Cincom Smalltalk Digest: May Edition

Welcome to the May 2023 edition of the Cincom Smalltalk Digest. In this edition, we will highlight:

CUSTOMERS and PARTNERS

• The Productivity-Boosting Role that the Cincom SupportWeb® Plays for Both Customers and Partners

• A Reminder on How to Submit New Cases when Working with Cincom Smalltalk Support

BEGINNERS, FREELANCERS and DEVELOPERS

• The Personal Use License

• A New Cincom Smalltalk “Build-it” Video Series

• Upskilling and Reskilling: What Are They?

• Are You Satisfied with Your Career Growth?

• Cincom Is on the Lookout for Skilled Smalltalkers

CUSTOMERS and PARTNERS

The Productivity-Boosting Role that the Cincom SupportWeb Plays for Both Customers and Partners

The Cincom SupportWeb is something that we would like to bring to the attention of our customers and partners this month. The following is a list of methods by which customers and partners can make good use of this helpful tool:

1. Check the status of cases in a snap: Both customers and partners may easily see the open and closed cases associated with their accounts, as well as potential solutions that may already be at their disposal.
2. The making of test cases: Creating a test case enables Cincom Support to better understand a customer’s or partner’s problem by assisting Support in re-creating the issue in our own environment. This allows Support to better grasp a customer’s or partner’s issue. These test cases also help in correctly explaining the problem, which enables Support to determine if they are on the same page as the customer or partner concerning the challenges they are facing. Cincom Support will also be able to test the customer or partner problem when subsequent updates are made available in order to verify that everything is still functioning properly.
3. Information available at your beck and call: From the main page, both customers and partners will have the ability to make a request for a monthly technical status report. Customers and partners may also watch special announcements regarding the availability of new services or offerings through Cincom Support.

If you have any more inquiries, you can contact the Cincom Smalltalk Product Team at the following email address: CSSTARTeam@cincom.com.

A Reminder on How to Submit New Cases when Working with Cincom Smalltalk Support

For quick access to Cincom Smalltalk Support:

• Visit the Cincom SupportWeb® for immediate support.
• Email HelpNA@cincom.com and EuroTSC@cincom.com to file new support cases.
• View Cincom Support Levels.
• Review the Cincom Smalltalk Resolutions Portal.

Reach out to the Cincom Smalltalk Product Team at CSSTARTeam@cincom.com if you have any further questions or comments.

BEGINNERS, FREELANCERS and DEVELOPERS

The Personal Use License

The purpose of the Cincom Smalltalk Personal Use License (CST PUL) is to evaluate commercial Smalltalk. This version is available for those who are new to Cincom Smalltalk and looking to see if it’s the right solution to meet their application development needs. The current CST PUL is made up of both Cincom® ObjectStudio® 8.9 and Cincom® VisualWorks® 8.3.

The most recent 9.3 version of Cincom Smalltalk is only available to current customers and partners. If you require the latest 9.3 version, please reach out to the Cincom Smalltalk STAR Team and we will put you in touch with the appropriate salesperson to align you with the best option for purchase.

A New Cincom Smalltalk “Build-it” Video Series

The Hidden Gems screencast series was created to help people get started with or get more out of their use of Cincom Smalltalk. By providing helpful shortcuts, tips and approaches, these videos demonstrate how to make use of numerous Cincom Smalltalk capabilities, including several “hidden gems” that boost productivity.

The latest screencast is a new series that will demonstrate a number of aspects that are useful to developers including:

• Coding techniques
• API development
• Design decisions
• Data acquisition

This “Build-it” Series will show some best practices and techniques for developers who are new or newer to Smalltalk and should serve as a refresher for experienced Smalltalk developers.

For data, we will use the Federal Reserve Economic Data website. This website supports downloading raw data and an API. We will demonstrate effective ways to use both.

Part I

• Federal Reserve Economic Data website
• Downloading data
• Parsing the data
• Best practices
• Improving the code

Part II

• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API
• API key
• Model
• Series

Part III

• Design decisions
• Simplify but keep flexible
• Primary use should have minimal and clear messages
• Final model and recap

Upskilling and Reskilling: What Are They?

Simply expressed, “reskilling” refers to the acquisition of extra knowledge and abilities that may help employees transition into other positions, whereas “upskilling” refers to training that improves employees’ proficiency in their current occupations. Workers who invest in their own professional development have the potential to transform into a flexible and responsive army as the world around them evolves.

AG5 Skills Management Software

AG5 is a software company based in Amsterdam and Berlin that has been developing tools for managing skills, competencies and knowledge for nearly 20 years. AG5 has created the first and only plug-n-play skills-management software.

The previous worldwide epidemic has had a devastating impact on several sectors, leading to layoffs, hiring freezes and furloughs. The transportation sector, the hotel sector, the restaurant sector and the oil and gas sector were all severely impacted. KLM Cargo and AKKA Technologies in aviation and logistics, ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks Gent in steel manufacturing, Cérélia and Intersnack in food production and Buyitdirect (an IT reseller) are just some of the businesses that AG5 Skills Management Software serves. Firefighters and EMS workers are two examples of how AG5 has aided the public safety sector.

