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Why mainframe guys are poorly paid.


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Rijit

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Joined: 15 Apr 2010
Posts: 168
Location: Pune

PostPosted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:56 pm
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I have observed that mainframe skills are valued relatively lesser than other technologies like JAVA, ERP, Datawarehousing etc, Why is it like that. Is it the moarket flooded with resources or is it our mainframe tasks are not that challenging like we have in other technologies.
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Craq Giegerich

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Joined: 19 May 2007
Posts: 1512
Location: Virginia, USA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:17 pm
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Rijit wrote:
I have observed that mainframe skills are valued relatively lesser than other technologies like JAVA, ERP, Datawarehousing etc, Why is it like that. Is it the moarket flooded with resources or is it our mainframe tasks are not that challenging like we have in other technologies.


That's because the bean counters making the salary decisions are using EXCEL, ACCESS, and WORD and don't even know what a mainframe is.
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dick scherrer

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Joined: 23 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:33 pm
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Hello,

Much depends on where you geographically are and what is the current demand for each platform.

Most of the mainframe people i know earn more than the untrained masses slinging win-based stuff. If there is a need for a highly experienced database person, network person, or sysadmin, those rates are higher than a programmer on the mainframe (usually).

Due to some erather terrible decisions made in corporate offices, they are only paying for barley qualified people. On a few of the projects i've supported, the manageers said they could hire 3 offshore people for the price of 1 local person. If the project is huge and there is lots of work that can be accomplished by remote beginners, this might work. The trick is how to manage this. Some succeed - many do not.

If you look around on these forums, you will notice people with several years "experience" that are still basically beginners. Often this is because the employers do not provide proper training. It is also because many will not take the initiative to learn things on their own.
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Rijit

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Joined: 15 Apr 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:48 am
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I agree with you Dick.. icon_smile.gif Training is very poor..But thanks to IBM who has made all the manuals available to us fro free..


The onsite offshore model is a different story altogether..This is mostly driven by cost cutting objective rather than building up any competency..It depends on the organization if they are ready to copromise quality for the sake of saving a few $..But yes if the application is very critical then they can't give it in ameutur hands..
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Rijit

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Joined: 15 Apr 2010
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Location: Pune

PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:51 am
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Craq Giegerich wrote:
Rijit wrote:
I have observed that mainframe skills are valued relatively lesser than other technologies like JAVA, ERP, Datawarehousing etc, Why is it like that. Is it the moarket flooded with resources or is it our mainframe tasks are not that challenging like we have in other technologies.


That's because the bean counters making the salary decisions are using EXCEL, ACCESS, and WORD and don't even know what a mainframe is.


Funny indeed icon_biggrin.gif But I still believe the mainframe programmers should have a better place..I have seen that people with some skills like assembler, Adabas & natural , IMS get all benifits..and vanilla skills have to fight hard for a position.
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dick scherrer

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Joined: 23 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:28 am
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Hello,

Quote:
But thanks to IBM who has made all the manuals available to us fro free..
Which is excellent - however, the manuals are better for reference than traqining. (imho).

Quote:
I have seen that people with some skills like assembler, Adabas & natural , IMS get all benifits..and vanilla skills have to fight hard for a position.
Many (most) of us who have considerable experience believe this is as it should be. . . Why should someone who is basically non-productive for a fairly long amount of time be paid as much as others with lots of overall experience or some specialty as you mention?

When i was new to the field, this was known as "starting at the bottom and working one's way up" or "paying one's dues to get to the Good Stuff". We all accepted that rookies would be paid FAR less than eperts. Today, many beginners believe they should be paid the same as someone with 10-20 years experience.
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