Hi Folks,
I'm very happy that this issue of (the "old" Experience and "newer"
Experience in MVS) has been addressed. Radoslaw's experiences and
observations from the situation in Europe have not been often repeated
here, in the USA. We don't seem to have too many bright kids here, who
are willing to try anything and learn about the nitty gritty innards of
the MVS system. The training and motivation base in the U.S. just
doesn't seem to supply them.
Radoslaw makes a good point, that you can learn about MVS quite
well, without having been there from the beginning, but that is not
quite what I meant. All I meant to say, was that YOU HAVE TO RESPECT
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GUY WHO WAS THERE EARLIER (not necessarily from the
VERY beginning).
I think that the situation for bringing up new people, is much
better in Europe. At least that is my impression from what Radoslaw is
saying. Another thing. It seems to me that the older veterans of MVS
in the United States (and maybe Canada) tend to retain their old passion
with a lot more frequency than other "older workers", and the types he
has come across in Poland (or elsewhere in Europe). Although I myself
have come across a few of the "old fart" types, they tend to have moved
out of the profession and/or disappeared somehow. The MVS veterans who
are still here, are interested, and tend to be VERY interested, no
matter what their age. Maybe it's just the "MVS atmosphere" in the
U.S. Industry here, is very connected to running mainframe computing.
There are very big bucks in it for the big companies. And the only
people who still know how to run the machines are the older guys. I
guess that makes us (older guys) feel pretty important, and therefore,
we retain quite an interest in doing our stuff.
Also, I have to point out that MVS experience is almost always HARD
WON experience. So (being hard won), it is "beloved by the experiencer"
and it is close to the heart. We do not want to let it go. This is
(really) another one of my main points. The newer guys did not go
through all the wars yet. They have something to learn from the past
experience of the grizzled veterans and their old battles, which (due to
the structure of MVS--"core knowledge" plus add-ons) still very much
applies today. This last piece is really the point of my entire article.
Thanks for discussing. Please keep it up. I hope (at least in the
U.S. and Canada) that something gets done about it.
Here's a small observation.
Remember "management by magazine"? To summarize it: This was when
some upper management magazine articles touted "client server" over the
mainframe, and it turned out to be a big flop, after some of the upper
executives actually listened to the crap, and IMPOSED it on their
companies. This shows us that WE have to DO SOMETHING to exert
influence on upper management too. Problem is that most of us like to
do our "techie stuff" and we don't tend to get too involved in the
"management things". Those (management) people usually are a different
type, who aren't "bits and bytes" people. BUT THE HARD FACTS ABOUT THE
BOTTOM LINE, AFFECT THEM TOO! THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE "MANAGEMENT
PEOPLE'S" BREAD AND BUTTER. That's the way you can talk to them. If
you can direct the discussion with them into "big money saved" terms,
you'll have done us all a considerable service.
IBM is interested in reaching out to the future too. They (IBM)
can't afford to be fuddy duddies and (God forbid) stand still. They
have to keep up with the times to stay in business, so they keep
improving the mainframes and the MVS software in order to keep pace with
progress. This gives us a lot of "IBM backing" to support our arguments
to management. IBM is not about to fold their mainframe business and go
away. It's too valuable for them (and for their customers)!
So maybe something CAN be done.
All the best to all.........
Sam
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
