WordPress and the Systems Programmer

There are lots of people blogging these days … Lots! But not everyone has the skills or time to manually code the web pages necessary to maintain a blog. Fortunately, that is not necessary thanks to providers like WordPress.

WordPress is software that takes care of all the grunge work in keeping a blog. Bloggers can post without knowing a thing about HTML. However, the software has to be installed on their web host’s site. Many web hosts provide WordPress, but many others would require the software to be installed by the  customer. People that are not interested in coding web pages are by and large not interested in trying to install software on their web site, either. So WordPress also hosts their own software, and makes it available to bloggers at no cost. Over a quarter million blogs are hosted on WordPress.com. This blog is one of them, as is any blog where the address is in the format http://blogname.wordpress.com. I have registered a domain named theCICSguy.com, and have it pointing to this site, http://theCICSguy.wordpress.com.

It’s not real easy to find, so to start your own blog on WordPress, click here to find out all the info you need to know to get started.

No wonder there are so many bloggers! It is easy, and it is free … All that is required is the time to post your opinions, thoughts, or information! Systems programmers have a long history in computing, and thus a lot of opinions and tons of information to share. If you have a blog that systems programmers would be interested in (especially if it is CICS related), please let me know; I’ll post some links to my favorite blogs in a future posting.

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LinkedIn and the Systems Programmer

LinkedIn is the most professional of the social media sites. There you will find over 70 million professionals networking with each other, and the site is growing at a pace of about 1 new professional per second!

You can think of LinkedIn as being Facebook for professionals. Instead of “friends”, you have “connections”. Instead of posting “what you are doing”, you “share networking activity”. To facilitate networking, LinkedIn can not only show you your connections (your “first connections”), but also their connections (your “second connections”). The idea is to make it easy for people to gain access to new contacts.

There are some job-seeking / employee-seeking  advantages to being on LinkedIn. Employers with a need can post job lists and search for possible candidates; they can also check with a connection for recommendations on applicants that are connected to them. Job seekers can search job lists, check the profiles for hiring managers and see if they have any mutual connections that may aid in their job pursuit, receive notifications for new job offers when particular companies are listing them, and they can bookmark possible job opportunities for review later.

There are mainframe, CICS, educational, and other special interest groups to join on LinkedIn to use to make new connections or revive old ones. I am currently a member of the Missouri University of Science and Technology Alumni (I am a UMR graduate), Mainframe Experts Network, System z Advocates, IBM MAINFRAME, CICS Special Interest Group, and SHARE groups. Please let me know if you find another z or CICS-related group that CICS sysprogs should be joining!

There are lots of reasons to be on LinkedIn. Keeping an active network can help keep you in touch with your current contacts and help you make new contacts that may help you now or down the road. If you are not on LinkedIn, sign up today and connect to theCICSguy!

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Twitter and the Systems Programmer

Wow, how time flies. I can’t believe July is here, and I haven’t blogged since April! No wonder another blogger that linked to me recently referred to me as a “sometimes blogger”!

Last time, I said that I’d write a few lines about Twitter. Twitter is the micro-blogging site, with posts limited to 140 characters, that has a reputation of being where people write what they had for breakfast. Well, Twitter is not just for breakfast anymore!

Postings on Twitter are called “tweets”, and the 140-character limit on tweets coincides with the limit on SMS text messages on cell phones. It is very convenient to both post and read tweets on today’s smart phones, making Twitter a truly portable application. A smart phone is not required, though – the traditional browser interface works just fine.

While many people do use Twitter to post the most mundane events of their lives, it has become a very popular tool used by businesses to put out news. While I also tweet new things as I come across them, I follow a number of businesses and other tweeters and “retweet” the ones that deal with CICS and/or sound of interest to those that wear CICS systems programming hats.

Some of the industry-related tweeters I follow include @IBM_CICS, @CICSfluff, @IBMredbooks, @dianegjohnson, @mainframemag, and @MainframeZone. There are also tweets with current and upcoming information on conferences, such as @SHAREhq and @IBMimpact.

Some interesting non-industry-just-for-fun tweeters I follow include parody musician “Weird” @AlYankovic, late night host @CraigyFerg, astronomers Neil deGrasse Tyson, @neiltyson and Phil Plait, the @BadAstronomer, mythbusting Adam Savage, who is @donttrythis, and musician/podcaster @GeorgeHrab.

Who do you follow? If you’re not following anyone, get out there and look for the kinds of people you are interested in, and share!

Follow theCICSguy on twitter here