The DB2Night Show Episode #12 The Wild Wonderful World of DB2 Resources

1. Watch in VIEW SHOW (F5) mode to be able to use all the links. The DB2Night Show Episode #12 The Wild Wonderful World of DB2 Resources Susan Visser svisser@ca.ibm.com

2. So many resources available! • Training & Certification • IBM Redbooks • Retail Books • developerWorks • Social Networking • Academic Initiatives

3. The Benefits of Training Whitepaper The Value of Training shows that by cutting skills development and training budgets in the hopes of improving gross margins will cause higher attrition, higher support costs, and the risk of falling behind in technological advances. Article 5 surefire ways to get fired by Denise Dubie shows that the best way to KEEP your job is by continually growing your skills. “Untrained or under-trained users cost companies an average of five times more to support than a well-trained worker.” Gartner, Inc.

4. Training that Meets Every Budget Instructor-Led Training (ILT) classes • traditional classroom courses: students and instructors in the same room • students interact with each other and are guided course material and lab exercises Instructor-Led Online (ILO) classes • equivalent to ILT classes: classroom material, labs, instructor and fellow students • no travel as you connect to the classroom via your computer.  Self-Paced Virtual Classes (SPVC)   • content, labs and instructors are the same as ILO and ILT classes, but it is recorded so the class can be taken at your pace, where and when you want it • typically lower priced than ILO or ILT classes meaning that you save on travel and tuition costs    Web-Based Training (WBT) • standalone courses on the web that provide 6-8 hours of instruction • typically voice over power-point format Onsite Training • for companies that want training to take place on their premises with course material that is taken from multiple existing courses and changed to suit specific needs

5. Value of Certification "Is certification valuable, or not? We have the definitive answer" by Linda Musthaleris Companies need high-functioning teams that are able to transform and grow the business like never before.  These teams consist of highly skilled professionals who have current and relevant knowledge.  Certifications are designed to encourage people to keep learning and then to validate their skills. "Impact of Training on Network Administration: Certification Leads to Operational Productivity" IDC study, Nov 2009 by Cushing Anderson Shows "a direct relationship between higher levels of certification and improved performance -- when team skills improve, organizational performance increases proportionally."

6. Certification Drives your Career Data shows, trained and certified individuals demonstrate higher productivity, make fewer errors, and possess more of the skills valued by customers, than those who simply go through training. Certification Magazine Customer resources: Exam objectives, Certification roadmaps, assessment exams, study guides, crammer courses and tutorials

7. Certification Resources By a very large margin, there are more DB2 certifications awarded than any other IBM certification program. The DB2 program grew 29% in the past year and is expected to grow this year as well.  Are you on board? To navigate through the DB2 Certification program: Certification 101 articles about the benefits, where to start, how to prepare, and what to do once you've passed. Certification Checklist use this checklist within developerWorks that leads you through the entire certification process. Don't be left behind!  Jump onto the Certification bandwagon so you can begin seeing the improvements in your skills and the skills of your teams.

8. IBM Redbooks IT professionals download over 7 million Information Management Redbooks each year • Free technical books and articles • Written by IBM, partner and customer experts IBM Redbooks - The PDF versions can be downloaded for free and books are available for a very wide range of topics.  See the IBM Redbooks web page and my blog entry with a few IBM Redbook recommendations. • Based on real-world usage of IBM products www.redbooks.ibm.com

9. IBM Redbooks These IBM Redbooks were on the top of the download list for the year (in the IM area, at least).  Do you have your copy yet? 1.  Data Warehousing with the Informix Dynamic Server Redbooks, published 10 Dec 2009 2.  Oracle to DB2 Conversion Guide: Compatibility Made Easy Redbooks, published 6 Nov 2009, last updated 9 Dec 2009 3.  Ready to Access DB2 for z/OS Data on Solid-State Drives Redguides, published 24 Apr 2009, last updated 7 Dec 2009 4.  DB2 9 for z/OS Performance Topics Redbooks, published 11 Sep 2007, last updated 2 Dec 2009 5.  MySQL to DB2 Conversion Guide Redbooks, published 1 Dec 2009

10. Conferences  Virtual Conferences • "attend" a conference via your computer • recorded conference sessions from the Information on Demand Conference, 2009 Conferences • IDUG holds amazing user-based conferences in various regions each year • IBM holds many conferences including the popular Information on Demand Conferences

11. Build Skills with IBM Books • Inexpensive self-study method to help build skills & prepare for certification exams • Written by IBM experts, partners, gold consultants, and customers • eBooks available • Safari Online Books, Books 24x7, Kindle, and more • Retail books:IBM Press, MC Press, McGraw-Hill, Apress, O'Reilly, Packt are the publishers who have invested in publishing about IBM products and technologies.   For a listing of books by topic, see our bookstore website .  • I've created a group on developerWorks to keep track of all these books.  Here is some additional information. 

