Future of a mainframe professional when most companies are trying to take off their mainframe systems?

[Kavita Ayyar]

Hi,

Question says it all, What do you thong that what is the future of a mainframe professional when most of the companies are trying to take off their mainframe systems?

[Robert Sample]

when most of the companies are trying to take off their mainframe systems?

You are making an assumption here that is not necessarily true. Surveys of companies using mainframes consistently find that those companies are not planning on getting rid of their mainframes, and most of them are increasing their mainframe usage. These surveys show that IT executives of mainframe companies expect to be using mainframes well into the 2030's and some of them are already planning for their use in the 2040's.

Mainframes today use Docker, containers, Linux, agile techniques, and pretty much any buzzword you want to mention -- IBM has been very focused on ensuring their machines can be used in a wide variety of applications and system. So the future of mainframe professionals today depends upon their willingness to adapt and change as circumstances change. The days of spending your entire career coding CICS / COBOL applications are gone but there are plenty of mainframe opportunities out there.

[Richa Chauhan]

Recently there had been very good hikes in salaries in mainframe. I am not sure why it happened in India? Anybody knows?

[Robert Sample]

Arcati does an annual survey about mainframes and they publish a report on the state of the mainframe each year (generally in January). In the 2023 report is:

Consider the
Mainframe’s role in processing nearly 90% of
all credit card transactions, not to mention doing
much of the heavy lifting for airline reservations,
banking, healthcare and supply chain systems.

So even today, close to 90% of credit card transactions are processed with mainframes. If they go away, what is going to replace them?

[Kavita Ayyar]

Arcati does an annual survey about mainframes and they publish a report on the state of the mainframe each year (generally in January). In the 2023 report is:

Consider the
Mainframe’s role in processing nearly 90% of
all credit card transactions, not to mention doing
much of the heavy lifting for airline reservations,
banking, healthcare and supply chain systems.

So even today, close to 90% of credit card transactions are processed with mainframes. If they go away, what is going to replace them?

If it is so why there is so much of scare about mainframes in the market? I mean for other technologies there are so much jobs but for mainframes, there are, but very less. That's why when I ask some senior they don't have a very forceful answer. And asking freshers to join mainframe team is another big deal.

[Robert Sample]

I've been working full-time in IT since 1977. Every year, there has been a concern about the mainframe being replaced. At first it was minicomputers, then it was microcomputers, then it was networked computers, thin clients (or thick clients), and so forth. The mainframe is an easy target since it represents a large capital outlay when purchased; companies don't see the millions they spend on servers as a single one-time budget item so they don't appear the same.

Also, universities and colleges stopped teaching mainframes since they were old technology. When the technology isn't taught, students don't learn it. And when students don't learn it, they (along with everyone else) think the technology is going away. Now IBM has started working to increase educational opportunities so hopefully this paradigm will start shifting. The reality is that mainframes won't be going away anytime soon, and IT executives are EXTREMELY concerned about keeping their mainframes operating with fewer people interested in mainframe careers.