Training Profile – Ramesh Joshi

My Profile
I started my IT career in 1982; worked in the IT department of a manufacturing company for 15 years; worked as a
Project Manager, Consultant, and Senior Consultant for a number of IT companies; started working as an
independent consultant from year 2000; mostly worked on IBM mid-range machines (System/34, System/36,
AS/400); also worked on IBM Mainframe in 1988-89. 
I have worked in manufacturing, insurance, banking, and health care industries. I have visited Belgium, Singapore,
the UK, and the US for professional work. Though originally from Mumbai, I have settled in Pune from 1990.  I don't
mind traveling to other places for a short period, if necessary. I have got a multiple-entry US Business Visa valid up
to 2016. 
My total IT experience is 31 years, out of which Project Management experience is 17 years. I do consulting for the
AS/400. I have worked on seven ERPs (Movex, J D Edwards, MACPAC, JBA, Prism, MAPICS, and RentalMan). I have
recently been involved in a Unicode project on the AS/400.
I am a commerce graduate (1977) from the Bombay University. After graduation, while I was working for the State
Bank of India, I completed the Diploma in Computer Management (1981) from the Bombay University. The
accounting I learned during graduation proved to be useful in the IT career.
Please do visit my website (www.consult400.com) for the details of the services I offer.
The Courses I Conduct
 Introduction to AS/400 Duration: 2 days
 AS/400 Concepts & Tools Duration: Topic dependent
 RPG Duration: Topic dependent
 COBOL/400 Duration: Topic dependent
 Introduction to IT Basics Duration: Topic dependent
 Accounting Basics for Developers Duration: 2 days
 Control Language Duration: Topic dependent
 System/36 Application Maintenance Duration: Topic dependent
I have conducted training courses for Wipro, Hexaware Technologies, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance
Ltd., DeLaval, Tasty Bites, Zenwaves, and G N Solutions. I have also conducted personal training courses (only one
trainee at a time). IBM, HSBC, Wipro, Hexaware Technologies, Cognizant Technologies, KPIT-Cummins, Sungard,
PCS, Kanbay, CapGemini and BearingPoint (USA) have selected persons who started their IT career with me.
I have conducted training remotely as well, using GoToMeeting.
Course Contents
I have conducted AS/400 training with durations ranging from 2 working days to 60 working days. I customize the
contents based on the client's requirements. I have attached an Excel containing the topics I generally cover in the
full AS/400 training.  
Availability
If I know a month or so in advance, I can almost certainly conduct any of my trainings. It may also be possible at a
shorter notice, depending upon my schedule.  
Customization
I know from experience that the training has to be tailored based on the type of the participants. If I deliver
identical training to all the types (mentioned later in this document), one type will perceive it as the best training
they have ever received in their life; another will call it a disaster; and the others will rate it somewhere in-
between. 
Training Duration 
“Topics to be covered” is not the only factor that affects the duration. The other major factors are (a) the
background of the participants and (b) the objective of the training. So I talk to the customer, understand the
objective of the training and the background of the participants, and then come up with a detailed training plan.
  

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 Training Profile – Ramesh Joshi
Types of Participants
The attendees for AS/400 training can be grouped into the following types: 
1. Trainees selected by companies from college campuses who will learn AS/400 and other technologies as a
part of the company’s orientation plan.
2. Trainees selected by companies from college campuses who will be assigned to an AS/400 project as soon
as they complete the AS/400 training.
3. Programmers working for non-AS/400 technology companies, whose employer is about to get an AS/400
project and there are no AS/400 resources in-house.
4. People working in the Operations section of an IT department who are somewhat familiar with the
AS/400 but do not know programming. They want to know more about the AS/400, enhance their skills,
and practice what they learn during the training, at their own pace. They would not be expected by the
Management to start working as developers in the near future.
5. People working as Business Analysts or as Production Support Executives who are working on applications
that run on AS/400. They know the application very well and want to know about the technical details of
the AS/400 so that they can advance in their career.
6. Senior Managers from the IT department.
7. People who learned AS/400 as a part of the company’s orientation plan, and who have either been on the
bench or on a different technology project but will soon have to work on an AS/400 project and are a bit
uncomfortable because they do not remember what they learned about the AS/400 and cannot tell the
boss that they need the training again.
8. People who know virtually nothing about the AS/400 but have heard from people they trust that the
AS/400 jobs pay well. I recommend Introduction to AS/400 for this group:

