Re: Iseries Education and marketing

[Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We had this discussion at the New England conference a couple of years. 
 A comment was made about going to the back of the room at COMMON and 
looking at the backs of the heads to see the "Graying of COMMON".

So, we went to the back of the room in Framingham and we looked for 
ourselves.  That was NOT what we saw.  We discussed what we saw:  The 
number of female heads of hair, the number of really young heads of 
hair, the number of minorities, and the obvious interest of the audience.

We concluded that going to COMMON is a perk, awarded to the senior 
staff; the regional meetings like Framingham are cheaper so the 
companies send their junior staff, too.

Last night was the Dallas User Group.  I didn't count, but thinking 
back, I'd guess half the attendees were under 35, maybe 40.  (I have 
trouble telling ages)  But certainly the meeting was not a gathering of 
the old folks.



steema@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> They are totally correct about the age of experienced Iseries workers,
> however, the opportunity exists for a programmer, say a VB person, to
> learn RPG on the job.
>
> More than once, I have seen a PC programmer we were working in express
> interest in learning RPG.
>
>   Guys,
> >   I just had a conversation with my supervisor for about an hour regarding
> > the future of the
> > Iseries with our company. One of the sticking points that upper management
> > is using (to justify
> > phasing the platform out) is the "greying" of the Iseries workforce. There
> > has been discussions
> > about this on this board but, I thought I would just throw this in as just
> > more fodder.
> > Amazingly, they all agree on  what a great platform it is. They can't
> > complain about its cost.
> > But, I guess any reason is as good as another.   I really think if IBM
> > wants to insure the
> > survival of this platform they will consider dropping some freebie systems
> > off at some colleges
> > (give aways are great for marketing. Just ask Microsoft). They need to do
> > more marketing to show
> > that they are educating a new line of developers (not just in Asia) but,
> > here where there will be
> > exposure.  Otherwise, the perceptions of the MBA's of the future will
> > always be tainted against
> > the platform.
> >
> >  Anyway, just my two cents.
> >
> >  Vance
> >
> > --
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