The i-UG is a United Kingdom-based user group dedicated to supporting the IBM i community.
It is a community-driven group that brings together IBM i application developers, system administrators and all kinds of enthusiasts to share knowledge, best practices & innovation relating to the IBM i platform.
It is run by & for IBM i users, aiming to foster collaboration, networking & skill development.
They organise regular events, including technical conferences, webinars & workshops where experts & users present on topics like RPG, Db2 for i, modernisation, security & more.
i-UG advocates for the continued growth of IBM i & the community, often working with IBM & vendors to ensure the voice of the user community is heard.
i-UG noticed a trend in the IBM i talent pool & wanted to use their community & platform to address the issue of education to help develop the next generation.
The user group looked to partner with the University of Wolverhampton to make inroads with local computer science & software engineering students to get them interested in a career working with IBM i & IBM® Power®.
A computer science professor at the University of Wolverhampton challenged the user group to find a skateboard to get students interested in IBM i. Like mastering a skateboard , learning new technologies and languages requires persistence, risk, and passion, but there needed to be a satisfactory end game.
The skateboard in this case turned out to be the ability to control IoT devices like LED lights & temperature sensors over a global network using Power processor-based servers & Node-RED, an open-source programming tool originally developed by IBM.
Key members of the i-UG were encouraged to create then deliver a complete educational course that could engage students & introduce them to IBM i & Power.
i-UG then collaborated with the University of Wolverhampton to deploy the course as a pilot, which was a resounding success.
The course is now called iGnite & combines Power with Node-RED to create an end-to-end course designed to take students with no IBM i experience to full proficiency using open source tools, IoT sensors & Db2 for i.
By the end of the program, students have the knowledge & ability to modernise a pre-built brewery simulation running on IBM i & Node-RED & show a demonstratable increase in output, efficiency & management.
One of the most powerful & attractive features of the course is that the students are not just working with the usual course notes, they are logging on to a real Power server running IBM i on a global network from their very first lesson.
Demand for the iGnite program is growing fast and the impact has been profound. Already three cohorts have completed the course at the University of Wolverhampton & other local universities such as Leeds Beckett, Bedford & Hertfordshire are now asking for cohorts of 60 or even 120 students.
To meet that need, i-UG is looking at automating & streamlining enrollment. They’re also expanding the curriculum for iGnite, with a new AI module teaching students how to train models using the data they’re already collecting in their brewery simulations.
Perhaps most importantly, the program is changing how young developers perceive IBM i, as well as how vendors & members perceive these new developers.
Several have already secured high-paying jobs working with IBM i at companies that are members of i-UG.
The course is designed & delivered by Mike Ryan at Essist & is supported by Andy Youens of Formaserve & Steve Bradshaw of Rowton IT.
The course is available to be run at your local university through i-UG.
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