The 2023 user conference season is here. Companies are contemplating which ones to attend, who to send or whether they should attend at all because budget cuts are in place. If there was ever a time to advocate for continuing education and networking opportunities for yourself or your IT staff, now is the time. In a 2–3-day timeline, you will gain more knowledge, insight, and perspective about the IBM i platform than you ever expected. You don’t know what you don’t know until you attend an industry-specific conference.
You know what they say, “Knowledge is Power”. For the low cost of attending these conferences, you will learn a lot in a very focused, short period of time. You will hear from educated speakers and industry experts that will teach you about the latest advancements on the platform, ways to improve processes, and how to keep your company safe from security breaches to name just a few. You will discover that you are not alone in experiencing the various difficulties within your business, and will leave the conference with excitement about what you can do to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your current IT responsibilities. You may leave a little nervous knowing you need to be better about keeping your systems updated and secure. Either way, it’s all good because you now have more knowledge and a better understanding of what to do to improve your skills and bring something positive back to your organization.
As we all know the IBM i environment is a self-contained eco-system that, at its core, is being maintained by people who have been working in this environment for many years and are nearing retirement. These conferences frequently host students looking for a career in IT and are anxious and excited to talk with companies who are hiring. In addition, you may find developers, system admins, operators, etc. that are contemplating a job change but want to continue working on the IBM i.
These conferences are a great place to network and develop new industry relationships. There is a lot to be learned from other players in your industry and from companies working on the same IBM i platform. Networking on any level is beneficial for exchanging ideas, sharing similar experiences, and gathering valuable recommendations and resource information. On a personal level, networking boosts your confidence and live events with other people are FUN. The …
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