Work 
Most AS/400 jobs that come to India are “maintenance” jobs. Big “development” jobs are not generally offshored.
AS/400 maintenance jobs are far tougher than the development jobs – I have explained the reasons later in this
document. It takes about 1.5 years for a good programmer to become competent to handle AS/400 maintenance
jobs independently.
Risk 
If a company does not have any in-house AS/400 expert and is planning to take up an AS/400 maintenance project,
it is taking a big risk. If the company is thinking that the developers would be able to meet the customer’s
expectations as soon as they complete the training, then it’s a pipe dream. Mastering any skill takes time. Chinese
philosopher Confucius put it nicely: I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand.
Experienced programmers working on non-AS/400 technologies as well as just-out-of-college graduates
require hand holding for 1-2 months after the AS/400 training. Unless they have got an experienced AS/400
mentor to answer their queries immediately, they soon become frustrated and lose interest. Their productivity
suffers. And the customer notices it.
Mitigation
1. Arrange customized classroom training.
2. Implement a mini project for practice, guided by an expert AS/400 mentor.
3. Start work on real project; make the expert AS/400 mentor available to the project team full time for 1-
2 months, and after that, as & when necessary.

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Why AS/400 Application Maintenance Is Tough
The first machine in the AS/400 family dates back to 1969. It was not meant to be a computer – it was sold as an
Advanced Accounting machine – one that could be operated by people from the Accounts & Finance department.
The primary objective was to print reports. That’s the reason the language was called RPG – Report Program
Generator. The machine became immensely popular with accountants. They wanted it to do more, so IBM kept on
adding features.
In business, continuity is important. So whenever IBM came up with a new model, it ensured that all the
application software that was developed for the previous model would run on the new one without requiring any
change to the source code. The program that was written for the 1969 machine would still run on today’s
hardware.
To cut a long story short, there are several, quite distinct versions of the RPG language that exist in the business
world today. And most AS/400 customers have a mix of these versions. The old programs are big, the application
structure is not modular, some of the tables may still be “flat files”, variable names within the programs and
column names in the tables are cryptic. There may not be any standard naming convention for variable names. And
mostly, there is no documentation of the application and comments inside the source code are scarce. Almost
every shop will have 10+ programs, each having more than 30,000 lines of source code.
Commercials
My charges depend upon a number of factors, so I can quote only after a tentative training plan has been drawn up
after the discussion with the customer.
If the training is outside Pune (my hometown), I charge the client for other expenses on actual basis. These
expenses typically include airfare, accommodation, food, and local conveyance.
I expect the client to do the ticket booking, accommodation, and local conveyance arrangements because I do not
have staff to do that.
In the past, I have accepted assignments when clients offered me substantially higher rate per day to fully cover
the other expenses and asked me to make my own arrangements for travel and accommodation. But I have found
it too much of a trouble, and have decided that it’s better not to accept an assignment where I have to make these
arrangements myself, irrespective of how much money is offered.
I prefer the accommodation to be as near the place of work as possible – great if it is walking distance away; a
clean, quiet, and safe place; good if it has a restaurant / kitchen where I can get a sandwich and a cup of tea or
coffee at any hour of the day or night; an attached toilet with 24-hour availability of hot & cold water; a laundry
service; an Internet connection; a writing table; TV not required.
If you have any queries or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

Warm regards,
Ramesh Joshi
Phone: +91-20-25399615, Cell: 98220 62485
http://www.consult400.com/
joshirb@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rameshjoshias400consultant