I didn't want to get into the firefight... however, the commentary here
encouraged me to do so.
My own belief (whether founded or not) is that if you follow your
passion and become good at it, someone will recognize that and feel it
is valuable enough to pay for it. I also believe that specialists tend
to demand a higher rate than generalists. Assembler is a specialty, and
while there may not be a lot of demand, the ones who do require it will pay.
I compare it to, for example, I have some classic vehicles with
carburetors. Not too many mechanics work on carburetors any more - but
those who do have a lot of work. Fine craftsmen may not be in huge
demand due to the 'production line' manufacturing of most furniture -
but those who do it make good money and have plenty of work. People
who specialize in repairing antique clocks, pottery, rugs, etc. may not
be able to get a job anywhere - but if they are good at it, they have
plenty of business.
As long as the mainframe runs legacy code, there will be a need for
assembler programmers. That's my opinion, at least.
On 9/13/2023 8:52 AM, Bob Bridges wrote:
I've long observed that no matter what your employer hired you for, what you turn out to
be good at is what they use you for. At one location I was the only one who bothered to
figure out what was wrong with the big greenbar printer when it went haywire; before I
left, therefore, I was the one folks came to when it misbehaved, and I was the one
ordering supplies for it. At another place my boss remarked, during an annual review,
that "we gotta get you on some of these team projects; we keep using you as the lone
fire-fighter for odd problems, but team projects will look good an your resume". I
nodded enthusiastically and agreed aloud, but the fact is I ~liked~ being the guy in the
corner who did the odd jobs, figuring out the software that no one else had time for.
I always recommend to young folks that they keep on doing what they're
interested in doing. Obviously this doesn't mean neglecting assigned tasks
that sound boring; if I don't do what my boss wants me to do then I'm useless
to him. But eventually he'll discover that he wants me to do some of the
things I'm especially good at too.
---
Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313
/* The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a
little way past them into the impossible. -[Arthur C] Clarke's 2nd law. */
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of
Arthur Fichtl
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2023 04:18
As a now retired freelance z/OS guy based in Munich/Germany I had to find a
market niche at my employer. Therefore I specialized on debugging, analysis of
dumps and the like. For those tasks HLASM was inevitable.
My colleagues preferred more comfortable tasks and languages and therefore I
for myself had a quite secure job.
And I liked it. My 1st language was the Siemens 4004 Assembler with punch cards
as the user interface. Quite funny.
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