TM1 Forum

Hi all,

I need your help, Iam a new comer for IBM Cognos and just started a week ago. I was wondering if some of you can give me tips on learning cognos by guidelines so I can take my IBM certificate. HEre are my questions :

1. What are the best ways to learn this software ?
2. I have been searching to get a Free website that I can learn by screenshots or Video for free but not much good website that I was looking for. Any recommended website you can give me?
3. Iam currently in China, Shanghai. Any free seminar anytime soon?
4. Others suggestions on becoming a Developer will be much appreciated.

THanks all,
Harta1

Harta1 wrote: I need your help, Iam a new comer for IBM Cognos and just started a week ago. I was wondering if some of you can give me tips on learning cognos by guidelines so I can take my IBM certificate. HEre are my questions :

1. What are the best ways to learn this software ?
2. I have been searching to get a Free website that I can learn by screenshots or Video for free but not much good website that I was looking for. Any recommended website you can give me?
3. Iam currently in China, Shanghai. Any free seminar anytime soon?
4. Others suggestions on becoming a Developer will be much appreciated.

First suggestion? Stop expecting everything to be "free". If you expect to make a living developing and supporting the software, why exactly do you think it's reasonable for people to provide their hard-earned experience and knowledge to you for nothing? The training would clearly have value to you in terms of making a living, so why should you expect to get it from someone else who had to earn it, and do so at no cost to you?

Some people do provide some free training content. They may do it out of a spirit of community and to pay back the skills that others have been prepared to share with them. They may do it because they enjoy teaching or because they like to make people's working lives easier. But there remains a difference between a hand up, and a hand out. Especially when the hand is held out in expectation.

In answer to your specific questions:
1/ By using it. There really is no other way. You can get the theory behind it by taking training courses, and you definitely should do that. These training courses will not be free, because they will have cost the people who produce them time, money and effort. But you should do them anyway, as you need to learn your skills somewhere.
2/ This one explains the first principle that you need to bear in mind when looking for training. After that you may want to try either the official IBM training site, or any IBM partners who may have offices in Shanghai who may run training courses there. I don't know of any off the top of my head but undoubtedly there would be some. These courses will not be free. The fees are an investment in your future income.
3/ See above.
4/ In view of point 1 your best bet is to get an assistant administrator role and learn on the job. At one time you could learn all of TM1 that way. Conceivably you still can but you'd need a boss who could spend a LOT of time training you. These days the software is sufficiently complex that you really need to spend some time doing training.

Thank you for your reply!

I will take some training classes.

I have a blog (blog.flowolap.com) that might give you some pointers, but it's really aimed at developers that are already knowledgeable in the software.

There are other good blogs around, such as tm1tutorials.com or bihints.com, but again, some of the topics on those could be too advanced for the uninitiated.

There are also some YouTube channels, such as TheTM1Channel that will help you learn the basics. Just search for "TM1" in YouTube and you'll find what's available there.

Personally, I learned by shadowing a TM1 guru, but not everyone has that option available to them.

But unfortunately Alan is right -- really the best way to learn is to do the IBM structured training courses. They are not cheap, but they'll give you all the fundamentals to become a professional consultant.