Hi Folks,
Many of us have, over the years, encountered corporate managers who
do not understand the nature of how MVS experience is acquired. And
therefore, these people cannot (really) tell the difference between an
"experienced" and an "inexperienced" MVS person. This often shows, when
that manager (or group of managers) is looking to hire a new MVS
sysprog. I think that many of us have often seen this, and have gotten
angry at the resulting mismanagement. It happens a lot.
In my opinion, MVS experience is merely the result of how IBM
designed OS/360 and beyond. There is a "core MVS structure" which
doesn't get obsolete (unless IBM is forced to make a minimal design
change). All the rest of MVS, can be considered to be "add-ons".
Acquiring experience with the "core MVS" is quite difficult and
(usually) takes quite a few years. Acquiring experience with the
"add-ons" is usually much easier, especially for a person who knows the
core material of MVS well. Therefore, an old MVS hand, who knows the
core MVS material, is the valuable person, because he or she has a clear
mental picture of how the MVS components hang together. An "old MVS
person" can easily be brought "up to snuff" on the add-on material, and
in fact, that's what we spend our learning time on, when new MVS stuff
(i.e. the add-ons) come out.
I've just written an article for "Technical Support" magazine about
this idea, and I feel that anyone with a gripe (most of us) should read
it and express their opinion on how the situation might be improved.
Here is a piece of the summary: (The quoted material immediately below
is copyrighted by me, and by "Technical Support" magazine).
* Quote *
" As is often the case, the things I've mentioned today about "MVS
experience" are things that most people already know. But a significant
number of people, the newer ones, and the ones not deeply involved in
MVS, don't know them. A "gifted manager" with different experience, who
is forced by the upper management to head an MVS group, is often put
into this position, and runs afoul of his or her lack of knowledge about
how MVS experience works.
Therefore I feel that it is VERY IMPORTANT to point out that the
experience acquired in the process of maintaining MVS, is extremely
dependent on how IBM designed MVS and its predecessors in the first
place. The original (circa 1964) design of OS/360 was based on keeping
the core structure intact, and then adding onto it later. That's the
way our "experience with MVS" is acquired too. If you don't know that,
then you don't have any "professional direction" in this field. "The
old guys know the most." That's just how it is.
Other computing systems that get completely rewritten, or which
were not originally designed in this way, may have other "learning
parameters" and patterns. But MVS has its own design structure, which
was imposed on us, for our fun and profit, by IBM. If you don't respect
that and know that, then your company will suffer, and so will the
employees. That's why I think it pays for me to say this. "
* End Quote *
To see the entire article, please go to www.cbttape.org, go to the
Updates page, and download File 120. The member name in the pds, of
this article, is CM0704AP. You can view the entire pds (all of my
articles from the column) on a PC, using the XMIT-manager free product
which can be obtained from a button on the home page of www.cbttape.org.
I hope this helps all of us. This situation has been quietly on
our (collective) minds for years. I think it's finally time that it
should be discussed in the open. Perhaps this article should be
required reading material for all new MVS people, including the
managers. (Please excuse the small amount of vitriol that was
inadvertently included. We're all pretty frustrated, but we were
newbies once too, and we should be nice to them, because they really
have no way of knowing, unless the situation is clearly explained to them.)
Sincerely, Sam Golob
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