A Mainframer's Musings

 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...

This is probably the most asked question to me by entry to mid-level developers. However, there is no straightforward answer to this. Most of you, who had joined the IT workforce as a mainframe developer in recent years, may have opted for this due to a lack of other choices. So, for some of you, mainframe modernization may sound like an escape route to a better and more sophisticated career.  If I look back at my journey, I admit that I was lucky to be part of projects that involved modernization. I did not realize the value of such projects initially. Over time, with guidance from many of my mentors and well-wishers, I got to know that some of them were first-of-a-kind and progressive projects in terms of what the customer’s competitors did.  If I were joining the IT workforce today as a mainframe developer, after knowing what I do now, I would follow the below re-direction path and suggest the same for the audience. Evaluate: Understand the roadmap of your current project a...

There are several dimensions to mainframe modernization and visiting my previous blog will help you put this question to the right perspective You may not have to learn all of these to pursue a career in modernization. However, in today's "quick execution" world, it is important to know the dimensions and choices available to a legacy application. The end state or modernization option chosen is completely dependent on the current and future business vision, architectural vision etc. of the organization. I have tried to classify the topics (techniques) to acquire the skill sets needed to perform the various modernization methods listed in my previous blog. The dimension that your project(s) takes might determine what you may need to learn. Most of these things may be associated with a specific product/software when you try to do a web search for further reading. My 2 cents will be to concentrate on the "technique used" to solve a problem than the nitty-gritty if...

Over the last 3 or so years, especially after the pandemic began, I get a lot of queries from my LinkedIn connections as well as fellow junior colleagues about shaping their careers within the context of being a mainframe application developer or a senior developer. They look to me for some guidance as I have, over a couple of decades of my software career, had gone through different changes, challenges, and transformations. This triggered my idea to write a blog to address these repeated (yet very essential) questions.  I Intend to initially answer in each of my blog posts to answer questions like: 1. What is (qualifies as) mainframe modernization? 2. What to learn for mainframe modernization? 3. How to divert my career into mainframe modernization? 4. What skills to develop to become an architect? 5. What technologies should I learn? 6. What resources are available for learning? 7. Should I do cloud certification? Which one to choose? 8. Do I need to learn DevOps...