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07/23 CSC Tech Town Hall

Value Creation and the Three Key Shifts in the CSC Tech Transformation

#csctechtalk @heatherswall @richrebajr @danhushon @rickwilhelm @ckinson @tjmcs1 opensource applications bigdata

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#csctechtalk07/09 TechTalk SoundbitesGetting where you want to go - Development Insights from CSC Distinguished Engineers

#csctechtalk08/06 TechTalk SoundbitesGetting where you want to go - Development Insights from CSC Distinguished Architects & Engineers

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Establishing a secure connection

IDP, CSC University and Alliance Partners all are good, however there seem to be lacking of environment (labs, cloud, equipment, etc. projects/initiatives, etc.) for our folks to practice which is important to "certified" skills/experience are gained.

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Michele Spector

- I agree! We are currently piloting a small group to test Skillsoft/CSC University Practice Labs.

Rohit Chowdhary

true!. What we need is the test environments to get our hands dirty.

and, of course, real projects for real clients are the best way to learn

To some degree, I use compute resources I have at home, but this only scales so far.

Some of our Alliance partner are starting to provide structured Hands on Labs for use to use to learn more about there technologies. But, yes we need some labs to develop skills across our offerings

Skillsoft/CSC University Practice Labs seem to be quite limited and several old stuffs (such as WinXP, Win Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003, etc.) not many Next-gen software/tools

Worth considering Azure, AWS to set up your own stuff. Also, vendor sandboxes etc.

@drbobcsc with the new "tech partner" sponsors, we'll make lab access a priority #Azure #EMC #AWS

And development/test environments plus associated toolchains will be assembled as you heard Tom McSweeney discuss. So I think a few more options will open up soon

yeah, seen Tom mentioned here https://c3.csc.com/t... but not sure when available

Michael G. Nelson

Also doesn't hurt to have your own lab equipment. I highly recommend that.

Great to here "lab access a priority" Dan. Who will have the access to the labs?

the initial thinking is people with committed IDP's that include certification goals will get gift-cards/access

further iDP end state might be an Azure / AWS certification (architect / developer)?

@DanHushon or similar for #VMware and VCA... we need those certs to underwrite our value position to clients!

@danhushon what is the value of the certification, without a chance to get practical experience?

Darryl Cauldwell

I was surprised how much I could lab in the cloud example free 90 days vCloud Air

we are working to improve this as part of the TechTransformation

@DanHushon What's the process to get tools developed in a lab into a "production" or otherwise wider use environment?

Seen Rick mentioned Bluemix here https://c3.csc.com/p... however not sure how to have the access to dedicated Space for CSC

@sorincos catch 22... we're starting to see that some of our partners prefer Service Integrators with those creds... but further the cert is valuable understanding of how cloud systems are built and exploited

Will likely be standing up an OpenShift v3 environment (or similar) to provide space for DevOps-style workloads (dev/build/test) as part of the CSC Commons

@MattMJH we will need to change our mechanism for tools/services... we need to prioritize the tools into tiers... and focus on the tools that have the broadest application/most leverage... BT function IMO

we are working on this one as well.. I don't want to leave #IBM out, they are important strategic partner! and their cloud PaaS is cool

Michele Spector

See the Certification Matrix for key skills mapped to certifications - https://c3.csc.com/d... #csctechtalk #cscuniversity

Michele Spector

The CSC University Certification Mentoring Service is ready to support you for over 80 different certification exams https://c3.csc.com/v... #c

@DanHushon I wonder how many tools people have developed in labs that are now actively used but not had any formal production adoption - could do with an amnesty!

@MattMJH sure, but at the same time, the investment needs to be declared and managed... our cost pools continue to be problems as does focus.

Michele Spector

@DanHushon Here is a link to the IBM training page - https://c3.csc.com/d...

just saying it again: the practice labs are a really really great concept (hopefully the initil quirks will get quickly flattened out)

@MattMJH Interesting question, I’ve no idea, a form of Shadow IT I guess

Need to mention the pipeline of development stuff in the Talent team - 1o Key Technology Learning Guides are in development covering Java, Hadoop, OpenStack, HTML5, jQuery, AngularJS, NoSQL, Powershell, CSS and Cyber. Hear more on next Town Hall

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right - our CTOs have identified these as the "Top 10" skills we need to be developing - will be watching IDPs for these.

Heather Simpson 🌈🍃

@richrebajr do we have this "top 10" skills recommended listed somewhere?

@heatherswall I have it in the Talent team - this is just the first set of basic skills - we will also be focusing on role based needs

The list is taken from the different IDP pages - https://c3.csc.com/d...

Industry-specific knowledge and deeper skills are also important. I am working on adding such course material and will be looking for others to add to it.

These 10 skills are just a starting point, that were taken from Learning available in CSC Univ and listed on the FutureTense model.

Agree, there is a ton of great learning in CSC Univ... and if it's not there #Coursera or others are awesome... I've audited a couple of CalTech Mach. Learning courses = great stuff!

Is there a way to generate a call plan from the IDPs? Gathering a list of people to engage with that have the skills today, tomorrow would be ideal.

Michele Spector

Check out the new Agile Learning Guide which is the first in a series for top skills. https://c3.csc.com/d... #csctechtalk #cscuniversity

Picked up a great deal on a Udemy course for £8 (from £150) https://www.udemy.co... For those who have ZERO background in HTML/CSS etc.

Also, out Alliance partner are offering free or reduced training. Check out the Alliance partner training page https://c3.csc.com/g...

@drbobcsc we are going there next - starting to look at roles and industries - we heard the feedback from the DE/DA Chambers

Rohit Chowdhary28

how can agile and automation be applied to packaged products like SAP, Salesforce for that matter any of the other such products

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Automated test is one example. Still, I understand the issue.

so automation is easy.. our #agility platform provides blueprints for #SAPIU and agility is possible through #CI environments including the SAP "surround" activities.

Michael G. Nelson

Delivery could well be an Agile target for those, but there's also a set of use cases that need to be developed to make use of them. Figuring out which ones and in what order could fall under an Agile method.

Rohit Chowdhary

Would like to know more about #agility and SAP "Surround" activities

as with any products, we rarely deploy the single product the integration & customer customisation can be done in a more agile way. As we develop end-2-end solution the use of Agile becomes more clearer.

you can always run the project that is developing components for a framework like SAP or Salesforce in an Agile way, too; tools like those are never used "out of the box"

We can think of whch Agile Methodology to follow- Lean/Scrum/Kanban, and apply which one is most suitable for our current clients.

Rohit Chowdhary

yes Agile way can be deployed for new implementation and deployments which are few in numbers of days. How can benefit by using Agile in Run & Maintain. Automation in run & maintain is possible for standard tasks but each customer business unique.

Darryl Cauldwell

@ptr_blogger for me a good Agile team use the right combination of all aspects of all rather than following one specific

agile is no silver bullet and understanding its values (not just practices) is the real challenge

Lean/Agile are cultural shifts, so we almost need to develop the culture more than we need to develop the tooling

Tom I agree, it will take a culture shift for not just CSC but for our clients also.

Darryl Cauldwell

@sorincos agreed Sorin its just a methodology to help pivot quickly and stay focussed on the customer need

Michael G. Nelson

Agreed. You don't really understand Agile development until you do it. We need to get everyone doing it.

@tjmcs1 right on, sending a blue eyed agile team in a rigid customer project is another name for frustration and dissociation