That depends on your role. You dont nee HLASM if you're an SMP jockey or a RACF administer, and some exits can be written in other languages, but there are some things that require assembler.
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Doug Fuerst <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 7, 2026 6:58 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Trade Union External Message: Use Caution Certifications are not worth the paper they get printed on. You don't need to be an assembler programmer to be a sysprog. Doug Fuerst ------ Original Message ------ From "Farley, Peter" <[email protected]> To [email protected] Date 2/7/2026 18:35:06 PM Subject Re: Trade Union >+1 > >Ditto for application programmers IMHO, though the certification tests would >be different. > >There was a time In my younger days that I was against trade unions in general >and in particular against "professional" unions, but my views have changed >dramatically since then. > >Life is a hard teacher. > >Peter > >>From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of >>Brian Westerman >>Sent: Saturday, February 7, 2026 4:54 PM >>To: [email protected] >>Subject: Re: Trade Union? >> >>This is just my 2 cents worth so hopefully no one will be outraged by my >>comments, but >>why would anyone be excluded from certification? I know electricians that >>have been >>doing electrical work that I would not trust to change a light bulb. But the >>ones that have >>been certified tend to be a completely different (and better) class. I have >>known, and >>still do, many "Systems Programmers" that have over 25 years of "experience" >>that don't >>have what I would consider basic systems programming skills. In a gathering >>of systems >>programmers, if you ask how many know assembler well enough to write an exit, >>not >>many hands will go up. If you ask how many have actually installed z/OS with >>z/OSMF >>or Serverpac, you would likely get the same result. You might ask if it is >>fair to be >>excluded just because you don't yet know assembler or have had the "chance" >>to install >>z/OS but if you want to have a certification, then you have to establish the >>minimum >>requirements and guarantee that everyone who obtains that certification meets >>them. >> >>If you establish a standard that you could create a certification for, then >>allowing those >>that should easily be able to pass the certification out of even taking the >>"test" is silly. >>It would cheapen the meaning of being "certified". There should be >>requirements to >>maintain the certification as well. Just because you learned how to do >>something 27 >>years ago doesn't mean you can do it now, nor that you can do it well enough >>to >>demand a premium price to be paid to perform that work. >> >>Brian >> >>>On Fri, 6 Feb 2026 14:45:19 -0600, Steve Beaver <[email protected]> >>>wrote: >>> >>>How many of the US Consultants would be open to creating at trade union >>> >>>With the specific proviso that everyone with over 25 years' experience >>> >>>Would be excluded from getting certified but could go get certifications >>> >>>Steve Beaver >-- > >This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the >addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If >the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized >representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any >dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have >received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail >and delete the message and any attachments from your system. > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
