I started in data processing in 1972 as a JCL Clerk working on a 360-system running MVT, self-taught myself MVT and became a junior MVT systems programmer (remember starting a sysgen on a Friday night and finishing in the early morning hours of Monday before the office opened). I learned assembler and started to share tools in the late 1970's with other shops and developed tools to help make myself and my shop more productive. Over time I started to develop tools based on ISPF in REXX, all while focusing on how to improve the productivity (do it once fine, do it twice automate), and others. I've been a contributor to the CBT Tape (www.cbttape.org) starting in the early 1980's when it was a 'reel' tape and continues to this day. In 2019 I joined with Henry Kuiper in developing ZIGI - the z/OS ISPF Git Interface.
Other tools are
1. FTPBatch, an ISPF dialog that simplifies using FTP on z/OS
2. XMITIP, an ISPF and batch interface for sending e-mail from z/OS using SMTP (with file attachments)
3. PDSEGEN, an ISPF dialog to exploit PDSE Version 2 member generations
4. and dozens more.
I'm a firm believer that tools make everyone more productive, and the z/OS platform is the best platform to work on.
See my tools in multiple files on the online CBTTape at https://www.cbttape.org and on GitHub at https://github.com/lbdyck.