It's all about being social these days!  There is much value in interacting with our customers, partners, competitors, collaborators, and fellow employees around the world.  We can only benefit in all of our objectives by embracing ideas from the many people in the world that have opinions on what we do.

Before I buy anything of value, I first search the internet for customer feedback and recommendations.   I do this for books, movies, electronics, cars, just about anything I consider buying.  Do you do the same thing?  If the feedback from someone with actual experience is positive, I am more likely to seriously consider buying the item myself. If the feedback is overwhelmingly positive from many people, my buying decision gets easier. If the feedback is negative, it helps as well... but only if a clear description of the problem is described and multiple people have experienced the same problem / dissatisfaction.

That, in a nutshell, is the power of social media!  And the same is true for free content on the web: If you recommend content that you've read and liked or follow blogs or twitter accounts that provide valuable information, others may follow your lead and read the content as well.

This blog post contains my recommendations for content that is available to keep your skills sharp with DB2 and InfoSphere.    I hope that this is a list that you'll save and share.

Articles

A wide range of IBM experts, programs, and services are available to help you take your information management skills to the next level. Participate in our online community though developerWorks. Find whitepapers, videos, demos, DB2 Express downloads, and more. Visit ibm.com/developerworks/data/.

IBM Data Management magazine delivers interactive, highly dynamic content, including webinars and video about the technical topics of interest to you. Connect with a community of the world's top information management professionals and a broad range of voices from across the industry. Visit ibmdatamag.com.

Database Journal focuses on Database Management & Programming News, Articles & Tutorials for Database Administrators. Visit http://www.databasejournal.com/features/db2/

Blogs

Here is a collection of the blogs that I recommend for the DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows products:

IM Skills by Susan Visser

Build your Skill on Information Management: books, certifications, tutorials, and more

Thoughts from Information Management Support  Contributors: Kate Dawson and DB2 support team members.

Blogging to benefit Information Management Support customers worldwide. 

You ask, I blog the answer - Submit a question and help make this blog as useful to you as it can possibly be. I will read all questions and answer what I can.

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