Moving from as/400 Iseries to java !! Need help !

[Sathish Nagappan]

Hey guys ,
Its good to see such enthusiastic group of people helping each other for nothing. Thats something to appreciate , I guess all Java people are pleasant at heart.
Anyways here is my query. After graduation I got selected in an IT services company and they trained me in As/400 , RPG and COBOL.
I on the other hand am a Java geek and I would like to Move onto Java technology . I have cleared my SCJP , I want to write my SCWCD 1.4 now , wud that help in making my future employer realize that I am a person well versed with the concepts of Java so that he/she will allow me to work on Java technology ?
Your replies will give me the confidence I need to clear one of the most coveted certifications of the world.
Expecting your valuable replies.
Thanking you

[Pawan Rao]

That totally depends on your employer and the business they have. If they have trained you in cobol etc, that means they have invested in you for you to work in that technology. So, they will expect you to work in that technology for 1-2 projects, which seems fair. But, in case you are a java enthusiast and you want to move to java, clearing these certifications will prove that you are what you said; but however, in the long run your exp in java projects is what will matter. So, it depends on the business and your negotiation skills to get into java projects. Surely, certifications will help a lot to get you java projects - in case there are any java requirements in your organisation. SCJP should suffice for negotiating. Before investing in SCWCD, try getting some genuine project experience.
This is my personal opinion. However, you know your priorities better.
So, all the best!!! And welcome to the wonderful and sweet world of java!!!

[Sathish Nagappan]

yeah , I am in Wipro rite now, so I want to switch over to Java... Hope it works.. Anyone else , any suggestions ??

[frank davis]

Originally posted by ashwanth fernando:
After graduation I got selected in an IT services company and they trained me in As/400 , RPG and COBOL.
I on the other hand am a Java geek and I would like to Move onto Java technology . I have cleared my SCJP , I want to write my SCWCD 1.4 now , wud that help in making my future employer realize that I am a person well versed with the concepts of Java so that he/she will allow me to work on Java technology ?

I would start on something simple but of some use , no matter how small, where you work now. Maybe you could start with a simple utility program written in Java that can be called by COBOL, RPG, or CL programs?
IBM supports Java on the AS/400 very strongly. I believe they all ship with a JVM (but usually not supporting current version), they all ship with web server (I think with application server also), and there is an IDE based on Eclipse ("WSD" or called something like that). Some things may be on a disk that comes with AS/400 that the server admin never installed or removed..

All that being said, I never found it easy to get started with Java on AS/400 (that was a number of years ago). There are AS/400 (iSeries)web forums like Javaranch however, that can help, and IBM has doc.

The other route is developing Java on Windows or whatever OS is on desktops where you work. It is not uncommon to move information from desktop to AS/400 and vice versa, so a Java program may help in that task.

[Sathish Nagappan]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:


I would start on something simple but of some use , no matter how small, where you work now. Maybe you could start with a simple utility program written in Java that can be called by COBOL, RPG, or CL programs?
IBM supports Java on the AS/400 very strongly. I believe they all ship with a JVM (but usually not supporting current version), they all ship with web server (I think with application server also), and there is an IDE based on Eclipse ("WSD" or called something like that). Some things may be on a disk that comes with AS/400 that the server admin never installed or removed..

All that being said, I never found it easy to get started with Java on AS/400 (that was a number of years ago). There are AS/400 (iSeries)web forums like Javaranch however, that can help, and IBM has doc.

The other route is developing Java on Windows or whatever OS is on desktops where you work. It is not uncommon to move information from desktop to AS/400 and vice versa, so a Java program may help in that task.

Hey Herb can you help me out with that ?? I want to be an as/400 java programmer. That wud be of superb help to me. It is a very niche platform and the programmers are highly paid to work on such a combination.
I have coded core java programs on the iseries. But jsp and servlets , no !! Can you tell me a few sites where I can get free books for this or readily available documents. Or can you send me the documents as to how you code java on as/400 you use to [e-mail]. Help me out in this, Herb !!
Thanks

[frank davis]

Originally posted by ashwanth fernando:


Hey Herb can you help me out with that ?? I want to be an as/400 java programmer. That wud be of superb help to me. It is a very niche platform and the programmers are highly paid to work on such a combination.
I have coded core java programs on the iseries. But jsp and servlets , no !! Can you tell me a few sites where I can get free books for this or readily available documents. Or can you send me the documents as to how you code java on as/400 you use to [e-mail]. Help me out in this, Herb !!
Thanks

Its been years since I looked at Java on the iSeries. Simply Google "iSeries Java". If you use AS/400 in your google search you'll probably get some outdated info, although some could still be useful. But if you have an older version OS, then use "AS/400" in search...