Fwd: My Attitude -- MIDRANGE-L

Folks,

This has got to be one of the greatest responses I've ever read.  I cannot 
believe that he's not a list member...

Enjoy!

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"May all your troubles last as long as your New Years' resolutions." -- Joey 
Adams

In a message dated 5/8/01 3:44:48 PM US Eastern Standard Time, DAsmussen 
writes:

> Mr. Curtis:
>  I am an independent contractor; DTC � is my incorporated business. I 
travel.
>  
>  I am responding to your posting on the ComputerJobs.com web site.  I am 
> impressed with your matter-of-fact attitude toward the industry with regard 
> to the skills that you are seeking.  I have been in the business for over 
> twenty-two year, and consider myself to be an OS/400 expert.  In 
> consideration that as of the October, 2000 announcement, IBM no longer 
> manufacturers a product called the AS/400 (. . .having renamed the hardware 
> as the e-something i-series) but continuing to market the operating system 
as 
> OS/400, I am going to refer to the system as OS/400.
>  
>  I have attached my resume in Acrobat PDF* format.  The first page is a 
> capabilities overview onto which I have tried to pack as much information 
as 
> possible -- there is no information regarding hobbies, expectation for the 
> future of my career, or vague references expressing my desire to feed all 
of 
> the starving children in the world.  Keywords such as COBOL means that I 
> write expert COBOL for the OS/400 application environment.  RPG means that 
I 
> write expert RPG's for the OS/400 application environment.   EDI means that 
I 
> understand the ASC X12 standard and EDI/400 means that I know how to 
> implement Premenos' product.  Unix/C means that I have design and written 
> advanced real-time unix applications using the C language.  The additional 
> pages contain selected project abstracts without regard to chronology; work 
> for some clients spans more than a decade.
>  
>  I will be fifty-two years old in July.  I am encountering an attitude that 
I 
> am outside the "bleeding edge" to which you refer.  For example, DB2 is a 
hot 
> topic these days.  Well . . ., DB2 was invented as the integrated data base 
> that has always been part and parcel of OS/400 since it was introduced by 
the 
> old IBM General Systems Division with the System/38 (which was renamed 
AS/400,
>  which has now been renamed as the i-series).  IBM was loosing market share 
> to Oracle, SCO, etc., because most people did not realize that the AS/400 
> came with a database; therefore, only recently, some marketing consultant 
> recommended that IBM give it a name, ergo, DB2.  My point is that a OS/400 
> applications programmer/analyst/software engineer/developer/ad nauseam 
cannot 
> design OS/400 applications without a thorough knowledge of the integrated 
> data base, i.e., DB2.  In consideration that I have worked with OS/400 
since 
> the inception on the S/38 equipment, I insist that I have twenty-years 
> experience working with DB2.  I know how to design and implement databases 
> for OS/400.  I know how to write the DDS (data description specifications). 
 
