The "non-IT" thing is interesting. At my company we have many application developers that started elsewhere at the company. Me, for one. I personally had previous IT skills, and some schooling in programming, but most of the others I believe did not.
Do non-IT people make better COBOL programmers? Why might that be? Frank -- Frank Swarbrick Applications Architect - Mainframe Applications Development FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO USA P: 303-235-1403 On 6/14/2011 at 11:57 AM, in message <[email protected]>, Mike Schwab <[email protected]> wrote: > I know Illinois State University, Normal, IL was doing 3 month full > time class to create programmers from existing non-IT staff at State > Farm / Country Companies Insurance companies in the metro area. They > had completed several sessions last update I got. They had to sign an > agreeement to work for 1 year or pay back the class costs. > > On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Steve Comstock > <[email protected]> wrote: >> Last week I taught a COBOL class for five days at a >> small company up in Boulder. They have a refreshing >> approach that I thought was pretty cool, and I wanted >> to pass it on. >> >> This company (I'll call it 'A') is a subsidiary of a >> large transportation company ('B'). Although they are >> small, they run z/OS 1.12, use COBOL 4.2, and so on. >> >> * Each Spring for the last two years they go to the local >> university career day and talk with students about to >> graduate >> >> * Eventually they settle on four to hire >> >> * Then, they make their job offer through a contracting >> company ('C') with the understanding if they work out >> after a trial period, they will be hired to work >> directly by 'A' >> >> * But what's cool is: a) they only interview students >> with little or no IS / IT background and b) even >> though the students will technically be employees of >> 'C', 'A' arranges to train them >> >> The training is done by a mix of in-house people, >> myself, colleagues, even competitors >> >> >> The result is a small cadre of new employees entering >> each year, sort of 'raised' in the local IT culture. >> >> >> The new employees are solid and quickly productive, and >> they have a long lasting loyalty to the company. The >> current employees are, generally, pleased to see the >> company expanding the workforce (after all, the new >> kids are lower on the totem pole, as it were). >> >> >> Although the program is new, it seems to be working very >> well (I had a chance to talk with some of last year's >> new hires as well as a few managers). >> >> So somebody is hiring for z/OS applications developers. >> I consider that to be a little good news anyway. >> >> -- >> >> Kind regards, >> >> -Steve Comstock >> The Trainer's Friend, Inc. >> >> 303-393-8716 >> http://www.trainersfriend.com >> >> * To get a good Return on your Investment, first make an investment! >> + Training your people is an excellent investment >> >> * Try our new tool for calculating your Return On Investment >> for training dollars at >> http://www.trainersfriend.com/ROI/roi.html >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO >> Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html >> > > >>> The information contained in this electronic communication and any document attached hereto or transmitted herewith is confidential and intended for the exclusive use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any examination, use, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by reply e-mail and destroy this communication. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
