A Celebration of the Vibrant IBM i Community
A closer look at the user groups, IBM Champions, TechChannel Rising Stars and IBM i educators that have sustained the platform for 35 years
By Claire O’Leary
Business needs have changed dramatically since the AS/400 was launched in 1988, and so too has the IBM i platform. What’s kept the platform innovating and evolving over the course of four decades? The unanimous agreement is that momentum comes from passion. Joint efforts of IBMers and community members have sustained the robust, reliable platform that supports business’ mission-critical workloads.
While this passion is genuine and organic, it’s also been codified through a variety of programs to compound the effect of individual efforts within the vibrant IBM i community. Together, user groups, ongoing education and the IBM Champions program work in conjunction with one another to recognize achievements, bring new people to the platform, and share skills and experiences. Learn more about the people and programs that facilitate those efforts.
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“Recognize, Reward, Catalyze”: How IBM Champions Build Momentum in the IBM i Community
At face value, IBM Champions are people who are recognized for their expertise with one or more IBM products. But the program goes much deeper than that in practice. “A true IBM Champion is then driven to share that expertise beyond just the scope of doing their job: They ensure that others in the community are able to learn from their expertise and experiences; they share stories and feedback; they run user groups; and they write books and blogs,” says Libby Ingrassia, program director, IBM Champions. “They are driven to advocate for the product or platform and ensure others can make the most of their investments.”
When the IBM Champions program began 16 years ago, it was a static recognition: According to Ingrassia, IBM Champions were selected, thanked and recognized—and then not engaged with until the next selection period came around. After a hiatus, the program was brought back to the Power Systems community in 2015.
Today, the motto is “recognize, reward and catalyze.” IBM Champions gave feedback that they wanted to be more involved in the program, and as a result, Champions are now engaged through feedback councils and are given briefings on new products and updates.
“We’ve listened to them and try to engage with them regularly throughout the year,” Ingrassia says. “We bring IBM Champions into our feedback councils, show them where they can make the biggest impact in the community, and involve them with our deep focus on client advocacy through the IBM TechXchange program and conference.”
Through these opportunities, IBM Champions have a channel to engage with the entire IBM i community, no matter their geographic location or area of focus. “When you hear about something exciting or something changing, you can bet that IBM Champions have had their say, sharing with the product team and bringing in feedback from their experiences,” Ingrassia says.
What was one of your most rewarding teaching experiences on IBM i?
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“When we taught people how to build web applications using RPG as a core. They came back six months later and told us that they kicked out a Windows solution and are now serving everything up off the IBM i.”
—Jon Paris, partner, Partner400 and an IBM Champion
“When you hear about something exciting or something changing, you can bet that IBM Champions have had their say, sharing with the product team and bringing in feedback from their experiences.”
—Libby Ingrassia, program director, IBM Champions
Recognizing New Talent
TechChannel’s Rising Stars program honors newcomers making an impact on the IBM i community
A critical ingredient to the IBM i community being robust and self-sustaining is encouraging and equipping the next generation of IBM i administrators and developers. The Rising Stars program recognizes people who have been working on the IBM i platform for five years or less who are already making a big impact for their organizations and the broader community.
Rising Stars are instrumental in demonstrating that the IBM i platform is not only robust and reliable, but also modern and continually innovating. “IBM has been one of the major manufacturers and service providers for as long as IT has existed,” says Fabian Gerach, software engineer at PKS Software GmbH and a 2022 Rising Stars honoree.
No career path is totally linear—and this is especially true for past classes of Rising Stars. Honorees have come from other platforms and other career paths to make their mark quickly in the IBM i community. Past Rising Stars have accomplished projects such as migrating their organizations off of unsupported operating systems, contributing to the open-source community and implementing modern payment transaction systems.
Many Rising Stars go on to become user group board members, conference speakers, mentors and IBM Champions, giving further self-sustaining momentum to the IBM i community. “I’m constantly looking for ways to learn and expand in this industry,” says Nilofur Khan, 2022 Rising Stars honoree and sales development specialist at iTech Solutions. “I’m thankful for all the people I’ve met throughout my career that are willing to help me move forward.”
What’s your favorite part about training people on IBM i?
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“There’s nothing more rewarding in my mind than to see the light bulb go on in someone’s mind, especially on some technical issue.”
—Susan Gantner, partner, Partner400 and an IBM Champion
Educating the Next Generation of the IBM i Community
In person or online, education is critical for companies to leverage their investment in the IBM i platform, now and in the future. Time and time again, companies have tried to migrate off the platform, only to realize that upscaling their workforce is by far the better investment. “Many companies go to the trouble of estimating the cost of training,” says Jon Paris, partner, Partner400. “They never look at the cost of ignorance.”
Education for IBM i can take a variety of different forms, but leading the effort are Paris; Jim Buck, cofounder and lead instructor for ImPower Technologies LLC; and Susan Gantner, partner, Partner400. Collectively, their IBM i education experience spans college classrooms, conference speaking engagements, on-site instruction and online learning sessions.
