Any Mainframers on PH?

[PurpleTurtle]

I know PH has it's fair share of techies, any still working on the IBM Mainframe?

I started programming on the Mainframe 20 years ago. At that time people were proclaiming its imminent death but we were just emerging from the last recession, graduate employment was high, I was just grateful to get a foot in the door doing *something* in IT. Fast forward two decades and I have enjoyed a rewarding Contracting career, albeit mostly with one main Client Co.

I am very much aware that all my eggs are in one basket, away from this client jobs on the Mainframe are few and far between. Outsourcing to India is also happening, and whilst I've had two annual contract renewals since that started (retained for my business knowledge, as well as technical skills) I am very much aware that my those on high see me as an expensive luxury and will get rid of me as soon as they think the risk in letting me go is worth taking.

I am also in a catch-22, in so much as my shop is very much run along the lines of keeping existing applications running, but not letting any of us Support guys near any new development projects. I could afford to pay for training into newer technology, but am not in a position to get any practical experience using it, so don't want to waste money now if I can't put the training straight to use. In my time I've seen several blaggers who have done a course in somethng new, bullstted an interview only to be found out in the first week and shown the door, I don't want to be that guy.

There's a school of thought that says that lots of the Baby Boomer generation will be hitting their 60's soon and retiring, leaving people like me (aged 41) in demand. I'm not so sure how valid this is, the only work about I expect to be about is probably going to be keeping legacy apps ticking over where they are too expensive to replace, and what work there is will become hard to find.

In short, has anyone made the leap from Mainframe to something new in recent years? How did you find it?

[74merc]

Another one here. Stuck in a perm job now, which is not where I want to be. I would go back contracting, but all the opportunities seem to have dried up.

[Mattt]

My Dad used to be with IBM doing capacity planning, until the last round of pension changes when he took early retirement.

The numbers in his team seemed to really thin in his last few years of work!

[74merc]

I've worked on a lot of big systems that aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. I think there will be some work maintaining them for the forseeable future. The only issue is whether or not they will be offshored to India or not.
Hopefully the issues experienced by RBS will be a lesson for the other big mainframe shops too. The only way they will be able to retain knowledge of the system, is to maintain them locally, with permanent staff.
It's a tough call regarding moving to newer technologies. Personally I would prefer to develop some of the 'softer skills', such as ITIL from years of working on a helpdesk and do something with it. Then there's the likes of data analytics, where the skillset required would not be a million miles from what the typical mainframer would have.
How you would make the jump into a contract position in any of these is beyond me though. I value my integrity too much to blag it thru an interview, then wing it from there on.