This free event will feature presentations from CA Gen users with direct hands-on experience of the product, as well as the latest information on r8 and other current issues.  Feedback from attendees at previous PLC events is being reflected in the programme and event structure which is still being finalised.

Also arranged is a pre-event dinner on the evening of Wednesday 6^th October for those attendees staying overnight.  To be held at one of Birmingham’s foremost restaurants – Bank - in the lively Brindley Place area, this is also free to attendees of the PLC.

Both the User Group and dinner will provide excellent opportunities for you to meet and make contact with other CA Gen users in the UK, to form useful contacts, which will help both you and the product grow and develop into the future.

If you would like to present a session at this User Group or have any questions, please send an email to info@gentalk.biz for discussion.

If you wish to attend the User Group and pre-event dinner please register as quickly as possible by visiting http://www.jumar-solutions.com/register/ukgenplc

Please also forward the invite (which you can download here)  to other CA Gen users that you may know in order that we can grow our community!

Jumar Solutions have appointed David Barker as their first Business Development Manager in the region (read about it here).

No doubt David’s responsibilities will include other parts of Jumar’s business – including resourcing.

Whatever happens, market bouyancy is a great thing ! Best of luck to him ….

The main news is that CA are certifying some newer products with CA Gen 7.6 – COBOL 4.2 and IMS 11 have been certified, and they are looking to certify them with CA Gen r8 too.

This is good news for those organisations on those platforms since it makes upgrading less of a chore and therefore less of a risk to carry out. This is clearly in line with CA’s policy of  making life easier for its customers.

Now whilst I agree that there isn’t the wealth of information available on the internet and in bookshops that there is, for example, on C and C++, or Java or Ruby, its simply not true that no one is training new developers!

There are a large amount of training companies out there providing these services: Jumar Solutions, EducaGen to name but two. In addition, other CA Partners provide consultancy and will provide training if required.

What the blog entry does say is that there is no “CA Gen for Dummies” out there – no books that can be bought on the subject. That I do agree with – although the subject of CA Gen design/programming/implementation is vast, some books may help with people getting into the product and exploring it for the first time.

The more ratings I get the more I can tailor the content to be useful…..

Thanks in advance…..

Its like the Shares market – you dont worry that a particular share is going to lose money in a year, you know that it will outperform traditional savings vehicles over (say) a 5 to 10 year period.

Startup costs are going to be higher with CA Gen than other development platforms, but in the longer term, because you know that your developers are more productive, you will save money.

So – what would you do, given the chance to invest for a larger gain in the long term, or make a quick killing and know that you could have made more ?

It seems from a posting on the Coolgen Yahoo Group that CA are actually looking at the idea of this! – We’ll wait and see !

The way GuardIEn has developed over the last decade (and more) is largely down to the way that the IET guys have listened to how its used by their customers and come up with ways to solve common problems and requirements. The result of this is a product that ACTUALLY does what you want it to do – rather than one that is advertised as such, and then disappoints – not so with GuardIEn – it does what you’d expect and a whole lot more !

In the new release, for example, are new ways to assess the impact of changes, more granular ways to manage your releases and more !

IET recently issued SpotlIEt’s July 2010 Edition – check it out here….

The venue is yet to be decided, but if the last 2 years’ events are anything to go by they will be well worth attending, not just for the camaraderie and meetups with old friends, but for the information and experiences that are gained during the event.
This years’ programme will consist of a social event, followed by a full day of exciting and innovative experiences.

As ever, the USERS of CA Gen are by far the most important focus, so if you have a story to tell, some experiences to share or want to suggest a session, please drop me a line at info@gentalk.biz

Remember – its a USER day, so reserve the dates- 6th/7th October 2010!

Should you have a question around CA Gen that you think that the general user community could answer, and want to use a “forum” style of interaction – where do you go ?

The obvious answer is the EDGE User Group – www.edgeusergroup.org – you can connect with the rest of the CA Gen world there.

The other main resource is the CA Communites Website – to which the EDGE forums will be migrating shortly – here .

Remember that you’ll have to sign up to post to either forum – they’re free and a great set of resources.

Note that the Gentalk.biz forums have been shut down and are no longer operating

EDIT: The content of the forum is still there – I’m just working on exporting it so we don’t lose it – it will find a home!