What Makes RPG a Coveted Choice for AS400 Application Development

Posted by elena mia on November 3rd, 2022

Are you one of those enterprise-level organizations using IBM iSeries? Planning to invest in AS400 application development to grow your business at scale? If yes, you should consider RPG over others. Before diving deep into the reasons to choose RPG, let’s quickly understand what exactly RPG is. 

What is RPG?

Report Program Generator, commonly known as RPA is a high-level programming language that has been around for several decades. It is the proprietary programming language of the industry titan, IBM, and is widely used by both mid and large-scale enterprises for developing mission-critical business applications on the AS400 Systems or IBM i ecosystem. In fact, it has become the go-to programming language among RPG programmers for building robust yet intuitive business applications on the IBM AS400 Systems to achieve desired business goals and objectives. The latest version of this programming language is RPG IV (a.k.a ILE RPG), which facilitates RPG programmers to build enterprise-grade business solutions in a quick turnaround time. 

Why Consider RPG Over Other Programming Languages?

After taking a quick look at the overview of RPG programming, there are chances that you might be wondering how RPA is better than other programming languages. If so, you’re right on target. Read on to this informative piece to get the answers to all the questions popping up in your mind. Let’s dig deeper to understand better. 

• RPG offers an interactive programming ecosystem, which makes it easier to integrate, upgrade, and manage.

• Working with AS400 Systems becomes a complete breeze using the RPG programming language. 

• When using RPG for application development, it requires minimal hardware, unlike other programming languages, thereby reducing the installation and maintenance expenses.

• In case, you encounter any issues with RPG in the future, all you need to do is upgrade it to overcome the challenges. 

These are some strong reasons why enterprises prefer to choose RPG over programming languages for developing mission-critical business applications. Now, you have got some understanding of how RPG stands out from other programming languages, it's time to look for seasoned RPG professionals for your application development. Before you begin your search and start looking for RPG developers, it's important to know what key skills you should look for in RPG professionals during the hiring process. Continue reading this informative article to get the answer. 

What to Look for When Hiring RPG Programmers 

To find the right developers for your IBM i application development, listed below are the key skills that you should look for when hiring RPG programmers. 

1) Sound Knowledge of the Latest RPG Language

RPG has come a long way from having a rigid structure to the modern RPG environment. As stated above, RPG IV (a.k.a ILE RPG) is the latest version of the RPG programming language. When hiring RPG programmers for your application development project, you should always make sure that the developers are familiar with the latest version of RPG and have hands-on experience using RPG IV for app development. In other words, you should hire developers who have adapted to the RPG transition over the past few decades and can work in the latest RPG environment to build mission-critical applications tailored to unique business requirements. If you hire someone who doesn't have hands-on experience in using the latest RPG version, they may not be able to leverage all the improved functionalities and can deliver an application below your expectations. 

2) Creative Bent of Mind 

Besides hard skills such as sound knowledge of the RPG programming language, you should also look for soft skills when hiring a developer for application development. This will help you in solving complex business challenges with a unique approach. Having a creative RPG developer at your disposal enables enterprises to build custom business-oriented applications that increase agility, drive innovation, and improve scalability. To test the creative bent of mind, you may throw up some complex problems and ask the developer to come up with the best possible solution. Furthermore, hiring a creative person for your application development will help you explore the new components of RPG and unlock its potential to your business advantage.  

3) Good Communication

Communication is another important skill that can make or break your project’s success. Therefore, it becomes imperative that you should look for good communications skills when hiring an RPG programmer for your application development. It is important to note that you should avoid hiring RPG programmers that are not good communicators, even though, they may possess sound technical skills. The reason being is that if they lack communication skills, they may not be able to explain the challenges faced by them during the development stage. As a result, they may end up delivering an application below your expectations. On the other hand, hiring someone having good communication skills can help you understand the ins and outs of the project’s progress and keep you updated with both micro and macro developments. 

Summing Up

RPG is one of the oldest programming languages that is used for building mission-critical business applications. Since this programming language has been around for many decades, there are chances that you may have to do exhaustive research in finding seasoned RPG programmers for your application development. To overcome this challenge, you may look for iSeries application development companies listed on authoritative B2B review and rating websites such as Clutch, GoodFirms, G2, The Manifest, and to name a few. You may also for reliable tech partners on LinkedIn and other reputed platforms.