Ready or Not?

The following message is brought to you by senior level consultant, long time member of the IBM DB2 team, and my good friend Mr. Jim Denton...

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Ready or not …

Here it comes.  Change is one of constants in our lives as IT professionals – we are often confronted by new business requirements,  increasing data and transaction volumes, shifting strategic priorities, opportunities to leverage analytics, data model limitations, long running or erratic queries, new user interface demands, integrating new applications, managing business consolidations and acquisitions, etc.  And practically everyone will have additional challenges to add to that list.

As part of the DB2 for i Center of Excellence team, I often get the opportunity to teach both the SQL Performance and the Advanced SQL courses.  Practically every session of those courses includes students saying “I wish I’d known.”  They’ve spent valuable time writing a complicated program instead of just a few carefully crafted SQL statements.  They’ve rewritten code to improve performance without knowing there were several easier options.  Or they’ve used SQL without leveraging SQL’s strengths for set-based processing.

Clearly, knowledge is our best defense against an onslaught of change.   So what can you do to prepare yourself?  Here are some ideas:

• Keep reading blogs like this one!

• Take advantage of the DB2 for i homepage and in particular, the vast array of whitepapers on the Resources tab

• Regularly check (or subscribe) to the DB2 for i Technology Updates Wiki - the wiki is part of the IBM i zone in IBM developerWorks

• Get involved with any of the IBM i user groups 

• Attend a technical conference where we present the features and functions of DB2 for i

• Obtain formal knowledge and skills transfer from the DB2 for i Center of Excellence 

We understand your frustration when we are forced to cancel public workshops due to low enrollments.  Ask us about a private session.  It is probably less expensive than you think and we can train more members of your team at the same time.  We can also customize content and focus on what’s important to you. 

One last point -- I highly recommend that you always take credit for your successes.  This can be anything from talking to your colleagues at the coffee machine to executive level presentations.  This is no time to be modest!  Taking credit builds organizational momentum and demonstrates the value of ongoing investments in DB2 for i skills.

Your company has made significant business investments in IBM i and you have a long list of technical challenges which require new knowledge and new skills.  Take a minute and ask yourself:

Are you ready?