I have 3 years exp in IBM Mainframes.I wanted to change the company SO i have applied in naukri,Timesjobs,Monistor but I am not getting any job openings.
Many of my friends in mainframes are shifting to other technologies like JAVA,SAP and HADOOP.
CAn you please let me know what is the future for mainframes application developers? Is It ok to stay in mainframes only?
Or Do I need to change my technology.Please guide me becoz this is the right time for me to change.
Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 19243 Location: Inside the Matrix
Hello,
Quote:
Please guide me becoz this is the right time for me to change.
It is rarely a good idea to ask strangers to provide career "guidance". While many would be willing to help, they (we) do not know you, your goals, your strengths, your weaknesses, etc.
It is your career and YOU need to determine the course it will take. It is usually to one's advantage to learn multiple disciplines - especially when trying to decide what to do for a career. As you will spend much/most of your waking life at your career - needs to be something you really enjoy. Liking what you do is more important than a bit more $.
What we call "the mainframe" (COBOL, DB2, VSAM, CICS, etc) will be around for a long time yet.
Let me tell you one thing, and it will make me sound like a crotchety old man: You need to clean your writing skills the hell up.
Remember that the poor, long suffering HR person is getting hundreds, maybe thousands of applications for each job. When faced with that many choices, the natural response is to start weeding out people for ANY reason. They need something to base that instant decision on so they can whittle away dozens of candidates at a time.
They might choose by overused 'goal statements', they might choose by years of experience, but they will certainly discard someone who writes things like 'becoze' and can't be bothered to capitalize 'I'. That is the mark of a lazy person, so you need to stop writing that way, even in forums.
The best analogy is the personal ad section of a paper or website. A man posting will get maybe a dozen responses. He gets to sit and compare the (hopefully) women and make a good choice.
When a woman posts, she'll get a few hundred responses. She will start finding any one thing to discard a choice for - too much hair, not enough hair, too tall, too short, etc. Never mind that that guy with the too big nose will look adorable carrying a diaper bag with another woman when she's pushing 40.
So, take a few seconds longer and clean up your spelling, grammar and word usage. Also learn to capitalize as appropriate (things like company names). Put a picture on your profile, and get some referrals.
For the past several months mainframe openings are on a decline in India. I am not seeing even contract openings. Although the situation will improve, It will be advisable to switch to greener pastures.
In India, I feel a mainframe application developer with 5+ years of experience and no special skills has very dim chance of finding a suitable job opportunity.