12. Books published in 2009 DB2 pureXML Cookbook(IBM Press)by Matthias Nicola and Pav Kumar-Chatterjee    Ruby on Rails for Microsoft Developers(WROX)by Antonio Cangiano MDM for Customer Data - Optimizing Customer Centric Management of Your Business (MC Press)by  Kelvin K. A. Looi Understanding IBM SOA Foundation Suite: Learning Visually with Examples(IBM Press)by: Tinny Ng; Laura Chan; Jane Fung; Vivian Mak Viral Data in SOA: An Enterprise Pandemic(IBM Press)by Neal Fishman Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions(O'Reilly)Multiple authors, including Jeff Jonas SQL for DB2(29th Street Press) by James Cooper and Paul Conte 

13. e-books published in 2009 Break free with DB2 9.7: A Tour of Cost-Slashing New Features(Flashbook)by Paul Zikopoulos, Belal Tassi, Chris Eaton, George Baklarz New Intelligence for a Smarter Planet - Driving Business Innovation with IBM Analytic Solutions(Flashbook)by Pat Bates, Mike Biere, Rex Wiederanders, Alan Meyer, Bill Wong Informix Dynamic Server Application Development – Getting Started(ebook)by Jacques Roy Getting Started with IBM Data Studio for DB2(ebook)Part of the DB2 On-Campus Seriesby Debra Eaton, Vitor Rodrigues, Manoj Sardana, Michael Schnenker, Kathryn Zeidenstein, Raul Chong Using EMC TimeFinder to Backup and Restore DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Databases(EMC ebook)by Roger Sanders, Paul Pendle, Dale McInnis, Michele Backstrom SAP DBA Cockpit - Flight Plans for DB2 LUW Administrator(ebook)by  Eduardo Akisue, Jeremy Broughton, Patrick Zeng, Liwen Yeow

14. Books Planned for 2010 Making it Big in Software: Get the Job. Work the Org. Become Great.(Pearson Education)by Sam Lightstone The Art of Enterprise Information Architecture: A Systems-Based Approach for Unlocking Business Insight(IBM Press)By Mario Godinez, Eberhard Hechler, Klaus Koenig,  Steve Lockwood, Martin Oberhofer, Michael Schroeck The Art of Taxonomy Creating Concept-Rich Services(O'Reilly)By Aaron Brown DB2 V9 for z/OS Certification Guide - Systems Administration – Test 737 (MC Press)By Judy Nall  

15. Certification Best Sellers DB2 9 Fundamentals Certification Study Guideby Roger Sanders DB2 9 Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 731 by Roger Sanders DB2 9 Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 732 by Susan Lawson and Daniel Luksetich DB2 9 Database Administration Upgrade Certification Study Guide for Exam 736 by Roger Sanders DB2 9 Advanced Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 734 by Roger Sanders and Dwaine Snow. For reference and guidance beyond the exam, I suggest the following: DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep (6th Edition) by George Baklarz and Paul Zikopoulos

16. Blogs • There are so many blogs these days with more being added all the time.... so how can you find the best blogs to read?  • Use aggregator sites where you summaries of many blog entries so you can choose which appeal to you the most.  • For the IM world the best place to go is PlanetDB2.com.  My blog is there as well as blogs from DB2 LUW Performance (Scott), Kate Dawson, Leon Katsnelson, Chris Eaton, Craig Mullins, Grant Hutchison, and many many more!  • Of course once you begin reading some of these blogs, you can become a fan and can get the entries sent to you directly through RSS feeds. • For a broader range of topics, look at the developerWorks blogs.  My blog is hosted by developerWorks, so you can find it there as well, but you will find many interesting entries on a wide range of topics.

