[Default] On 22 Jun 2017 15:13:36 -0700, in bit.listserv.ibm-main edgould1...@comcast.net (Edward Gould) wrote:
>> On Jun 22, 2017, at 3:07 PM, Tom Conley <pinnc...@rochester.rr.com> wrote: >> >> On 6/22/2017 3:42 PM, Edward Gould wrote: >>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/20/ibm_contractor_crackdown/ >>> <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/20/ibm_contractor_crackdown/> >>> IBM's contractor crackdown continues: Survivors refusing pay cut have hours >>> reduced >>> Managers told to hit budgets, even if customers bleed >> >> IBM continues to devalue the systems programmer. > >SNIP > >I think it was around 1995 when an IBM instructor (in a SERVPAC Class no less) >stated that IBMs goal was to get rid of them (sysprogs). >I challenged him about that statement. He looked men straight in the eye and >said that was INDEED IBMs goal. If the goal was to eliminate the need for highly technical people who understand the platform and the tradeoffs, that is a futile goal for any operating system. If the goal is to eliminate the need for assembler coded exits, this is more doable but customization will always be with us. While there can be plenty of obscurity in assembler, how well documented are the SYS1.PARMLIB members and JES initialization decks that control how the systems operate? These are just weird programming interfaces that can be every bit as cryptic. As someone who did his last systems programming in the 1990s, I would hope that systems maintenance and upgrade has become a lot easier (and if IBM made the Knowledge Center and Shopz 24/365.24 available) and that less custom code is required because of all the new concerns that I didn't have to deal with. The environment has become more complex for all of the operating systems so anything that can be eliminated is to the good. There is enough to do so that automation of some of the grunt work is a good thing. Clark Morris > >Ed >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
