I came across the above article a while ago and had meant to blog on it – however life and work got in the way. Good thing is that gave me some more time to think and I have my own conclusions on a few things that might be heading down Extinction Ave. along with the dinosaurs:
Note: I have been working on this post for a few days and reread it again - it was getting a bit long. The conclusion is still worth reading, but I will add the one-liner versions here to save you the time if you don’t feel like scrolling down to read it all, recent notes are in RED:
“Old” Skills
Update and learn – you need to make sure you are not left behind
One handed Bandits
Add a skill to your arsenal - one hit wonders never make it past the current season
Antisocial Behavior
Social is coming – even if yo have no use for Facebook, you can learn about social to get the basics
Blinders
Look at what is out there – closing the door will not make the Gremlins go away (somebody already fed them after midnight …)
WebSphere
Learn WebSphere - you will HAVE to deal with it, like it or not.
“Old” Skills
Well, this one is pretty straight forward – if you have not updated your skills lately … . Judging by the job/project offers I have received over the last 6 months and the type and amount of jobs being posted on www.ssmcjobs.com then 2012 will be the year of the upgrades and migrations …. and of new technology being implementd.
If you have not kept your skills and knowledge then this year might prove VERY touch on you. This has always been the case but I think this year will be especially hard because the only technology you are good at might be replaced this year and where will that leave you?
One Handed Bandits:
Another pun on luck, fate and being a “thing” with only one game in it. Companies always try to do more with less and the current push/move to social (I repeat myself here once more: it will be BIG!) is another indicator: If you have one main skill and not much else then you might find yourself under pressure. Even if your company is committed to Domino, you might find out that Connections and social mail is coming – so start learning something about “social” in general and software specifically. and my advice would be not just to get familiar with Connections but other software solutions as well, it always pays off to have a more rounded knowledge base as your company might be looking at several socultions and having some knowledge about them will make you more valuable.
If all you have is one game, your chips might be up sometime soon.
Antisocial Behavior
I hope this is self explanatory. Social is coming, whether you like it and embrace it or not. It makes no difference whether you think it makes sense and if it might be a good fit for your company – or not. In my experience many companies start looking at technology once they see more of it “out there”. I remember the first time I had to deal with a Blackberry server: the CEO of my then company played a round of golf with another big-wig who had one and watched him use it, read some important documents/emails and make some snap decisions with it – we ordered our first BES a week later, true story!
I have often seen technology implemented without anybody having a clue how it might be beneficial just because management had gained the impression that “everybody” in their business space was implementing it. so – you might be called to a meeting sometime next month and hearing about a new project – best be prepared for it.
Blinders:
Self explanatory I guess – if you looked at what came up at Lotusphere this year you have to believe that allot of that is coming your way. Companies put allot of time and money into products – but only if they think they will sell. Yes, some of those products don’t break though but … if you see a family of products for several years in a row (social, Connections, etc.) … you can be pretty much count on it being a big thing. If you are not withing 2 – 3 years of retirement you need to learn the new technology BEFORE it leaves you behind.
WebSphere
My biggest pet peeve – just about everything that IBM puts out will sooner or later either run on WebSphere or integrate with a product that runs on WebSphere. Chances are that you will need to deal with the WAS sometime soon. LEARN WAS – buys a book, get a test version of some product that includes WAS and learn it. you need to understand the basics: Cells, Nodes, where to find the log files, what kind of log files there, java heap sizes settings … it sounds like allot but if you get into the basics you will notice it is not – it is manageable. If I could wrap my feeble mind around it so can you. .
I am going: Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN
Thu, May 23rd 2013 9:16a Victor Toal It is official – going to MWLUG! See y’all there. I also handed in an abstract, let’s see if my content is interesting enough to make the cut!
Victor
Your order for Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN is complete!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM – Friday, August 23, 2013 at 5:00 PM (EDT)
Midwest Lotus User Group Conference 2013 – Indianapolis, IN
123 West Louisiana Street
Indianapolis, 46225
Filed under: Admin [read] Keywords: admin
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IamLUG – Louis Richardson of IBM joins IamLUG as part of the 2013 keynote
Tue, Apr 23rd 2013 7:17a Victor Toal IamLUG – the North American Lotus User Group Event.
