December 2017 IBM POWER · PDF fileAIX courses STUDENT PROFILE Name: Ben Leon School: Gateway...
Transcript of December 2017 IBM POWER · PDF fileAIX courses STUDENT PROFILE Name: Ben Leon School: Gateway...
December 2017 ibmsystemsmag.com
Stefanie Chiras talks AI and POWER9 in 2018PAGE 12
Getting on board with PowerAI
PAGE 16
Academic Initiative strengthens Power
skills pipelinePAGE 20
PowerForward
POWER SYSTEMS
IBMSystems
20 // DECEMBER 2017 ibmsystemsmag.com
The Academic Initiative ensures a steady supply of skilled developers and administrators
By Kristin Lewotsky k Illustration by Richard Mia
Sometimes a CIO’s most
challenging task isn’t
finding the right hardware
or software, it’s finding the right
peopleware. Organizations depend
upon the IBM Power Systems*
platform to run mission-critical
workloads ranging from online
transaction processing to reports
and analytics to mobile apps. To
keep those workloads running
requires skilled staff.
The challenge is that the
programmers and system
administrators who came of age with the
Power Systems platform are now retiring and taking
their skills with them. Fortunately, IBM can help. Just
as design teams constantly upgrade Power Systems
hardware and developers increase the number and
availability of software options, IBM also has a
program focused on people—the IBM Power Systems
Academic Initiative (PSAI) (ibm.co/2g3uoI5).
The PSAI was launched 21 years ago with
an explicit mission: To work with colleges and
universities worldwide to connect individuals
with in-demand Power Systems skills to IBM
clients. The program equips schools with the
materials, technology and resources to effectively
The Path to Po
k By the Numbers
Academic Cloud Environment with POWER7+ and
POWER8 hardware
21 years
in operation
Takeaways
• The IBM Power Systems Academic Initiative (PSAI) collaborates with academia and industry to deliver in-demand Power Systems skill sets.
• The program provides free teaching materials, covering AIX, IBM i and Linux.
• The associated job board facilitates matchmaking between employers and potential employees.
• The PSAI Academic Cloud gives students practical experience.
• For best results, organizations need to get involved with their local schools to weigh in on curricula and begin recruiting students early.
ibmsystemsmag.com DECEMBER 2017 // 21
teach Power Systems skills
and applications—at no
charge. Program staff work
to connect educators with
the local Power Systems
business community to foster
collaboration. All of the elements
and features of the PSAI work to
advance the ultimate goal: filling
staffing needs for IBM clients.
Real-World SkillsThe program is built around a
four-part structure that includes
IBM courseware, IBM educational
resources, a job board and the
Power Systems Academic Cloud,
all of which IBM provides to
participating schools at no cost.
The current lineup includes
specific courses for AIX*,
IBM i and Linux*. Written by IBM
professionals, courses are classified
as a beginner, intermediate and
advanced, and they frequently
have specific objectives. Given
the longstanding availability
of Linux on POWER*, the PSAI
includes a full slate of Linux
courses, including individual
courses on installing and running
Ubuntu, Red Hat and SUSE Linux.
IBM i offerings include courses targeting
Linux professionals who need to learn
RPG programming for IBM i, or using SQL,
for example. And AIX courses cover topics such
as AIX jump starts for UNIX* professionals, AIX
storage-area networking management and TCP/IP for
AIX administration.
South University in Savannah, Georgia has taken
advantage of the PSAI to offer IBM courses to the 550
students in its Information Systems and Technology
department. “We wanted to
provide our students with
employable skills out of every
single course,” says Department
Chair Angelo Thalassinidis. “We
wer Careers
Job board with more than
14,000 visitors
16 Linux on POWER courses
STUDENT PROFILEName: Kristian Broggi
School: Catawba Valley Community College
Degree: Associate degree in computer programming
“We primarily studied CL and RPGLE, both of which I use regularly at my place of employment, all on the IBM i series. I actively code RPG, SQL, CL and even maintain existing COBOL applications. I also took advantage of the PSAI job
board to look for work and internships; that is how I got in contact with
some of the companies I interviewed with.”
found the answer in the IBM
courseware.”
With the help of graduates
who have entered the workforce,
Thalassinidis has been educating
students on the value of
learning skills such as RPG.
“We are showing them the job
possibilities,” he says. “We
have three workshops where
we can teach them RPG. If they
are dedicated and give us four
weekends, we will do a 30- to
40-hour workshop and give them
a good background.”
Embracing New TechnologiesThe PSAI isn’t just about
replacement skills, though.
“We need skills to support the
IBM i install base, but we need
to look at the future as well,”
says Peter T. Glass, program
manager for the PSAI. In the
last several months, the PSAI
has added courseware from Red
Hat encompassing both Red Hat
Linux administration training
and application development.
SUSE courses include SUSE
storage management and SUSE
administration. Rogue Wave
Software has contributed PHP
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IBM educational resources
such as IBM technical libraries,
Redbooks* publications and
IBM subject-matter experts. This
includes a “Teach the Teachers”
program, which enables professors
at colleges and universities who
may not have Power Systems
knowledge to take a deep dive in
the technology and equip them to
more effectively teach it to their
students.
Of course, programming
and system administration are
hands-on subjects. That’s why
a key aspect of the Academic
Initiative program is the
Power Systems Academic Cloud.
k By the Numbers
25 IBM i
courses
More than
300 colleges and universities using
Academic Cloud
and Zend Framework materials:
hypertext preprocessing (PHP)
courses and Framework 2 courses
for developing web applications
and services with PHP.