17. Facebook Product fan pages and groups you can join are: • DB2 for z/OS The Ultimate Data Server • The Face of DB2 DBAs • IBM Database Magazine  • IBM DB2 Training and Certification  • IBM DB2 • DB2 Docs 

18. LinkedIN More than just a professional networking site. • Here are some groups that I like: • DB2 Professionals  • IBM DB2 pureXML Network  • IDUG: The World Wide DB2 User Community

19. developerWorks • Take advantage of free tools, technologies, open source code and educational offerings • Rich content • Tutorials, Skills Kits, ekits, articles, demos, games, videos, blogs, podcasts, checklists, downloads, and much more.  • You can make connections with other devWorks users and create a profile for your personal accomplishments.  • Join groups and communities • DB2  • Books! Primarily Technical books that cover Information Management Products  • DB2 z/OS  • IBM DB2 Certifications

20. ChannelDB2 A way for you to actively participate in learning, sharing, and discussing the DB2 products. There are over 2,388 members, 71 groups, 259 videos and presentations, discussions, and links to free books and software.  People in universities across the world are creating groups and encouraging people to join them.  If your country / university isn't represented, add it!The videos are very interesting interviews and presentations featuring various people inside and outside of IBM.  You'll find topics on just about everything covered in these videos.   If you have an educational video that you would like to share, you can add it to the collection.The groups allow you to give and get information about related topics.  For instance, one of my groups is DB2 in Books where I post information about the latest published books, events related to the books, and discounts if they are available.  If you are a member of the group, you are able to ask questions that can be answered by me or perhaps an author of one of the books.  If you aren't yet a member of this or other groups, it is easy to join... and you won't get too much mail as a result of joining.You can also create groups yourself.  If you feel that there is a topic that isn't yet covered, create a group and invite people to join.e-books for you to download for free.  These are full books in the 300-page range and can be read on your computer.  The two latest titles include "DB2 Express-C: Updated for 9.7" and "IBM Data Studio for DB2".  These books are part of the "Getting Started" series and will introduce you to the software and how to use it.  The books are full of screen captures and are easy to read.  Download DB2 Express-C software for free to try all the latest features.  If you haven't tried DB2 yet, this is the best way to get your hands on it to see how easy it is to use and learn.PlanetDB2.com blogs are also pulled into ChannelDB2.com, so you can come to one place for all kinds of important information.If you are a member, ask me to be your friend :) Here are a few of the groups that I follow: • DB2 Chat with the Lab  • DB2 on Campus • DB2 Fundamentals Certification Workshop  • DB2 for Linux, UNIX, Windows  • DB2 for z/OS  • DB2 in Books 

21. ChannelDB2.com now has 2,388 members, 71 groups, 259 videos and presentations, discussions, and links to free books and software.  Are you a member yet?  I've noticed that the university relations teams are reaching out to people in universities across the world and encouraging people to join groups that are specific to their country or university.  If your country / university isn't represented, add it!The videos are very interesting interviews and presentations featuring various people inside and outside of IBM.  You'll find topics on just about everything covered in these videos.  The best thing?  If you have an educational video that you would like to share, you can add it to the collection.The groups allow you to give and get information about related topics.  For instance, one of my groups is DB2 in Books where I post information about the latest published books, events related to the books, and discounts if they are available.  If you are a member of the group, you are able to ask questions that can be answered by me or perhaps an author of one of the books.  If you aren't yet a member of this or other groups, it is easy to join... and you won't get too much mail as a result of joining.You can also create groups yourself.  If you feel that there is a topic that isn't yet covered, create a group and invite people to join.Raul Chong and his team have been busy creating e-books for you to download for free.  These are full books in the 300-page range and can be read on your computer.  The two latest titles include "DB2 Express-C: Updated for 9.7" and "IBM Data Studio for DB2".  These books are part of the "Getting Started" series and will introduce you to the software and how to use it.  The books are full of screen captures and are easy to read.  In conjunction with the books is the free software.  From ChannelDB2.com, you'll find links to the Express-C software that you can download for free to try all the latest features.  If you haven't tried DB2 yet, this is the best way to get your hands on it to see how easy it is to use and learn.Lastly are the blogs.  You may already know that PlanetDB2.com is an aggregate of all DB2 related blogs.  These blogs are also pulled into ChannelDB2.com, so you can come to one place for all kinds of important information.ChannelDB2.com is a way for you to actively participate in learning, sharing, and discussing the DB2 products.If you are a member, ask me to be your friend :)

22. Twitter Very powerful communication tool • Info Mgmt Education - via Todd McBride • IDUG Conference  • developerworks  • IBM DB2  • DB2Night Show  • DB2 LockSmith via Rebecca Bond  • IBM Redbooks  • DB2 

23. Podcasts and Webinars • Chat with the Lab • DB2Night Show • DB2 for z/OS Webcasts On Demand

24. The REAL NightShow for Friday February 12, 2010 2010 Olympic Games - Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific