Hi everyone! I’m a junior system programmer on z/OS since September 2021.
My first year on mainframe ended a few months ago and I want to share my wonderful experience giving some tips for people who are starting this experience!
When I was first assigned to the Mainframe area, I was both scared and excited.
I graduated from an IT technical institute and now I’m attending a bachelor’s degree in computer science, therefore I was a novice in the mainframe world.
How far can a novice go in one year of mainframe?
In one year I learned a lot of things, thanks to my fantastic colleagues and thanks to the z system user community.
They made me discover a lot of courses that gave me the basics to understand the mainframe. I highly recommend you to enrich your personal network!
This year I studied how the mainframe works, its hardware, its operating system, JCL language and so on.
I became more skilled and independent in JCL, especially writing SAS programs in order to run cost accounting jobs.
Before the start of my journey I knew nothing about these things. I can say I made a lot of progress but the learning has just started!
My school studies on programming helped me to understand in a quick way how to write good JCLs or understand concepts like virtualizations, memory and operating systems.
On the other hand, it took me more time to learn about Unix System Services, SMP/E installations because my school learning didn’t prepare me for those topics!
I managed to be confident on those topics despite having to overcome some difficulties, so don't be afraid if you feel insecure when you start!
Let's make this a real guide, here are my 5 tips for you:
Let me try: You already know this but let me say that getting errors is the best way to learn!
You can learn more from errors than having all worked straight the first time...so do not be afraid of making mistakes!
It takes time to manage how to face different topics: The world of mainframe encloses a lot of topics(it requires time to actually manage the way to face them properly), so a novice could be engaged in a lot of activities and a main tutor it’s a must to not get lost among topics!
Understand when you need help: There are errors way too complicated for a novice but remember that it is very useful spending time debugging or consulting manuals to handle errors. But at some point you may need to ask for help from your network. There aren’t right or wrong questions.
Be flexible and ask for time: Since school studies do not give all the basics, a novice could be already good at something but need more time than you think to understand other topics, don’t be afraid and don’t give up!
Do I have to learn it now?: Sometimes I have been told “you don’t have to understand this now” and this sentence is so powerful! I wanted to figure it out and understand everything immediately, but sometimes it is far too early and I have to remember this! But don’t make this an excuse!
Sometimes you have to trust that you will manage even without knowing it all, but keep on being curious!
That was my start of this amazing journey, feel free to share your experiences as well, MAINFRAME ROCKS!