I am responding to this so called OT because I am once who has to work. I am an old timer - born in 1950 and working everything from the DOS/VS, VM/SP and OS/VS2 days upto z/VM, Z/OS and VSE of course. I enjoying developing software, but have to work because of circumstances out of my control ( Wife died at 49 - massive heart attack in 2003 ), I have to support a house and two daughters. Would I like to retire, yeah, but what would I do, IT has been a large piece of my life, 33+ years....I am also a second generation IT professional, father before me, 37 yrs with Unisys. But enough about me, I feel for the guys and gals who have been outsourced, laidoff,it is terrible, I have been there. I learned longtime ago 'fair', doesn't exit, more like what is..and what isn't .. I wished that situation would go away, but if won't, companies are too busy trying to make a buck and caring about the most valuable thing they have their people.
BTW -- I was out of work in 2006, all of 2006...it wasn't good for me or my family so I do understand what happens. It was a contract with the State who had no budget money for IT. Go figure... All my best to all....... Scott Ford Senior Systems Engineer [p] 678.266.3399 x304 [m] 609-346-0399 identityforge.com This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender immediately or let us know at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED], and then delete the original. Any other use of the email by you is prohibited. -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Patrick O'Keefe Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 6:44 PM To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Query: Mainframers look forward and back On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 16:00:03 -0500, Gabe Goldberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I probably should respond off-list, but I'm goig to do it here. >... >Do people plan to work as long as they're able? Because of enjoyable >jobs? From necessity? For other reasons? ... How painfully timely. Working as a system programmer has been my hobby since 1972. It has also been my career of course, and paid well so I have no desire to leave the field ... but working at my current job (Washington Mutual) for the last 4 1/2 years inspired me to almost start thinking about maybe retiring. Then the bottom fell out of that world and I'm going to be colateral damage of WaMu's takeover. I expect to be laid off by the end of the year or shortly thereafter. So I guess I'll retire. >Are folks being downsized/outsourced? For the past 6 months upper management had been working on an outsourcing plan. That was causing a lot of angst. Now that has been rendered immaterial. > >Retiring voluntarily or otherwise? When projects finish or ... certain >ages are reached? Or companies migrate off the mainframe? ... There have been no involuntary retirements in any company I've worked for. Lay-offs and even a firing, but no involuntary retirement. >youngsters are available for lower salaries? ... Youngsters - at any salary - would have seemed like a miracle! Lack of replacements has been a definite problem. >Regarding "dump the mainframe projects" ... Not much of a issue with companies I've been at. I've been lucky! >Has the skill set required for mainframe work changed during your >career? How have tools evolved to support skills required? The particulars have obviously changed but the basic skills - the basic skills that let us rapidly pick up new specific skills - have not. Management's willingness to pay for training in new skills has definitely gone down. >What are boomer mainframers doing in retirement? ... Becoming crotchetty old ex-mainframers, I guess. I'll let you know when I figure it out. :-) >With decades of experience and perspective -- and considering >contradictory trends of organizations migrating to other platforms AND >the general resurgence of the mainframe -- what recommendations >are offered for the mainframe's future? ... I have no suggestions. I'm trying not to care any more. :-) >Are younger-generation mainframe staffers joining your companies? No. >Have you worked for younger bosses/managers? What's that been >like? Are there challenges communicating mainframe benefits, >mindset, practices to them? I think you need to reword the first part of that question. Younger? Of course. I'm 62. Nearly everybody is younger ... but not young. My immediate bosses have all been mainframers. But go up a level and the mindset and practices issue has definitely been a problem. And it has not necessarily been tied to age. Pat O'Keefe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
