RE: The Future -- MIDRANGE-L

I dunno...if I was hiring someone and I had a choice between two people,
one of whom took the time and made the effort to learn a new technology
using a "learn xxx in 24 hours" book or similar resource, and who could
SHOW! Me how they created their own web site and discuss the technology
intelligently, if not fluently...versus a person who had done nothing but
RPG for 30 years and wanted ME to train them because they didn't want to
bother learning on their own...

I'd choose the first person every time.

My point being that while there is no substitute for actual
on-the-job-experience, I would still always choose someone who had proven
to me that they were willing to take the time to learn on their own and to
invest their own dollars into their own future via books, seminars or online
courses.

This is a bit off the topic of your question, but one quick observation...I
am amazed at the number of people in our profession who think nothing of
buying a new boat for the family vacation, but will not invest $2000.00 of
their own money to pay their own way to COMMON or RPG Devcon or similar
conference. Both expenditures benefit the same family, but try to get most
people to pay their own way to something like that, and they look at you
like you're nuts. There is this idea, perhaps a sense of entitlement?, that
the only way that a person should ever attend a conference like that is if
their company pays for it for them. The mantra being "Why should I spend my
money to learn this technology that (as far as I can see with my tunnel
vision) only benefits my company? If they want me to learn it, let THEM!
pay for it!".

To my way of thinking, that mindset is nuts.

My opinion (only an opinion so don't crucify me over it!) is that there is
NO ONE! Who cares more about your professional future than you and if you
want to succeed at it, you will do whatever it takes in terms of time and
money to achieve your goals.

The O.P. here appears to want to do that very thing and I for one applaud
them.

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kelley Shaddrick
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 10:40 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The Future

We've all read of the impending demise of RPG green screen programmers (30+
years here). It has been suggested that we branch out into HTML, CSS,
Javascript, PHP, Java, XML, SQL, etc. The list appears to be endless. The
company I work for has NO interest in web based user interfaces. The folks
who work in the customer service, order entry, accounting, and shipping
areas have been here for years and years (they average 20+ years). They WANT
the old green screen interface.

The short story is there is no opportunity to learn any of these "new"
technologies here at work. Sure, I could grab one of the "learn (fill in the
blank) in 24 hours" books and create my own personal website. But, in past
experiences at job interviews, these kind of "development experiences" were
not viewed in a good light. The interviewer is looking for solid business
applications development in a business environment.

So, my question to all of you is, do you know of some kind of degree or
certification program offered by an accredited institution that one could go
through that would, with the previous 30+ years of developing business
applications, help to offset the "looking for business development
experience" issue?

Kelley