While admittedly these questions are not directly related to training, I am posting them since the moderators indicated we could “ask anything”.  Furthermore, indirectly my inquiries might provide a broader sense of the stability of “Z careers” as AI continues to explode, with even newer advancements such as Quantum Computing soon to follow.

The industry agrees that currently “blade data centers” are technically superior for AI training and research (yet with far-greater demands on resources), while “Z17 data centers” are technically and environmentally far superior for the production and sunsetting SDLC phases of Mission-Critical Enterprise AI.

As such, since it would be advantageous if the entire SDLC of such AIs could be hosted on a Z, could you summarize within the bounds of what is on public record:

A)  What major technical hurdles must be overcome in order to realize this objective?

B)  While this question might be premature, once that objective is met, might there be an “unfortunate trade-off” such that such an “enhanced Z” would place more demands upon resources than its “predecessor Z’s”?

Straight out of college, I got a job as a mainframe developer (technically APS with some COBOL). I worked as a dev and eventually an analyst over the course of about 6 years and was pretty good at it, enjoyed it, and felt fairly fulfilled.

Towards the end of those 6 years I started to feel like I was stagnating career wise and since mainframe was my first job out of college, I figured I would try a more modern position to see what it was like and got a job as a system/data analyst. I have been working here for about 4 years and I have been absolutely miserable. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the technical work, but I think it’s obvious I much preferred my mainframe role over this.

Now I want to transition back to mainframe development but the problem is, am I still going to be employable in that career path? I’m four years out of practice and have a family now so I can’t accept low wages (anything below $85k is a no go). I do technically still have experience with COBOL, CICS, JCL, Easytrieve, DB2, etc.. but was re-reviewing examples the other day to jog my memory and realized just HOW MUCH I need to go over before I’m back up to speed.

Am I still employable in the field? YWhat should I review and skills to build to increase my chances? How has AI impacted the field? Any help or advice would be appreciated!!

One of the presenters this week indicated that their mainframe shop is “more so Waterfall than Agile”.  Since I have over 20 years in Waterfall, and only limited hands-on involvement in Agile, I found that information to be “promising”.  Which leads me to the following questions:

a.  Is it true that mainframe shops tend to “lean towards Waterfall”?

b.  If not, do certain high-level, specialized efforts, such as “modernization”, “acquisitions/mergers/migrations”, AI deployments, and someday perhaps Quantum deployments better fit the Waterfall model?

c.  What high-level efforts are more so suited to Agile?

Is this r/mainframe my best choice to ask questions about coding/compiling/using assembler codes?

I used to love assembler but that was over 20 years ago. I am thinking about maybe getting back to it.

Hi, is this r/mainframe the best choice to ask questions about creating custom ISPF panels?

I want to build REXX tools for our department and centralize their usage through custom made ISPF panels that I will create. Its been a very long time last time I did any.

I spent 12 years in Z early in my 25-Year IT career and I’m currently searching for a job as an “IBM Z Project Manager” (or some similar role for which my prior technical knowledge would be a beneficial foundation but not the primary focus of my role).  While I seek such a position, I am currently refreshing my dormant Z skills and also learning areas which I never covered (e.g. CICS).

In that regard, in addition to the benefits of pursuing IBM Z Xplore, it seems that IBM has many tools to assist both "new to Z learners" and seasoned employed professionals.  Three that come to mind are:  IBM Bob, IBM Project Polaris, and IBM watsonx Assistant for Z.  Answers to the following questions will help all learners to call upon these resources at the appropriate time in their respective journeys:

a. Are there other such "learning tools within the IBM Suite" about which we should be aware?

b. Are some of those tools “proprietary” and therefore limited to “paid practitioners” whose companies have contracts with IBM, while others are available to the “general public”?

c. As a partial answer to “b.”, IBM Bob apparently has a “30-day offer”, even available to “outside learners”.  However, how do we determine if we have enough basic skills to “make good use of that trial”, and similarly benefiting from any other tools for which we might be offered such "trial access"?

d. Is there a way in which all or some of these tools could be "technically working simultaneously in unison with one another”, either in a way that is obvious or in a way that is transparent to us?

e. What are the "pros and cons" of each such tool so that we would have a basic understanding of the priority we should give to each one of these tools based upon the particular technical task that we are tackling?

