>You don't always get to choose. Some companies are compartmentalized, and the >staff for the old platform is not permitted to work on the new. Some companies >will allow you to work on the new platform only if you already have experience >on it.
Something long ago lost in this thread was a point I made that for Legacy Migration or Legacy Modernization you need people with skills in both the legacy and new platforms. It isn't enough to have some people that are legacy experts and then some other people that are new platform specialists, you need the combination in the same person, although I would recommend an emphasis on legacy knowledge. I am one of those "mile wide, inch deep" kind of guys. Too long ago I was an MVS SysProg, a CICS SysProg, a VTAM/NCP expert, an IMS DBA, and a DB2 DBA. All at different times between 1970 and 1997. But I am also a certified DotNet Solution Developer. And for a time I faked being a Java Web Developer. On any one of these topics I am lucky if I possess one tenth of the knowledge of a real expert in those areas. But my breadth of experience makes me invaluable when tackling a broad subject like a legacy migration or modernization. I know I can always call upon the true experts when I get down to the nitty gritty details. I might even resort to a posting on the IBMLIST ;-) So the fundamental point I was trying to make is that I think the writing is on the wall for mainframes. They won't go away next week or even in 10 years. But I wouldn't recommend it to your sons and daughters. During the transition period there are going to be great opportunities for those with legacy skills if they can be seen as helping rather than hindering the transition. So if you do get the chance, I would encourage those with legacy skills to also exploit opportunities to learn about the new platforms and get involved in the transition. For anyone under the age of 50 I would think this is absolutely necessary. If you are 60+, you can probably retire doing exactly what you do today. For 50 to 60 years, you are on the bubble and it might burst before you hit the finish line. I know that there will be people on this list that will insist that the mainframe platform is absolutely viable for the foreseeable future. But what they are really saying is that they will support it as long as it is profitable, and drop it the very day that it isn't. My old employer (Amdahl/Fujitsu) did exactly that, going from Flagship to Nothing in just two years. Lastly, what Shmuel said it true for some - there is the legacy team and the separate new technology team. If this is your situation, try to get away to someplace more enlightened. Because if this is the situation, one team is being setup for a fall. Guess which one? John ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