Hey guys … this just in: Louis Richardson will be part of the opening (and very social) keynote address. I think you can expect some real gems at this year;s IamLUG – and not just because I am adding a few minor tidbits here and there, but because the list of (the other) speakers is pretty solid and with Louis R. (not to be mistaken with Louis CK – even though they are lookalikes) we are in for an action packe [read] Keywords: admin
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Tonight only: IBMSocialBeerz in New York
Wed, Apr 10th 2013 7:14a Victor Toal As I posted last week, tonight is the night! This is a limited engagement with the master of collaboration, the sultan of social, the one and only Stuart McIntyre (room for applause)
We will be at the Pig N Whistle on 2nd Ave (NOT THE ONE ON 3rd AVE!!) tonight in Midtown, come up to the second floor and look for the very lovely Sharon who will be taking care of us – between Stuart and her the visit is definitely worth your time … to celebrate the momentous event I might even shut up [read] Keywords: collaboration
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IamLUG 2013 – Blackmail and Malarky!
Fri, Apr 5th 2013 6:15a Victor Toal I just have to come out into the open and share my plight: I am being blackmailed by the IamLUG Nazis ….. coerced, forced into bonded labor without the possibility of parole … my freedom of laziness is under attack … Oh, the humanity!
As I have written earlier, I was foolish enough to sign up for IamLUG 2013 (May 6 – 7, St. Louis, MO) and also hand in an abstract for my REALLY excellent content that I mean to share – mainly on the finer points of Swiss cheese fo [read] Keywords: admin
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Social Connections V – StarWars all over again?
Wed, Apr 3rd 2013 9:18a Victor Toal If you are reading this you are social and somehow are involved with the whole IBM software stack relationship social thingamajig or another …. So, unless you live under a rock you have heard of the – very successful – SOCIAL CONNECTIONS shindig that happens on a regular basis and is instigated (among several other, very hardworking individuals) Stuart McIntyre.
In spite of being the model of British reserve and gentleman-ship, Stuart is well know and renowned for his stren [read] Keywords: admin
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Mark your Calendar – IBMSocialBeerz April 10 in NYC
Wed, Apr 3rd 2013 8:16a Victor Toal Yes, Stuart McIntyre and I have rebranded the LotusBeer tradition … if IBM can do it, so can we . . .
Since Stuart was foolish enough to announce to me he will be in town I immediately started on a social campaign to compel him to public drunkenness and anti-social behavior – so was born the idea of the IBMSocialBeerz .. Henceforth look on the Twitter (and any other social network you can think of) for #IBMSocialBeerz and thou shalt find it.
APRIL 10, 8:00 PM at the Pig N W [read] Keywords: ibm
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Technote: Connections iFix / CR installation problems
Sun, Mar 24th 2013 9:14a Victor Toal Just a quick one:
IBM Failed to perform extraction error when applying CR or iFixes to IBM Connections 4.0 – United States.
This technote just came through and I thought it was rather timely since I was battling this very scenario with one off the test/DEV environments at my current client a short while ago.
If you read the document you will see that it mentions “if the shared files space has changed” but there is another scenario under which this can happen (though relat [read] Keywords: connections
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IBM Connections: Metrics / Cognos and the HTTP timeout . . . .
Tue, Mar 19th 2013 4:18p Victor Toal Let me preface this post with a statement:
I really, really don’t like Cognos. Metrics is a pain as well.
And .. in case it lacked sufficient emphasis … I really, R E A L L Y don’t like Cognos.
This is an interesting one that I have been battling with for quite some time at my current client. We had been running into errors with Cognos reports not finishing and the only errors we saw were in the syemOut.log files for HTTP sessions suddenly being reset:
[3/5/13 11:51:0 [read] Keywords: connections
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