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
