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Advice re:rejoining mainframe workforce after 27year hiatus


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DarcyPeek

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Joined: 08 Jul 2022
Posts: 3
Location: United States

PostPosted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 11:52 pm
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I was a Systems Programmer, Applications Programmer and Business Process Analyst in the late 80's and early 90's. In 1995, I left the industry in order to stay at home and raise my daughters. I am looking to rejoin the workforce and am interested in what it would take to revamp my skills. I would appreciate any advice, recommendations, etc...
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dneufarth

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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 419
Location: Inside the SPEW (Southwest Ohio, USA)

PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 1:25 am
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Sorry, no suggestions. I think you must anticipate an uphill battle awaits you.

How does your knowledge seem after browsing topics on this website? If it seems really good, go for it; but, be realistic in your aspirations.
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DarcyPeek

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Joined: 08 Jul 2022
Posts: 3
Location: United States

PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:23 am
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Thanks for your reply Dave. I appreciate your honesty. Browsing through the topics is ringing a lot of bells but I don't know how long it would take me to get to a point where I would be productive.
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LolaSleeps

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Joined: 12 Jul 2022
Posts: 1
Location: America

PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 9:01 pm
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If you have a bachelor’s and are fine with relocation, Broadcom’s Vitality program would be a great way to get back into mainframe. They pay for your training, cover relocation and more, and get you a job. Takes about a year.

Either way, Broadcom has a lot of good online free learning resources for mainframe on their website to get you reacquainted.

Hope this helps you.
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DarcyPeek

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Joined: 08 Jul 2022
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Location: United States

PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2022 11:28 pm
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Thank you. I'm not open to relocating. I'll look into their online resources.
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Rohit Umarjikar

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Joined: 21 Sep 2010
Posts: 3051
Location: NYC,USA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 7:04 pm
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I don't think anything is drastically changed from then to now so, If you join some online classroom trainings you are good to go as a developer.
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WilliamDownie

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Joined: 01 Jul 2020
Posts: 21
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 9:30 pm
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Maybe a bit late...

Most of the Mainframe jobs posted in the UK are for Systems Programmers , and as you were a Sys Prog maybe look into this (assuming the job market is similar where you live). To brush up your MF knowledge I'd suggest looking into IBMs Z Xplore Learning Platform (formerly called Master the Mainframe) . This'll give you a MF TSO logon so allowing you log onto TSO / ISPF and remind yourself about datasets , IBM utilities, get up to speed with REXX, JCL, VSAM , SDSF, RACF etc.

It will also show you how much the MF has changed since you were last working on it. There is a lot of moderisation going on in the MF world at the moment . Some firms are moving away from source control being done by MF products and moving to the likes of GIT and SVN. You'll see reference to ZOWE which allows easy access to the mainframe . CI/CD tools like Jenkins are now in use. z/OSMF is being used to make installing SMP/E PTFs more straightforward. All stuff a firm needs Sys Progs for.

Linux now runs on the Mainframe, so it's more than just MVS now. Z Xplore goes through this.

I don't think Sys Progs are now involved in writing Assembler exits etc, but I may be wrong there.

Good luck icon_smile.gif
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