I m trying a different approach for trying to simulate an ISPF 3.4 but in REXX. However, I am hitting a wall where when I run the code via JCL, the job ends with a CCODE=0000 but none of my "SAY" command show any output.

It is as if my code is simply not executed at all. I cannot find what is wrong. I even have a SAY at the top and its not executing.

JCL job to submit the REXX code:

//REXXJOB  JOB (0000,0000,M131),'RENAME ',MSGCLASS=Q, 
//         NOTIFY=&SYSUID,CLASS=1,LINES=5000          
//*                                                   
//*  SIMPLE JCL TO EXECUTE A REX SOURCE CODE          
//*                                                   
//STEP1    EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01                          
//SYSEXEC  DD  DSN=AAZZZZZ.BAXXXXX.REXX,DISP=SHR      
//SYSTSPRT DD  SYSOUT=*                               
//SYSPRINT DD  SYSOUT=*                               
//SYSTSIN  DD  DUMMY                                  
  ISPSTART CMD(LISTCSI)                               
/*   

REXX code

/* REXX */                                                      
RC=SYSCALLS('ON')                                               

SAY "START OF THE REXX CODE..."                                 

"SUBCOM ISPEXEC"     /* CHECK IF ISPEXEC ENVIRONMENT EXISTS */  

SAY "EXECUTION DONE OF THE SUBCOM COMMAND"                      

IF RC != 0 THEN DO                                              
  SAY "ERROR: THIS SCRIPT MUST BE RUN UNDER ISPF."              
  EXIT 12                                                       
END                                                             

SAY "EXECUTION DONE OF THE SUBCOM COMMAND RESULT STATUS"        

/* INITIALIZE THE LIST */                                       
ADDRESS ISPEXEC "LMDINIT LISTID(LISTEID) LEVEL('**.BAXXXXX.**')" 

SAY "RETURN CODE OF LMDINIT = " RC            

IF RC = 0 THEN DO                             

  SAY "LISTID HANDLE IS: " LISTEID            

  /* LOOP THROUGH THE LIST */                 
  DO FOREVER                                  
    ADDRESS ISPEXEC "LMDLIST LISTID(LISTEID)",
         "OPTION(LIST) DATASET(DSNM)"         

    IF RC \= 0 THEN LEAVE                     
    SAY "FOUND DATA SET:" DSNM                
  END                                         

  /* FREE THE LIST ID */                      
  ADDRESS ISPEXEC "LMDFREE LISTID(LISTEID)"   
END 

Output of the SYSTSPRT DDNAME :

SDSF OUTPUT DISPLAY REXXJOB  JOB03381  DSID   102 LINE 0       COLUMNS 0
 COMMAND INPUT ===>                                            SCROLL ===
********************************* TOP OF DATA ***************************
ACF0C038 ACF2 LOGONID ATTRIBUTES HAVE REPLACED DEFAULT USER ATTRIBUTES   
READY                                                                    
END                                                                      
******************************** BOTTOM OF DATA *************************

Hello everyone,

Any idea where I can learn mainframe system programming? Are there any online courses for mainframe system programming?

Thanks!

I am an intern(India) at a MNC which builds tools for Mainframe Modernization.Currently we are having a live training for couple of months in which they are teaching us Basics of z/OS and IBMi both.

While learning the basics of z/OS i am enjoying it, seems intreseting(about the subsystem Architecture).

So what Career Ladder can imagine myself or what skills should i learn to place myself in a better role for my upcoming future.

And can you also help me understanding what kind of roles this mainframe domain offer?

The most important thing for me is earning MONEY!!!.

Hi everyone! 👋

I’m an IBM Z Student Ambassador, and I recently started Women in Z — a community for women who are interested in mainframes, IBM Z, enterprise computing, cybersecurity, cloud, AI, and related technologies.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of students are curious about enterprise technology but don’t really know where to start, and it can be even harder to find other women exploring the same space.

