Amdahl Education, Today!

There's no doubt that the TPF arena is hot again, and employemnt opportunities abound. The availability of experienced candidates is more of an issue today than ever before, and TPF education has become a priority at installations all over the world. Harvey Showyin is Manager of TPF Education for Amdahl Corporation, and I recently had the pleasure of discussing these issues with him.

ATT: The Amdahl education calendar has been a regular part of ACPTPF Today since we started. I've noticed that the number of classes advertised in the US seems to have decreased. What's the story?

HS: You're right Al! We're not advertising as many classes as we used to, but at the same time, we're running more classes than ever. The key is that the advertised classes are "open" classes with vacancies for student enrollment, whereas, mainly as a result of demand, Amdahl is now concentrating on contract classes tailored to a particular customer's needs. In fact, the number of (contract) classes taught in the US is increasing, and most are fully subscribed.

ATT: I'm familiar with your TPF3 classes. In fact, I attended one and thought so highly of it that I wrote a special article in the magazine. In what way has the arrival of TPF4 changed things?

HS: TPF4 is not just a new version of TPF...it's a whole new environment. In spite of the fact that the application interface has changed little, the environment in which the application operates has changed immensely.

I believe it's essential for everyone in the TPF installation to appreciate the new environment. It brings new levels of performance and reliability, but also a need to understand and design for the new environment to gain the maximum benefit. TPF4 is keeping us busy!

ATT: If I want a TPF4 class, but I don't have enough students for a contract class, what should I do?

HS: Call me on 800-233-8489, mailbox 10370. I'm very familiar with time difference between Sydney and US. If you have a need, then it's likely that someone else does too! I'll check with other TPF customers, and we can often get together enough students to fill a class.

ATT: What classes are most popular?

HS: Amdahl has been teaching TPF4.1 related classes - Differences from TPF3.1; Introduction to TPF4.1 and TPF4.1 Dumps for Systems; Introduction to TPF4.1 and TPF4.1 Dumps for Applications; TPF4.1 Structure and Flow; and TPF C Workshops. Amdahl teaches entry level Application Programming for many customers on a regular basis.

ATT: Who are your most recent customers for TPF4.1 training?

HS: Among our recent TPF4.1 customers has been the Amadeus organisation in Europe. As part of the migration project at Amadeus we ran classes for systems and coverage people, and handled the training of all the application programmers in Nice.

That education was planned to coincide with TPF4.1 test system availability, and those who underwent training were responsible for solving CTL-4 and other application dumps during the migration. The Amadeus cutover to TPF4.1 was very clean. We are now working with American Express to educate those involved the migration project.

ATT: What distinguishes Amdahl education from your competitors?

HS: As well as having interesting accents and believing that education should be enjoyable, Amdahl instructors have "real world" TPF backgrounds in systems and application areas. The instructors encourage questions and discussion, and pride themselves on their ability to research and deliver answers to those "tricky" questions that invariably arise.

Amdahl also specializes in customizing education to fit exactly what the customer requires. Often, just the internal organisation and job responsibilities in an installation require that a class for that customer be structured a little differently from a similar class elsewhere.

ATT: What trends do you see emerging in education?

HS: The TPF marketplace is very buoyant right now. There is a shortage of contractors. Many TPF shops have started running entry level programming classes to help alleviate the TPF skill shortage. This is a significant change in attitude, and I think that it is good for the industry. There is also more interest in C, TPFDF and TPFAR.

ATT: How would I get more information on Amdahl's TPF education offerings?

As well as what is published in this magazine, you can always find the most current information on the Internet, in http://www.webventures.com/asg/schedule.htm. Course descriptions and my contact information are also there.