appear to be in the State of Ohio.

Everyone that is a part of the Cincinnati, OH information technology community needs to make locally own businesses aware that we have outstanding technological talent in the area despite what the above statistics show.  Business and the community must work harder in making their political representative aware that we need to do every thing we can to protect our investment of good technological talent.  IT Outsourcing does not mean providing talent for another state or community.  We need to encourage young people that are attracted to technology that we have some of the best talent in the nation right here in Cincinnati.

Universities need to make sure they continue to offer courses in application development, IT strategy, infrastructure management, IT process automation and much, much more.  It will take the entire community to make a difference but it starts with the recognition that we have good local talent here and we need the assistance of the politicians and the government to make a real change not simply talk about it.  The technology community along with the business community needs a real “call-to-action” for any measurable changes to occur.  The politicians need to listen for a change!

Organizations are bombarded by change, and many are struggling to keep up.  Eight out of ten CEOs see significant change ahead. The gap between expected change and the ability to manage it has almost tripled since 2006.  Back in 2006 I gave a speech about change and the rate of change and how that was going to affect business application development.   What follows are excerpts from that speech that talks about change.

I would like to wish a very happy birthday to Lucy Johnson.  Lucy was born in, 1901.  She is celebrating her 105th birthday today.  How many of you know Lucy?  Quite frankly, I don’t either, but I do want to talk about some of the things that Lucy has seen during her life time.   In 1903, if she were in Kitty hawk, NC she would have seen Orville and Wilber Wright make the first powered flight.  If someone would have said to her, I need to get to the airport to catch an 11 o’clock flight to Chicago she would have thought you to be crazy.

If she were in Dearborn, MI in 1903, she would have witnessed the first Model T’s coming out of Henry Ford’s new factory with this thing called an assembly line. It would have been quite a feat to hop in “the machine” and drive from Cincinnati to Dayton, Ohio.

In 1913 the current Federal Reserve System was established and in the same year the current income tax system was established.  (Personally I don’t think 1913 was a very good year).   In the 1920’s, Air Conditioning and refrigerators became popular.  In the 1930’s, talking movies became widespread.  In the 1940’s, we entered the atomic age and the first electronic computers came about.  There is more computing power in a talking greeting card today, than existed in the world in 1945.  In the 1950’s, we entered the space age. In the 1960’s, we landed men on the moon and returned them safely to earth.

The list could go on and on.  Some experts claim that Lucy has seen more change in her 105 year life span, than was seen in all of human history up to that point.  Think about that for a minute.  There has been more change in the last 100 years than there has been for the thousands of years before that.  

In the 15th century, for example, it is said that the faculty at Merton College, Oxford, were cautious about stocking their library with books because they were not convinced printing was here to stay. They were wrong. 

In the 18th century, economists hailed the Machine Age as the ultimate in technology. They were wrong.

In 1950, Tom Watson, Sr. of IBM predicted that seven computers would serve all the nation's computing needs. He was wrong.

If we look back at the years that STAR BASE Inc. has been in existence, it seems like some things have changed a great deal and others really have not changed much.  In 1991 most companies were running DOS on their PCs, which were 66mhz 486 PCs.  Most companies did not have internet access, let alone Google.  Most companies did not have any email.  We have seen the rise and fall of OS/2 and JAVA was something you drank.

Some things have not changed.  In 1991, George Bush was in the white house and we were fighting a war in Iraq.  On September 17th, 1991, Linus Torvalds, released Linux to several Usenet newsgroups.  Pretty Good Privacy is introduced.  Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, is an e-mail encryption program.

What is really exciting it to look ahead at the next 15 years.   Moore’s Law says that computing power will double every two years.   In 2006, IBM researchers announced that they had developed a technique to print circuitry only 29.9 nm wide using deep-ultraviolet (DUV, 193-nanometer) optical lithography. IBM claims that this technique may allow chipmakers to use current methods for several years while continuing to achieve results predicted by Moore's Law.

So what? You may ask.  This allows for smaller faster devices to do things that we haven’t even thought of yet.  Some experts have predicted that we will see more change in the next 15 years than Lucy Johnson has seen in her life time.  Remember, some believe Lucy saw more change in her life time than what had happened in all of human history up to her birth.

Most of us in IT business solutions are going to be around for another 15 years, so we are going to see a tremendous amount of change.

As you can see things are always changing and they are going to continue to change at an exponential rate.  Technology is going to continue to evolve.   Some say the Cincinnati and Dayton areas will end up as one large metropolis.

There is one thing that constant among all the change and that’s people.   We all have to learn and adapt to our environments.  At STAR BASE, I think we have a very good process for hiring people.  It’s not an easy process to go through.  Not only do we objectively test for skills, we also ask questions that reveal something about the individual.   One of the questions we ask as part of the interview process is:  What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?  (Think About that).   There is more to hiring for IT Jobs than make sure the person has the right acronyms on the list.   The more things change the more the stay the same.