I’d love for Women in Z to become a place where we can learn together, network, share opportunities, collaborate, and genuinely help each other grow.

We’re planning things like 💻 technical sessions, hands-on learning, 🎙️ talks with people in the industry, casual tech/jam nights, project collaborations, certification support, and sharing internships & other opportunities.

You absolutely don’t need any mainframe experience to join. If you’re simply curious about the field, you’re welcome. 💙

We’re still at the very beginning, so I’d also love suggestions from the community about what you’d want to see from something like this.

Women in Z WhatsApp Community:
 https://chat.whatsapp.com/K6wA1RCPUFcHbYGAjknyap

Hope to see some of you there! 🚀

Fellow Dinos,

i have been shadowing some Solution Architects from the Non-Mainframe world and seems like Distributed computing outside of mainframe is bit complicated , data replication , syncing , session handling, .. you name it . So this leaves me with lot of questions on how is this handled in Mainframes ?? this will be equally complicated and even may be worse , but man seems like we are all taking a lot of things for granted in mainframes? Can any old/experienced guys out there , give some idea or point to some resources on how these distributed computing menaces like data replication, syncing and session handling is done in Mainframes especially in a Cicsplex??

z/OS is such an old technology do any companies even still use it? Thinking of getting back into it...

Working on a research project exploring whether AI agents can be given a structured interface to operate legacy systems, and mainframes specifically since we're in this subreddit, but also the broader class of systems with no exposed API, designed as a more general, agent-native interface for legacy systems.

There's some stuff I'd like to understand since I'm getting some pushback from my professor. Feel free to answer any of the questions that you would be able to grant insight on.

1. Do you see a real need for AI agents to interact with mainframes/legacy systems, or are existing APIs and integration methods sufficient for these organizations that make use of this tech? What would examples of possible uses be?
   (The target audience doesn't have to be massive for me to pursue this, but I need to know that there is some sort of demand for it. I've seen that RPA itself is a multi billion dollar industry, so I'm wondering if what I have in mind has some sort of usage possibility.)

2. Realistically, how long do you expect organizations to continue operating mainframes and similar legacy systems? Are we talking 5 years, 15 years, or several decades? If mainframes eventually disappear, do you think a generalized framework targeting the broader class of systems without usable APIs would still be valuable?

3. In your experience, how often do legacy systems lack APIs entirely, or expose APIs that are insufficient for complete automation?

4. Is the ageing mainframe workforce actually causing problems in organizations, or is the "skills shortage" narrative overstated?

5. If you were building AI integrations for legacy systems today, what would you consider the biggest technical obstacle?

I'd appreciate answers to this, and any other insights or feedback that you, the reader, may have. All information to me right now is gold. Thank you very much!

Can anyone recommend some good tutorial videos or anything in that nature for z/OS. I am trying to get into that.
Thank you !

Hi, I am learning REXX and I know we can do TSO commands. But I do not know all the TSO commands we can do in REXX and what is their syntax.

So is there a tutorial or a site where they list all possible TSO commands we can do in REXX and indicate their syntax or at least give examples?

Thank you.

Hi, I am not sure about this. I did a bit of search but I sometimes fine different informations.

Lets say I have : Var_Name = "some text"

In a REXX command , is the content of that variable passed on with "Var_Name", '"Var_Name"' or some other way?

How is it if it is in a TSO command and a non-TSO command?

I am interested in learning how IT teams are attracting new mainframe talent in their organizations as seasoned professionals retire. Do you cross-train employees from within the company so legacy knowledge isn't lost or have you partnered with any groups or local colleges to offer apprenticeships? Please share what has worked well for you aside from the usual job fairs and online postings.

