Post
by vin123 » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:22 pm
I have done a lot of mainframes (IBM E series to S360/390) as a techy in those good old starting days of my career.
In UK there are quite a few businesses (Mainly top FTSE 100 companies) still operating mainframes as their legacy systems for continuing operational and business support whilst undergoing modernisation in parallel. There is a strong ICL-Fujitsu presence in the UK along with traditional IBM midrange & mainframe kits deployed(AS/400 mainly in banks )
For employment opportunities, you have to accept that in this modernisation era, people rarely employ a Cobol/RPG coder or JCL batch administrator to do routine stuffs. Roles mainly are centred around the modernisation aspects of specific business units from mainframes to newer technologies.
Also, areas of employment within mainframe technologies are driven tactically by business needs. For example storage (RACF, Archive, data migration) and various other tools to administer and support mainframe processes/data related activities. Such jobs are not uncommon and demand high rates plus you have to demonstrate specific experience in those areas. Hope this helps, good luck !