By giving clients an overview of their employees’ present and lacking abilities, AG5 is able to give invaluable insights for reskilling staff. This is particularly important in the modern business environment, with its fluctuating supply and demand and distributed workforce. AG5 data also gives a more complete picture of available workers whose skillsets are comparable to those of absent coworkers.

AG5 noticed that many prospects use Microsoft Excel as a skills-management system. When compared to the AG5 Skills Management Software, Excel quickly becomes too complex as the amount of data increases. AG5’s software is very user-friendly and requires no programming skills whatsoever. It’s a robust solution that doesn’t require much manual work compared to Excel sheets for example. On top of that, it allows valuable insights to become visual. With AG5’s Skills Management Software, team managers gain an overview of their team(s) that’s easy to share across several organizational levels.

What sets AG5 apart from LMS and HRM systems is its dedication to skills management, competence management and a skills matrix. Other platforms and tools offer skills management as an additional service, which is too simplistic or basic for some organizations.

What Is Cincom’s Involvement?

Cincom VisualWorks helps AG5’s development team to be very productive in an ever-changing environment. AG5 is constantly gaining a clear, competitive advantage over other vendors since they can instantly adopt any new training methodology, increased legislation requirements or changed organizational structures and thus be able to quickly respond to new demands.

According to Anthia Moehamadidris, Growth Marketeer at AG5,

“AG5 is built using Cincom VisualWorks, which has proven to be extremely robust for years. This programming environment plays well with all kinds of new technological developments, whether on the front or back end. In our industry and with our current growth, that is a real relief.”

• To read more about AG5 Skills Management Software or to watch a video that visualizes it, click here.

Are You Satisfied with Your Career Growth?

The “Harvard Happiness Study,” which is also known as the Harvard Study of Adult Development or the Grant Study, is a long-running study that examines the factors that contribute to people’s sense of contentment and fulfillment in life. Since 1938, researchers at Harvard University have been collecting data in an ongoing longitudinal study. Insights regarding physical and mental health, job satisfaction, relationships and general happiness have been gleaned from the participants’ long-term follow-up and survey participation.

Finding out what makes for happy, healthy lives is the major focus of the Harvard Happiness Study. In order to investigate the effects of genetics, lifestyle choices, personal connections and professional paths on well-being, researchers gather substantial data via interviews, medical tests, questionnaires and other measures.

Over the years, the research has produced a number of noteworthy results. It has shown that factors like marital satisfaction and social network density are significant predictors of life satisfaction. The detrimental effects of loneliness and isolation on health have also been highlighted. The importance of things like physical health, personal fulfillment and professional accomplishments to one’s level of contentment has also been highlighted.

Job satisfaction and professional accomplishments are important and should be something to consider with any career path. In fact, one of the distinct advantages of programming with Smalltalk is the enjoyment of it. Programming, or at least the programming language that the developer works in, should be something that the developer enjoys doing for a number of reasons including:

• Motivation and passion
• Continuous learning and improvement
• Creativity and problem-solving
• Collaboration

In addition to these factors, a few other distinct reasons why programmers enjoy using Smalltalk include:

• Job satisfaction: When developers are able to discover a sense of purpose in their work, they are more likely to feel job satisfaction. This, in turn, may lead to increased levels of happiness and a more pleasant atmosphere in the workplace. Additionally, it has the potential to lower general levels of stress and improve well-being in relation to work.
• Longevity working in the industry: Enjoyment in programming may add to a developer’s longevity in their industry and help their career advancement. When developers actually appreciate what they do for a living, they are more likely to remain engaged and devoted to the profession in which they work. This devotion may lead to possibilities for job progression, further skill development and increased levels of knowledge.
• Professional achievement: A developer’s ability to like programming or a programming language may give them a variety of benefits and enriches their entire experience in the industry, resulting in the potential for higher-quality work, personal satisfaction and professional achievement as a developer.

To read about other factors that go into programming enjoyment or to learn about the other distinct advantages with the “Pearls of Smalltalk,” click here.

Cincom Is on the Lookout for Skilled Smalltalkers

Cincom is expanding its worldwide engineering team and needs several Smalltalk engineers to help with the development of Cincom Smalltalk. There are a number of positions that are available here at our company, and some of the needed talents are as follows:

• A passion for and expertise with Smalltalk. Knowledge of Cincom Smalltalk is a bonus.
• Knowledge of application programming interfaces (APIs) and platform libraries on many platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and Unix)
• Experience with GUIs or graphical user interfaces
• A positive and motivated attitude
• Competence in working both alone and as part of a distributed team

If you are a nomadic software engineer who wants to take your rewarding career with you, Cincom could be the place for you! Any software engineer who is interested in joining a product group that is ready to share Smalltalk with the world through clean code, cool campaigns and much more, should send their resume/CV and cover letter, as well as salary requirements, to Suzanne Fortman.