A Mainframer's Musings

Most of us, who were trained in mainframe and got into development, must have studied a small introduction to mainframe infrastructure. Usually, that knowledge is neither extensive nor exhaustive to perform any significant infrastructure activity.   However, over the years, while you start performing architecture-related works, there will be a need to collaborate with the infrastructure team(s) to either create a solution or try out a proof of concept or technology. This collaboration is inevitable especially if you have chosen a path of mainframe modernization. Hence a little bit of knowledge and further reading on infrastructure always helps. This will aid you to use some jargons and terminologies that are closer to the infrastructure person and will help you to build a better collaboration with them. The next question then would be how much is "a little bit of knowledge". It is usually subjective, but I will list some of the following indicative knowledge that can be acq...

You probably guessed what my answer to this question would be. It's a YES. The subsequent question that pops up in our minds is what I should learn or what skills to acquire. The good news is that you already know the concepts of DevOps if you have coded something and have gone through the "processes" of deploying your compiled, tested, accepted code into a production environment.  These "processes" typically involve you filling either some forms or entering information in an in-house or a standard tool. These "filled forms" are then processed by an "appropriate approver" for your line of business and then the "deployment/production operations team" will do the migration to the production region in an "allowed window of time". If you automate and/or expedite these "processes" with help of standard tools to result in minimal human intervention yet achieve the effectiveness of the manual reviews and checks, tha...

 This is one of the most common questions in many mainframe developers’ minds. The answer to this is a big YES. The subsequent question (which one to choose?) is where the convolution starts. I will try to answer that question from my perspective and experience. I had tried to answer “which cloud platform to choose” briefly in my blog post on  what technologies should I learn .  Which certification to choose will purely depend on your current role maturity and the technical career path you intend to choose. At a high level, each cloud platform (AWS, Azure, Google or IBM) provides the following options for certifications linked to the roles played by the person: Entry-level - topics typically cover cloud basics Developer level - one programming language and information on microservices, Kubernetes, etc. Deep Developer level - deep dive into programming for microservices Operational level - to maintain microservices, Kubernetes, pods, etc....

I believe most of you already know the answer to this. I will list some of the resources that are helpful for me to learn anything new or refresh concepts I used long ago to do Mainframe Modernization activities.  1. IBM DevOps for Enterprise -  This is your one-stop learning shop for all things modernization related to IBM products on z. Check on the Training, Resources, Downloads, and Documentation information available on this site.  You can download and try the free version of some products. 2. Interskill -  This is one of the official training partners of IBM and most of the corporates using IBM Z would have a training partnership with Interskill. Most services companies have also integrated their learning systems to embed courses from Interskill.  3. Google -  It is the best source of search and find for a specific topic to learn or understand. 4. Udemy - This has become my new favourite to learn any new technology or concept. Many courses are desi...

My answer to this question is purely from the perspective of a mainframe developer aspiring to become a technical architect utilizing their mainframe expertise. I have listed down some most essential technologies to learn from in-platform and outside mainframes. In Platform: Inventory analysis - ADDI is an inventory analysis tool that forms the basis for most modernization initiatives. It is essential to understand what kind of analysis may be needed for different types of modernization roadmaps. There are other products too from non-IBM vendors. DevOps on Mainframe - explore the different DevOps patterns and pipelines and find out how it helps developers, system programmers, managers and deployment teams. Currently, the adoption levels may be slow, but I am almost certain that in 5 years using DevOps will become a norm in mainframe surely. z/OS Connect - if you are exposing your application as an API to non-mainframe applications, t...

The answer to this question as any seasoned architect will give you is "it depends". I can confirm that it's not cliché but reality. There are several types of "architects" in the market each having their own value, purpose and need. They may be Technology specific architects, Enterprise Architect, Business Domain architects, Lifecycle specific architects, Data Architect, Infrastructure architects, etc. to name a few. According to me, some key qualities that an architect would need are: Be the most adaptable and flexible person who can churn out solutions and alternatives within a given scope and constraints.  Be the first to break any bad news about things that may not work (technically) with reasoning.  Provide inputs to the organization's academy or learning department to add new skill courses needed by the employees for progress. In short, give information & indications to decision-makers on architecture and t...