“A good mixture of resources is
available for IBM clients, whether
they need legacy skills or because
their workforce is retiring or
because they need new staff or
to train existing staff to address
up-and-coming business needs,”
says Glass. “Regardless of what
organizations require, the PSAI
has a strategy in place to help
provide it.”
Participating schools can also
take advantage of additional
What Can You Do?Help support the talent pool you’ll draw from tomorrow:
• Get involved with your local university. Work on an advisory board to help colleges develop the curriculum that addresses your business needs.
• Encourage your staff to guest lecture at nearby schools. Topics can range from specifi c skills to a discussion of their particular career path.
• Have your IT shop occasionally assist with technical support of the university systems. Students can learn a great deal and professors who are operating outside of their primary skill set will appreciate the aid.
• Offer internships. By the time students near graduation, many already have jobs lined up. Get involved in their education early for the best choices.
• Post open positions on the Power Systems Academic Initiative job board.
Since 2012, the number of participating
schools has risen from 135 to over
600
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Through this valuable resource,
schools can give their students
free round-the-clock access
to a dedicated PSAI system
that includes POWER7+* and
POWER8* servers for teaching
and research.
Filling Job OpeningsThe final component of the
program is perhaps the most
immediately relevant to CIOs
and IT shops: the PSAI job
board (powersystemsjobs.com),
where organizations can post
openings for internships,
entry-level positions and
experienced employees.
By offering internships,
organizations give students
experience with the technology
while working in the corporate
world. At the same time, those
internships enable IT shops to
gauge the best fits for later hires.
Michael Picerno, director for
computer science and criminal
justice at Baker College in Flint,
Michigan, took a pair of students
to the COMMON Conference
and Expo last year. They were
hired on the spot, with multiple
companies vying for their skills. “Those employers
needed employees so badly that they were just
looking for someone who was educated and
trainable,” says Picerno. “One of the employers said
that they would train them on RPG. That’s how in
demand these students were.”
Baker offers both on-site and online courses. The
curriculum includes minors in IBM i and information
systems. Picerno is adding an IBM i minor that will
include courses on CL programming and RPG, as well
as other offerings such as IBM Watson* technology,
Db2*, Web Query and Cognos.
The school’s online offerings have become
increasingly popular with corporate IT shops
that want to augment existing employees’ skills.
“Companies send valued employees they want
to promote but who don’t have specific skill
sets,” says Picerno. “They take a range of classes.
There are lots of instances for
professional development
where IT departments
want somebody they
currently employ
to add to their
education.”
Plans for the FutureAs the
retirement
trend grows, so
does the PSAI:
Since 2012, the number of
participating schools has risen
from 135 to over 600. Although
the program is flourishing, the
management team continually
focuses on new skills and
technologies to better serve
future needs of the IBM client
base. “Going forward, we will
be adding offerings to support
IBM’s directions in big data
and cognitive computing,” says
Glass. “We have a pilot school
running big data courseware
now. We know it’s important to
our clients, so we are committed
to making it a part of the PSAI.”
In a separate development, the
PSAI has been extended to high
schools, particularly those
with science, technology,
engineering and math
(STEM) programs.
The experience will
better equip high
school students
for college-level
courses once
they graduate,
and prepare
them to work with
Power Systems
24 AIX
courses
STUDENT PROFILE Name: Ben Leon
School: Gateway Technical CollegeDegree: Software development
“The program was geared toward Power Systems. RPG was the main
course that I took, and that is the main technology that is being used at my employer. Just getting introduced to RPG and Power Systems was pretty
fascinating. This is what business runs on. It’s not phones; it’s the big computer running in
the back room.”
More than 615 participating schools
in 68 countries
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hardware and software once they
are working in the industry.
Creating TalentThe core mandate of educators
is to educate, but above all, they
want to provide students with
employable skills. This goal puts
the focus on collaborating with
the industry to discover what
capabilities are in demand and
helping students acquire them—
but that’s easier said than done.
“What happens in the corporate
world is that you are assigned
deliverables this morning that
are due yesterday,” Thalassinidis
says. “I understand that, but
there’s a skills gap in many
companies and that gap keeps
growing. If IT departments don’t
take time to work with our school
and others like it, they will end up paying the price.”
The organizations ready to be part of the solutions
are the ones who will have the opportunity to hire
the best and brightest. “Don’t just call us and say that
you need five people yesterday,”
says Thalassinidis. “Help us
develop people with the skills
you need. Let’s sit down together
and collaborate, and perhaps in
a year from now you will have a
steady pipeline of job candidates
to choose from.”
That flexibility goes beyond
member schools to the PSAI
itself. “If there are other skills
that clients need, we want to
hear about it so we can enhance
our program to satisfy the need,”
says Janet Caruccio, project
manager for the PSAI. “At its
core, this program serves our
clients.”
Kristin Lewotsky is a freelance
technology writer based in Amherst,
New Hampshire.
A Matchmaking ServiceIBM clients with limited time may be wondering where to start. Fortunately, at its core, the IBM Power Systems* Academic Initiative (PSAI) is a matchmaking service.
“If, after reading this article, an IBM client is interested in fi nding member schools in their area, we are happy to facilitate those relationships,” says Janet Caruccio, project manager for the PSAI. “We can reach out to see what the school is teaching and the client can work with them to help develop curriculum for the skills they need.”
Clients can email [email protected] with questions.