> I understand externally described data structures.  I understand the 
analogy 
> of the field reference file to a data dictionary.  I know how to use good 
> database design to simplify the HLL (higher level language, e.g., COBOL or 
> RPG) coding tasks.  
>  
>  The ILE (Integrated Language Environment) finally seems to be gaining 
> acceptance these days.  Around 1994 when it was announced by IBM (e.g., AS/
> 400 ILE RPG/400 Programmer's Guide, Version 3, First Edition, September, 
1994,
>  Copyright International Business Machines Corporation), most traditional 
OPM 
> (Original Program Model) shops were afraid of it by nature of no conceptual 
> understanding of it.  First of all, the concept requires a very structured 
> approach to program design; secondly, the object oriented analogy of 
modular, 
> service programs, etc. to components of function-oriented languages such a 
C 
> or FORTRAN was (. . .and still is ?) alien to most OPM COBOL and RPG 
> programmers.   I have integrated languages such as COBOL and RPG long 
before 
> IBM coined the ILE acronym.  In fact, the architectural model was first 
> conceived by Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and others, 
i.e., 
> the inventors of Unix starting about 1969 at Bell Labs Murray Hill, NJ 
site.  
> Marc Rochkind wrote the unix make system for modular application project 
> design and management.  My point is that I started Unix/C development in 
1985.
>   I don't appreciate being told that I don't understand the ILE 
environment.  
> In fact, I love it!  I am so glad that the old S/34 RPGph (PreHistoric) 
goto 
> branching, six thousand-plus lines of code, panacea programs are 
disappearing.
> 
>  
>  Lately, I am seeing more requests for skills such as SQL, FTP, 
> xyzReportWriters, etc.  Of course I use System Query Language or File 
> Transfer Protocol when appropriate or necessary.  An SQL is not a real 
> programming language.  It is a tool that can be used by accountants or art 
> students.  I typically find that the task for which I am employed cannot be 
> completed because of the limitations of the SQL.  In fact, this is why I am 
> employed as a programmer -- because the accountant cannot make SQL do what 
he 
> or she wants to accomplish with SQL.  Usually, my clients would rather pay 
me 
> to write COBOL or RPG, rather than SQL.  Occasionally, I may embed an SQL 
> instruction in a COBOL or RPG instruction.  (In the past, I never 
considered 
> SQL important enough to include on my resume. . .)
>  
>  HTML, XML, . . .whatever, are not programming languages, rather they are 
> formatting tools, just as word processing systems such as MicrosoftWord or 
> Corel WordPerfect.  Interface extensions such as JAVA Beans do cloud the 
> issue; however, user interface shells such as Visual Age for JAVA, Front 
Page,
>  etc. provide code generation functions that used to be considered 
functions 
> of CASE (computer assisted software engineering) systems.  Again, I insist 
> that when art students can use the tools to design web pages, it is not 
> programming.  It is formatting.  So today, I am adding HTML to my resume -- 
> Is this document not coded in HTML?
>  
>  What do I know about the Internet?  Well, I know that while working at 
Bell 
> Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, D. A. Nowitz and M. E. Lesk, on 
August 
> 18, 1978, published a paper titled A Dial-Up Network of UNIX Systems.  
Nowitz 
> also published Uucp Implementation Description, which describes the first 
> implementation of the unix to unix copy utility.  I'll bet a dime on a 
dollar 
> that Al Gore doesn't have a clue regarding these documents.
>  
>  If you've read this far, then you've probably assumed that I have an 
> attitude.  I certainly do.  I have an attitude that the client is entitled 
to 
> the best possible service that I can provide.  I am not going to snow 
anyone 
> with new buzz words.  B2B is just another spin on electronic document 
> interchange (EDI) with an Internet protocol.  E-commerce will be useful; 
> however, I will never buy an automobile without a test drive.  DB2 is just 
> another relational database.  For all of the ERP, MRP, JIT, ETC., the guy 
on 
> the plant floor just needs his parts on time.

Subject: Fwd: Fw: My Attitude

From: DAsmussen@xxxxxxx

Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 16:44:48 EDT

Full-name: DAsmussen
 
Subject: Fw: My Attitude

From: "Joe Ganzler" <jganzler@xxxxxxxx>

Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 17:29:22 -0400

I thought you guys would enjoy this, it's from one of my long-time contractors. . .

Regards,

Joe G.

Joseph J. Ganzler
The Criterion Group, Inc.
416 E. Park Ave.
Charlotte, NC 28203
Voice - (704) 344-1550
Fax - (704) 358-1150
jganzler@vnet.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Wingfield <dtcrtw@ionet.net>
To: Joe Ganzler <jganzler@vnet.net>
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2001 1:48 PM
Subject: My Attitude

Joe,

This is an example of my attitude these days regarding the business. This guy had a posting on ComputerJobs.com. After three months of emailing resumes to black holes, I'm finding it harder and harder to be civil about the process. Am I off base here?

RW

Mr. Curtis:

I am an independent contractor; DTC ® is my incorporated business. I travel.

I am responding to your posting on the ComputerJobs.com web site. I am impressed with your matter-of-fact attitude toward the industry with regard to the skills that you are seeking. I have been in the business for over twenty-two year, and consider myself to be an OS/400 expert. In consideration that as of the October, 2000 announcement, IBM no longer manufacturers a product called the AS/400 (. . .having renamed the hardware as the e-something i-series) but continuing to market the operating system as OS/400, I am going to refer to the system as OS/400.

I have attached my resume in Acrobat PDF* format. The first page is a capabilities overview onto which I have tried to pack as much information as possible -- there is no information regarding hobbies, expectation for the future of my career, or vague references expressing my desire to feed all of the starving children in the world. Keywords such as COBOL means that I write expert COBOL for the OS/400 application environment. RPG means that I write expert RPG's for the OS/400 application environment. EDI means that I understand the ASC X12 standard and EDI/400 means that I know how to implement Premenos' product. Unix/C means that I have design and written advanced real-time unix applications using the C language. The additional pages contain selected project abstracts without regard to chronology; work for some clients spans more than a decade.

