IBM Mainframes Advice

NVP

NVP

NVP

Soldato
Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
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Hi guys,

Firstly the good news:
I have finally started my first ever job! Woo hoo! I'm contracted to Abbey/Santander to work on the credit/debit card integrations of new and old systems due to mergers in the company... (i think!!)

Now for the bad news:
Basically I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing or supposed to do yet. I just assumed I would be doing coding so I have learned COBOL, but I'm supposed to be using a TSO to access the IBM mainframe to (I assume) access the source and files needed for whatever jobs they want me to write/edit...
(I know that is a bad explanation but I honestly am unsure on the whole set-up of the mainframes and the running of jobs/programs)

All my programming experience has been in OO (Java mainly) so i'm used to working in point and click environments with easy to understand GUIs and everything, but this mainframe thing is completely different, quite basic. When I leaernt COBOL recenetly I understand it perfectly and it's much easier to program with. What I don't understand is everything else, the TSO console (RUMBA?!), the different machines to access through the terminal, the commands to navigate around... basically I'm really confused with the whole environment.

They know that I can program in COBOL, but they also know that I am only a graduate/junior developer and so I assumed I would get greater help in learning the system, but so far nothing. Actually, all I have done is have meetings on how the new system to be implemented will work, what systems it works with, what stages it will go through, how the old system worked... blah blah, basically all the neccessary details of what the project entails. But not really anything on what I actually need to do or how to do it. Currently I am reding through thousands of pages of documentations and presentations to try and understand what is going on, but I think I need to concentrate more on how I work on mainframes and use the environment I'm working in.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can quickly get my head around the overall concepts? What are the best areas to read up on? Anyone know any tutorials/books which would help me understand how to work on/program with mainframes? Or does anyone just have any general advice to help me understand the job at hand.

Thanks

NVP
 
Hehehe :)
Complete luck I wondered into this forum today :)
As a person who comes into contact with programmers who don't understand mainframes, all I can say is that you really need to understand the environment your programming for....PLEASE! :)
Also, as someone who is quite pro-mainframe, to say the mainframe thing is quite basic is quite wrong. Do not be fooled by the old fashioned interface you may be using.
Try this redbook: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246366.pdf
 
Thanks for the advice gsf600y, it is much appreciated and that redbook looks very interesting so I shall give it a read asap. I think I overreacted a bit initially, probably just first day jitters... but after a few days working here and using the system I can kind of understand how it's all fitting together, but I'm still no where close to getting my head around it all as of yet. There is another hindrance to my progression as quite a lot of the UI's are in spanish and so is most of the code I'm having to edit which is making the learning process a bit harder :( BUT I'm sure as soon as I understand the entire mainframe concept and figure out what does what and how to do things I'm sure I should be fine.

Thanks for the advice and the redbook. If you have any other hints/tips on how I can understand things it would be appreciated even more. Cheers

NVP

EDIT: Thanks again for this redbook, it is exactly what I needed to help me get my head around the whole mainframe concept and environmnets.
 
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Assuming your programs are running under CICS, your CICS Systems Programmers are there to advise on the CICS environment you're coding for, and your Systems Programmers can help advise on the operating system related matters. CICS Sysprogs are usually quite knowledgable about COBOL too. And don't forget a trivial increase in CPU for one program multiplied by tens of thousands of users might have significant impact, and the Capacity Planning team are good people to get to know.
 
Thank you for the info gsf600y, the programs are indeed running under CICS, but a lot of the documents provided to help are in spanish or poorly translated english so it's hard to grasp initially (for me anyway) but I will try and find out who the CICS sysprogs are and see if they can help me get started, although I only started on monday and its a very big building (in milton keynes for coincidence sake) I'm working in so it may take me a while to familiarise myself with everything and everyone. Thanks for the advice though as it is greatly appreciated and it's helped ease my nerves.
 
This brings back memories. TSO/RACF.. I did a syncronisation application between the FIR content control system on a mainframe and PCMS on SUN.. literally screen scraped the data.
 
I am also starting my first ever real job, basically they want me to go from intermediate Java to Firmware/driver/software programmging in C (not C++). I asked them if they thought i could do that easily, and they said yes.. Bring on the placement startdate!!!
 
Don't worry TubbZ if you're a grad they'll put you under a team lead or guidance of a more senior engineer. It'll be a steep learning curve initially.
 
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