What Degree? Kisco’s RCL Fellowship Spotlights Value of Training, Hard Work
April 22, 2024 Alex Woodie
Having a college degree is certainly one path to having a career in IT. But it’s not the only one, a point that Kisco Systems president Justin Loeber is making with the latest round of the Richard C. Loeber Fellowship, which is now accepting applications.
It’s not that Justin Loeber is adamantly opposed to college degrees. After all, the current Kisco Systems owner eventually received a diploma in environmental science and public policy, which he called “a passion play.”
But his father, Rich Loeber, never got a college degree. Despite proving his worth in data processing at a railroad and a consumer goods company, the lack of a particular piece of paper stunted the elder Loeber’s career path in IT. So he did the next best thing: He founded his own company, Kisco Information Systems, in the New York town of Mount Kisco. That was back in 1984, and 40 years later, the company – with a slightly shorter name, a new Connecticut headquarters, and his son at the helm – is still going strong.
“The point is, I feel like my dad and I are both doing okay, even though he didn’t have a college experience, and I took a non-traditional career path,” said Loeber, who had a successful IT career before buying Kisco from his father in 2021. “I did two years of gigging with a band and teaching private music lessons, and that was when I was almost 30. And the only reason I went back and got a real job is because my son was conceived. So there’s a lot of different trajectories, especially in IT,” the younger Loeber said. “If a company takes a shot at you and you’re bright and self-motivated, you can do pretty well for yourself without a college degree.”
That pragmatism is fully reflected in the Richard C. Loeber Fellowship for Careers in IBM i. Justin Loeber started the RCL fellowship program in late 2023 to honor his father and to spotlight the importance of training and hard work in the IBM i community.
The person awarded the fellowship is given RPG and IBM i training through Jim Buck’s imPower Technologies, a one-year membership to COMMON, paid trips to the POWERUp and NAViGATE conferences, and the recognition of the IBM i community.
Cameron Stewart of Oakley Transport received the first RCL Fellowship. (Image courtesy Kisco)
The first RCL Fellowship was awarded to Cameron Stewart in January. Stewart initially attended college with an intent to get a computer science degree, but he quickly found that path wasn’t for him. Two years ago, he got an introductory IT job at Oakley Transport, a trucking company based in Lake Wales, Florida that runs the IBM i server.
The 22-year-old Stewart proved himself to be both smart and a hard worker, and was ready to take the next step into IBM i development. Being awarded the RCL Fellowship afforded him that opportunity, and it’s already paying off for both Stewart and Oakley Transport.
“When I circled back to Cameron’s manager a couple weeks ago, since he was done with his RPG training, I asked her straight up, ‘Do you have work for him using his new skills?” Loeber told IT Jungle. “He does. He’s already contributing, which is outstanding.”
Loeber hopes the current round of the RCL Fellowship will be as successful as the first. Applications are being accepted now. The winner will be determined by a panel that includes Loeber, Buck, marketing manager Anna Marrah, and consultant Laura Ubelhor. The winner be announced in July.
There are certain requirements that applicants must meet, which you can read on the RCL homepage. They must be a U.S. or Canadian resident who’s 35 years old or younger (folks looking for a bridge to retirement need not apply). They must have at least two years of work experience (sorry, college students). They must have two letters of recommendation, one from a manager and one from a non-employer. They must come from a company or organization that runs the IBM i (no vendors). And most importantly, they must be “highly motivated and hard-working with innate curiosity and thirst for knowledge.”
“It’s not a scholarship where anyone can apply,” Loeber said. “Our goal is to get IBM i shops to start thinking about developing resources in-house. And so we see it as a three-way partnership between us, the shop, and the applicant. We’re all going to work together to launch or advance this person’s career.”
Justin Loeber (left) and Rich Loeber. You can download an application for the RCL Fellowship at www.kisco.com/rcl/. (Image courtesy Kisco)
Loeber emphasized that last point, reiterating why it’s so important that IBM i shops do more to train the next generation of IBM i professionals. It’s an area of particular concern with the “retirement cliff” looming.
“I think about that, and I look at what my father achieved, Kisco System’s fortieth anniversary this year, on the back of no degree, just being smart and motivated and hardworking,” he said. “So I see that and I’m like, well, I don’t understand. Why is there a retirement cliff? Why does there seem to be a resistance of IBM i shops to invest in training and career development?”
Baby Boomers who built successful careers on IBM’s midrange server will be leaving their companies soon — and taking all that institutional knowledge with them. To prevent the IBM i brain drain, it’s critical that companies emphasize training of existing employees, and to not rely on university computer science programs (which are generally allergic to IBM i curriculum anyway). It’s also a good thing to encourage senior employees to take junior employees under their wings, Loeber said.
“I can name the people in my past who very clearly gave me a shot and helped me out, pulled me up to the next level,” he said. “People still need that. That’s part of the intent behind the fellowship is to recall how that used to work before we got into the mode of trying to hire only fully formed, perfect, shiny employees.”
Kisco is putting real money behind the RCL Fellowship, and the winner will get real tangible benefits through technical skills training via inPower as well as COMMON events. The networking opportunity afforded by attending POWERUp and NAViGATE events (on Kisco’s dime) also can help further a person’s IBM i career.
Loeber plans to offer two RCL Fellowships per year for the next five years or so. At some point, there could be 10 RCL Fellows floating about the IBM i universe, benefiting their employers with valuable IBM i skills while building worthwhile careers on the platform, and hopefully then passing on their learnings to the next generation when the time is right. And who knows – maybe they will even buy some of Kisco’s IBM i security software some day? (But there are far better ways to market your software than this.)
“It’s like a perfect marriage of personal values and market needs,” Loeber said. “I have a hard time believing that companies don’t want to train their employees. I just think that conversation hits a ceiling internally, and so maybe if Fellowship could become part of that conversation, it could kind of crack the door open.”
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