Manta’s IBM i COBOL Training Trifecta
October 22, 2012 Jenny Thomas
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Earlier this year, Bill Hansen, president of Manta Technologies realized a long-time goal: the introduction of a COBOL training series. According to Hansen, COBOL was the one training course customers consistently asked for over the years, so he is pleased to announce the rollout of Manta’s third COBOL course in the curriculum: COBOL Input Programming. “The pleasant surprise is the people who were asking for COBOL training have turned out to be customers already,” said Hansen. “As courses are coming out, I am seeing them being gobbled up by the COBOL shops.” Manta has already introduced two COBOL training courses this year.
The third step in the series, COBOL Input Programming, was just released this month and takes students through the COBOL programming techniques needed to process input for typical business applications. Students will be introduced to methods for handling input files that contain multiple record types, learn how to detect and process input errors, and find out how to control the processing each input record receives. Various techniques for selecting specified records from a file, processing combined conditions, and using case structures are taught, and upon completion, students will be able to manipulate character strings. The COBOL programming series will eventually include nine to 10 courses. “It will take through most of 2013 to get it all done,” said Hansen. “We will have another course out by the end of this year.” COBOL is popular on mainframes, of course, especially in the financial services and insurance industries, and, like RPG, has native access to the DB2 for i database. Hansen believes when the training program is complete it will be the most extensive–and only up-to-date–COBOL curriculum in the industry. And he should know. Hansen has been in the training industry since the 1980s, and he had some positive words about the current state of the IBM i market. “When we started the company back in the day, we thought we’d write 50 courses and we’d cover it and be done. But we’ve found there are always more and more topics to write about,” he said. Even better news is, according to Hansen, it looks like people are training again. “This month, we’ve had a sale on our operator combination pack training, and it’s been a surprise how many new customers we’ve had come in. And it’s because people are hiring again.” If you’re a Manta student who is interested in COBOL, you’re already familiar with the pricing: A one-year, single-user license for COBOL Input Programming is $120. Customers who opt to purchase the entire series will receive a two-year license at the one-year price of $1,296. Each new course will automatically appear in the student’s menu as it becomes available. Current students who have an existing license to Manta’s complete IBM i Training Library or the Program Development Combination Pack will find COBOL Input Programming has already been added to their menu options. The COBOL training courses are the newest part of Manta’s IBM i Training Library, which that features 114 series covering topics like RPG, CL, and SQL programming, as well as DB2 database functions and structures. For more information, contact Manta at 800-406-2682. Or, visit the Manta Web site. RELATED STORIES Get IBM i Work Management And Security Skills In Under A Week Old School COBOL Gets New School Twist From Manta WANTED: Unemployed IBM i Professionals Manta Introduces Blended Learning to the Training Mix
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