It's been a while since I mentioned this, but some years ago my oldest son got his fill of hearing me talk about the vanishing mainframers and wondered whether he should get me to teach him some of the basics. I started asking around, wanting to know how much it would cost me to rent a little space on a z/OS system, enough for two IDs for enough time for him to know whether he hated it.
Apparently my questions got around. About three weeks after I started asking, an IBM guy called me and made me an offer: If I could get my local college to start some mainframe classes, the college would need to rent an LPAR and IBM would ~give~ me space on that machine. I graduated from UNC-Greensboro, but I'd learned PL/1 there and I suppose they still had some mainframe classes. I'd worked two years at A&T, so I called them. I was unable to get anyone interested, as I recall. Seems a shame. Heck, at the time I would probably have been willing to ~teach~ one or two of the classes; I like training. But I never forgot what the IBMer told me, that businesses are so eager for mainframe skills that they often sponsor college classes with their own money. David Spiegel, how would you define "too late"? I don't see that ever coming, at least not from that particular piece of short-sidedness. --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* My goal for 2023 is to lose 10 lbs. Only 15 more to go! */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of David Crayford Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2023 23:22 It's my understanding that IBM made the zPDT available at a much more affordable price with quite restrictive T&C's. I do agree with your sentiments. I work with young guys and they raised the same point, accessibility to a system to kick tires is an issue for young guys considering a career as a mainframer. --- On 3/3/23 11:27, David Spiegel wrote: > ....IBM also should realize that allowing people to experiment with > z/OS via Hercules (for free) is in their best interest. How many > more decades will this take and will it be too late by the tie IBM > figures it out? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