I will be fifty-two years old in July. I am encountering an attitude that I am outside the "bleeding edge" to which you refer. For example, DB2 is a hot topic these days. Well . . ., DB2 was invented as the integrated data base that has always been part and parcel of OS/400 since it was introduced by the old IBM General Systems Division with the System/38 (which was renamed AS/400, which has now been renamed as the i-series). IBM was loosing market share to Oracle, SCO, etc., because most people did not realize that the AS/400 came with a database; therefore, only recently, some marketing consultant recommended that IBM give it a name, ergo, DB2. My point is that a OS/400 applications programmer/analyst/software engineer/developer/ad nauseam cannot design OS/400 applications without a thorough knowledge of the integrated data base, i.e., DB2. In consideration that I have worked with OS/400 since the inception on the S/38 equipment, I insist that I have twenty-years experience working with DB2. I know how to design and implement databases for OS/400. I know how to write the DDS (data description specifications). I understand externally described data structures. I understand the analogy of the field reference file to a data dictionary. I know how to use good database design to simplify the HLL (higher level language, e.g., COBOL or RPG) coding tasks.

The ILE (Integrated Language Environment) finally seems to be gaining acceptance these days. Around 1994 when it was announced by IBM (e.g., AS/400 ILE RPG/400 Programmer's Guide, Version 3, First Edition, September, 1994, Copyright International Business Machines Corporation), most traditional OPM (Original Program Model) shops were afraid of it by nature of no conceptual understanding of it. First of all, the concept requires a very structured approach to program design; secondly, the object oriented analogy of modular, service programs, etc. to components of function-oriented languages such a C or FORTRAN was (. . .and still is ?) alien to most OPM COBOL and RPG programmers. I have integrated languages such as COBOL and RPG long before IBM coined the ILE acronym. In fact, the architectural model was first conceived by Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and others, i.e., the inventors of Unix starting about 1969 at Bell Labs Murray Hill, NJ site. Marc Rochkind wrote the unix make system for modular application project design and management. My point is that I started Unix/C development in 1985. I don't appreciate being told that I don't understand the ILE environment. In fact, I love it! I am so glad that the old S/34 RPGph (PreHistoric) goto branching, six thousand-plus lines of code, panacea programs are disappearing.

Lately, I am seeing more requests for skills such as SQL, FTP, xyzReportWriters, etc. Of course I use System Query Language or File Transfer Protocol when appropriate or necessary. An SQL is not a real programming language. It is a tool that can be used by accountants or art students. I typically find that the task for which I am employed cannot be completed because of the limitations of the SQL. In fact, this is why I am employed as a programmer -- because the accountant cannot make SQL do what he or she wants to accomplish with SQL. Usually, my clients would rather pay me to write COBOL or RPG, rather than SQL. Occasionally, I may embed an SQL instruction in a COBOL or RPG instruction. (In the past, I never considered SQL important enough to include on my resume. . .)

HTML, XML, . . .whatever, are not programming languages, rather they are formatting tools, just as word processing systems such as MicrosoftWord or Corel WordPerfect. Interface extensions such as JAVA Beans do cloud the issue; however, user interface shells such as Visual Age for JAVA, Front Page, etc. provide code generation functions that used to be considered functions of CASE (computer assisted software engineering) systems. Again, I insist that when art students can use the tools to design web pages, it is not programming. It is formatting. So today, I am adding HTML to my resume -- Is this document not coded in HTML?

What do I know about the Internet? Well, I know that while working at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, D. A. Nowitz and M. E. Lesk, on August 18, 1978, published a paper titled A Dial-Up Network of UNIX Systems. Nowitz also published Uucp Implementation Description, which describes the first implementation of the unix to unix copy utility. I'll bet a dime on a dollar that Al Gore doesn't have a clue regarding these documents.

If you've read this far, then you've probably assumed that I have an attitude. I certainly do. I have an attitude that the client is entitled to the best possible service that I can provide. I am not going to snow anyone with new buzz words. B2B is just another spin on electronic document interchange (EDI) with an Internet protocol. E-commerce will be useful; however, I will never buy an automobile without a test drive. DB2 is just another relational database. For all of the ERP, MRP, JIT, ETC., the guy on the plant floor just needs his parts on time.

Regards,
Ron Wingfield

501-224-3139 (anytime)
dtcrtw@ionet.net

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