On the one hand we hear that it is increasingly difficult to find a job working on a 20-year-old system. But we also hear that companies are looking to modernize their legacy systems and move away from RPG in favor of a programming language that the new college graduates are comfortable with. To me, there seems to be confusion out there, or at least a limited ability for job seekers and employers to connect. I have personally received emails from both head-hunters looking for AS/400 programmers and email from job hunters looking for leads on a new position.

So this week as I was browsing the feeds and blogs and I ran across Get AS400 Jobs.  A site dedicated to all of you, dear readers — I just had to share.
My initial impression is that the jobs listed are current and real — not some random marketing gimmick leading to a dead-end. From Boston, Mass. to East Wenatchee, Wa., AS/400 insiders are desired. So if you’re looking for a change of scenery or want to escape from your boss, you might want to take a look. If not, you may want to bookmark it for future reference. At the very least, it’s good fun to see what skills are desired — I don’t know about you, but there’s a certain joy in reading a job listing and being able to say “Oh, I could so do that.”

With the recent comments in response to the recent blog post concerning the H-1B visas, I began to wonder what the System i job market really looks like. Many shared that it’s hard to get a good-paying job in this market.

For comparison, as an editor, the market I compete in is more broad in some ways than the IT market, but the pressures on my field include the proliferation of the blogosphere and the dwindling magazine and newspaper market. Also, because I am not located in a major metropolitan area, the actual availability of jobs in my field is more limited than if I was in New York, Boston, or Los Angeles. So, a few years ago, all of these factors led me to be interested in a web site that tells you how you stack up against others in your job field, PayScale.com. I filled out the form and the site produced a nifty graphic, showing where my salary ranked compared to others with similar experience, similar education, and similar job title.

So a few days ago, PayScale.com sent an automated message to my Inbox, asking me to check in. I did, and found I was above the average for my field, in the 60th percentile even. So, if you want to know how you stack up, start with the Salary Calculator.

According to their blog post The Nine Fastest Growing Careers for 2008, IT and Healthcare are the hot markets. And “demand is especially high for IT professionals with both management and technology skills.”

Check it out and share your results (no actual salary numbers needed): What percentile do you fall in? Did that surprise you? Does information like this affect your career planning (e.g., looking for a new job that pays more, staying happy in your current position)? Are you more likely to seek more training or certification if you think it will improve your salary?

I received a few emails last week in the editor@search400.com inbox concerning jobs. One was an inquiry looking to post a job to a “job board” or similar feature on our web site (we do not have such a feature, and instead partner with Monster and Dice). Another was from an iSeries worker who was currently between jobs in Atlanta, GA., looking for a new position. At the end of the week, I received an email from another 400 head-hunter passing along a press release regarding the H1-B visa program.

I am sure we have all seen headlines regarding the H-1B visas, with lobbyists testifying at Congressional hearings about the need to expand the number of H-1B visas and thus the number of qualified workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. One of the leading proponents of expanding the program is Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, who testified to Congress about the need for more “innovation” in the United States.

“While America’s innovation heritage is unparalleled, the evidence is mounting that we are failing to make the investments in our young people, our workers, our scientific research infrastructure, and our economy that will enable us to retain our global innovation leadership,” said Gates. “If the United States truly wants to secure its global leadership in technology innovation, we must, as a nation, commit to a strategy for innovation excellence – a set of initiatives and policies that will provide the foundation for American competitive strength in the years ahead.”

Top on his list was strengthening educational opportunities for US school children. But next was “Revamping immigration rules for highly skilled workers, so that U.S. companies can attract and retain the world’s best scientific talent.”

The press release that was forwarded from the head-hunter regarded a study by Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at University of California – Davis, who disagrees with the notion that foreign workers provide “innovation” to the United States. His recent study, H-1Bs: Still Not the Best and the Brightest, argues that foreign workers are “are people of just ordinary talent, doing ordinary work. They are not the innovators the industry lobbyists portray them to be.”

Other controversies surrounding the H-1B issue include fraud assessment of the H1-B visa program, which has been spearheaded by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). In 2007, Grassley partnered with Senator Dick Durbin (R-Ill.) on a bill to overhaul the HB-1 visa program.

This controversy has been in the news for the past year, but what does this mean to you? Are you like the reader I heard from: an IT professional who is having a hard time finding a good paying job? Or are you a recruiter having difficulty filling positions? Do you think this is just anti-immigrant hype? Please share your thoughts.

Yes, there are still plenty of one-man System i shops out there. Some of the challenges: small budgets, no time for training, and lack of programming resources. Solutions: free software, local user groups, and cheap interns.

Who else is a one-man System i shop out there?