While some developers are able to learn RDi and RPG from blogs and YouTube tutorials, individualized instruction can pay dividends to get employees up to speed quickly. “If you invest a little bit of time and money on education, a lot of people are able to short-circuit the whole thing,” Paris says. “Why beat your head against the wall, not knowing how much more there is to learn?”
Buck, Paris and Gantner agree that students “getting it” is the most rewarding part of IBM i education. “There’s nothing more rewarding in my mind than to see the light bulb go on in someone’s mind, especially on some technical issue,” Gantner says.
Buck’s experience has been similar, but he emphasizes how powerful it can be to see students not only grasp the technical side but also embrace the community surrounding the platform. “The biggest reward for me is to see students succeed—and I’ve always concentrated on having that happen. For example, WMPCA, which is the Wisconsin user group, the majority of board members are graduates of mine from when I was at the college or have taken courses through ImPower Technology,” he says.
And for Paris, the most rewarding moment has come when students see how IBM i stands apart from other platforms. “As far as the good things, I think one of the most rewarding ones I’ve ever had happen was when we taught people how to build web applications using RPG as a core. They came back six months later and told us that they kicked out a Windows solution and are now serving everything up off the IBM i,” he says.
These highlights don’t come without challenges, however. “Business applications aren’t as sexy as writing the next Angry Birds,” Buck says. But he also says that many IBM i developers know their businesses through and through, and that’s as big of an asset as technical skills.
Another common misconception is that the IBM i platform is old or outdated, but that preconception can be easily dispelled by outlining the similarities between free-format RPG and other languages. Modernizing code to free-format RPG can also be a recruiting tool for new developers. Those fluent in multiple coding languages can often quickly pick up on free-format RPG, but the inverse is often not the case for fixed-format RPG.
“First off, we don’t teach any of the old stuff. If you take one of our courses, all you learn is the new stuff, the new tools and the new techniques,” Buck says. “And I’ve had employers go, ‘Well, aren’t you going to teach fixed-format programming?’ My response is, ‘Why?’ There are tools to convert fixed-format to free-format, and if the student learns the new stuff, your business can start moving things ahead.”
Education in every avenue is also changing. The pandemic taught businesses that while virtual education for IBM i is possible, there are distinct advantages to learning in person. “When you have a class full of people in front of you, there’s two things you can see. One, you can see if they’ve tuned out because they don’t understand something. And two, during lab time, you can walk around the room and look over shoulders and see if people are getting it,” Paris says.
Buck has a slightly different take, with the majority of his training coming through online videos. The advantage in that method, he says, is that students can rewatch a section if they haven’t quite grasped a concept or reference the lesson when they’re working on a real business example.
Regardless of the teaching method, all three agree that IBM i education is critical to businesses continuing to thrive and innovate on the platform. And more importantly, those beginning students often go on to become user group board members, IBM TechXchange speakers, IBM Champions or otherwise contributors to the vibrant IBM i community.
What’s the most rewarding part about teaching the IBM i platform?
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“To see students succeed. In WMPCA, which is the Wisconsin user group, the majority of board members are graduates of mine from when I was at [Gateway College] or have taken courses through ImPower Technology.”
—Jim Buck, co-founder and lead instructor, ImPower Technologies LLC
How are IBM Champions involved with the IBM i community?
Involved in feedback councils
Active on social media
Writing books and blogs
Running user groups and user group events
Active with client advocacy
Speaking at user group meetings and IBM TechXchange
Sharing their knowledge with others
Passion and Community Come Together in User Groups
For many businesses, their IBM i infrastructure is managed by a handful of people or a small team. While it speaks volumes to the brilliant simplicity of IBM i that a few people can manage what takes an entire development team on another platform, it also means that developers often look beyond the four walls of their organization for answers.
Before the days of YouTube tutorials and LinkedIn forums to ask questions, user groups helped connect IBM i developers within a given region for that knowledge sharing. But user groups don’t just offer education; they also offer camaraderie and networking. For many attendees that travel to national user group conferences such as COMMON, the conversations at happy hour and in the hallways are just as valuable as the ones that occur during learning sessions.
“That passion and that community—the friendship, networking, all these values—they come together,” says Juan Manuel Alcudia, president of COMMON Europe. “So that is something very important about this community.”
That’s not to say that education isn’t a critical function of user groups. Conferences and annual gatherings can also give developers a dedicated space to learn without a high price tag. “We have a role, and that role is professional advancement of the community,” says Shrirang “Ranga” Deshpande, former president of COMMON Europe. “The education committee assesses where people are, then plans what education needs to be given through webinars and in-person events. Afterward, those tactics are assessed to continue the professional development cycle.”
Get Involved With the IBM i Community
Inspired to get involved with the IBM i community? Small steps can go a long way toward cementing the viability of the platform.
Contribute to an online forum
Engage with IBM Champions on social media
Technical innovations alone aren’t what sustain IBM i. That continuous momentum comes from the people behind the platform—as it has for the past 35 years. “Having spoken at a number of user groups around the world, I’ve seen the commitment of the people involved and it’s amazing in a mind-boggling way,” Guarino says.
And while the faces leading user groups, instructing on the platform and representing as IBM Champions will change over time, the role of the IBM i community will remain constant.