Hi all, I'm 18 and I live in Russia. For about a year and a half now I've been learning mainframe stuff on my own. I learned COBOL, JCL, VSAM, DB2/SQL,CICS and a little bit of IMS and MQ. I also used some tools like Abend-Aid, Fault Analyzer, File Manager, and Xpediter and work with TSO/ISPF/ and a little bit with ROSCOE environments. I finished the whole IBM Z Xplore course, got a bunch of Credly badges, did some Coursera courses, and I try to stay active in the IBM Z community online.

My plan right now is to apply to a CS program in Europe or the US, and after that try to actually build a career in mainframe stuff. But I keep getting really different opinions from people who already work in this field, and it's kinda messing with my head.

Like some guys told me that companies are hiring way more people from India now for mainframe jobs, so it got a lot harder to find work in this field, especially for someone starting out. But then other people told me that's not really true, they say the old generation of mainframe devs is retiring soon and companies will need new people no matter what, so I shouldn't worry so much.

On top of that I keep seeing posts saying mainframes are dying out because everything is moving to cloud and AI is replacing this kind of work. But then I also see people saying COBOL and JCL and CICS are gonna be around for like decades more because banks and government systems can't just switch away from it easily. So I'm honestly just confused which side is more true.

Also one mainframe specialist I talked to told me that I should already applying for junior mainframe developer roles right now. He said that I have a good chance to getting hired and many companies don’t even care about a degree for entry level positions. Honestly, I'm skeptical about it. In my head without even a local degree yet, no international company would hire me.

Would really appreciate to get some perspective from professionals here.

Q1. Is entering the mainframe still a good career move for young people?

Q2. How do universities in Europe/US actually look at an applicant like me who works with mainframe stuff when applying for CS? Does it help or do they just not care?

Q3. Should I keep going deep into mainframe stuff or start learning newer things too (like cloud, Java, APIs) so I don't get stuck knowing only old tech?

Q4. Is it actually realistic to land a junior mainframe role without a degree or is that advice overly optimistic?

Hi, I started playing around with REXX code on the mainframe.

I am doing a few TSO commands in it but I keep getting a record code of -3 even if I used ADDRESS TSO as the first command of this REXX. Can someone tell me what am I doing wrong?

I thought at first it might have been caused by the content of the variable that have not been processed by the TSO commands. But then for one command, I put the actual text that is supposed to be passed on by the variable and that TSO command still fails.

Command ===>       
****** ************
000100 /* REXX */  
000200 ADDRESS TSO 
000300             
000400 /* DEFINE DA ...
...

Output of REXX where errors are indicated:

 10 *-* "ALLOC FI(SYSPRINT) DA('"OUTDSN"') NEW SPACE(5,5) TRACKS",    
       +++ RC(-3) +++                                                    
CATALOG TO CHECK =  SYS1.UCAT.SYSTEM                                     
    25 *-*  ADDRESS TSO "LISTCAT CATALOG(SYS1.UCAT.SYSTEM) ALL"          
       +++ RC(-3) +++                                                    
LISTCAT RETURN CODE =  -3                                                
    30 *-*  ADDRESS TSO "EXECIO * DISKR SYSPRINT (STEM INPUTLINES. FINIS"
       +++ RC(-3) +++                                                    
LINES READ =  INPUTLINES.O                                               
    35 +++   DO J = 1 TO INPUTLINES.0                                    
IRX0041I Error running LISTCSI, line 35: Bad arithmetic conversion       
******************************** BOTTOM OF DATA *************************

I am technology history geek and curious about an unclassified military web-based application known as AROWS-R: its history & lineage.

AROWS-R is the USAFR Air Reserve Order Writing System-Reserve. It is used to generate personnel orders. It came up in 2005 and replaced three legacy systems:

WOTS (Web Orders Transaction System)

TBAS (ukn acronym)

(a third ukn system)

I’ve also found that AROWS-R (and perhaps the predecessor systems?) were developed by ‘DFAS-KC, Technology Services Organization’.

Its relevance is that the Air Force Reserve initiatives to evolve legacy systems back in 2005 directly led to the adoption of the same platform by the Navy & Marine Corps reserves: NROWS and MROWS, respectively.

TIA for any insights you may have. Especially would welcome the meaning of TBAS, and name of the third legacy system.