Re: Newbie Questions -- MIDRANGE-L

Glenn,

(CHGSYSVAL QSOAPBOX(*ON))

I couldn't disagree with you more! I believe the purpose of this forum
is to share information among your peers. Just because a particular peer
is a "newbie", and asks what many would consider a "silly" AS/400
question doesn't mean that the question is any less important than a
question you or I might ask about setting up IBM Firewall or using date
fields on a display. Given the level of AS/400 education that exists
today, this forum(and comp.sys.ibm.as400.misc) are probably among a
"newbie"'s greatest sources of help there is.

Granted, there is a lot to be said for 'RTFM' before putting a question
out on the forums. But how many students have access to a Softcopy CD,
much less the 80-100 lbs. of IBM manuals that USED to come with your
AS/400? Sometimes it is better(and faster) to ask somebody who knows the
answer than to spend days trying to figure it out yourself. One of the
reasons I have tripled my salary in the last 7 years as an AS/400
professional is that I got a job with a company of consultants who
didn't mind me asking "silly" questions(although they got MIGHTY TESTY
if I asked the same question more than three times!). What mattered was
that I LEARNED from those questions, and became a better programmer from
asking them. 

(CHGSYSVAL QSOAPBOX(*OFF))

YEEESH!!!  I feel much better now. 
-- 
Lou Schmaus
Creative Computer Associates, Inc.
Parlin, NJ 08859
lschmaus@home.com

--
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those
of my employer, unless it is billable.


Glenn Gundermann wrote:
> 
> I didn't want to say anthing but since you asked ......
> 
> I personally don't think the latest set of newbie questions belong here.  If 
>you
> can't figure out the VERY basics of cl programming then you haven't checked 
>the
> manual first.  Same goes for the simple task of how to display the different
> record formats of a display file etc.  This stuff is day one in the ATS 
>courses so
> I don't know where these people are studying this stuff.  The manuals show a 
>ton
> of examples and they're all on-line.  They should also just check out the 
>source
> of programs already on their AS/400 that other people have written.
> 
> At the last insurance company I worked for, we hired a graduate from school 
>that
> didn't know an AS/400 from an NT Server and never looked at clp, rpg, etc.  He
> dived into the ATS courses we had and the manuals and he never asked me any 
>basic
> questions forget about sending an e-mail message to a public forum like this.
> 
> My .02.
> 
> Glenn Gundermann
> Ronald A. Chisholm Limted
> Toronto
> E-Mail: ggundermann@rachisholm.com
>
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