When it comes to IBM Z, I may not have seen it all, but I’ve seen more than most. After 29 years at IBM and more than a decade working with LRS’ mainframe customers, I know where this legendary platform has been, where it is today, and where it has the potential to go.
Finding the Best and Brightest
Most of the world’s largest manufacturers, banks, transportation providers, insurance companies, and other global organizations rely on our flagship VTAM Printer Support (VPS) solution and its extensions for secure, reliable delivery of business-critical documents. To ensure we can support and enhance our IBM Z-based solutions well into the future, LRS is training a new generation of mainframe talent to fill the shoes of those ready to IPL their daily routines.
Two great examples are Nichol Friedman and Tyler Stenberg, past and present members of LRS’ summer internship program, respectively. Both hail from the reputable computer science program at Northern Illinois University. When asked what sparked their interest in learning about mainframes, they cited their professor, Geoffrey Decker.
Tyler Stenberg (left) and Nichol Friedman, LRS' newest mainframe programmers
Tyler, a current LRS summer intern, explained, “Assembler language programming is a required class at NIU, and our instructor, Professor Decker, is an IBM Z ambassador. After taking that class, I became a TA for the same class, which likely helped me get the internship at LRS. Next semester, I am signed up for a COBOL class, also with Professor Decker. He’s enthusiastic about the platform.”
Nichol Friedman, NIU grad, 2024 LRS summer intern, and current LRS employee adds: “Where every other programming instructor would teach something and say ‘you might use this someday in the real world,’ Professor Decker told us ‘This is the code that every bank and every insurance company runs on. Learn this stuff: it isn’t going away any time soon, and the people who wrote it are retiring, so you’ll be set, career-wise.’”
Aside from the promise of steady employment, another aspect of mainframe programming for Nichol is the direct control involved in assembler programming. “It’s a much lower level of working with the computer, which is very, very interesting to me. I also find it easier than writing code in a higher-level language because there’s no wondering what some line of code will do when I can’t peek under the hood. With assembler, if I say load this value from here and put it in some place in memory and my code does something wrong, then I know what the problem is. I wrote the wrong code. I don’t have to wonder if it’s loading in a different format or I’m using the wrong library in C. It makes it easy to narrow down where the issue may be.”
Learning, Teaching, Doing.
Learning assembler programming in the classroom is one thing; understanding how to apply that knowledge in a real-world software development environment is another. LRS’ developer internships are project-driven, with a lot of learning-by-doing. “It’s not like we’re staying between the carefully guided rails of following some tutorial. Instead, they ask ‘here’s a project, how would you do this?’” explains Nichol.
Tyler added “There are plenty of people to ask for help, but the best way to learn is to struggle through things on your own for a while and come up with your own approach.” For example, his current project involves linking Python code with assembler code and writing the results from error fix searches to individual JSON files in a format that was requested by a specific LRS software customer. “I hadn’t ever used those different technologies together, so there was a bit of a learning curve there.”
It's not all sink-or-swim, however. Tyler and Nichol both use the IBM Z Explore learning platform to build their mainframe knowledge and skills. The young professionals are also helping educate some of their more experienced colleagues about new resources available to the IBM Z community. “For example, most programmers in our department hadn’t heard of the Zowe framework until one of our interns showed us what it could do,” said Rebecca O’Connell, who heads up LRS’ mainframe software development group.
IBM Z: Timeless, Rigorous, Enlightening
Long-time mainframers like myself take for granted the rock-solid reliability of the IBM Z environment. But to younger professionals, the timeless nature of mainframe systems sets the platform apart. “Every time a new version of Windows or Mac OS comes out, it seems that some program on my PC is no longer supported,” says Nichol. “But on the mainframe, there are applications written in the 1980s that are still running. The assembler code I’m writing today could still be running when I retire.”
When asked to describe the IBM Z platform in one word, Tyler’s instant response was “rigorous.” As mentioned earlier, assembler programming gives a great degree of direct control of computing processes at a very low level that contrasts with the flexibility and forgiveness afforded by higher-level languages. “When you’re writing assembler, there’s barely one layer between you and what the machine will be doing when you run your code. That’s fun.”
What word comes to mind for Nichol? Enlightening. “Everything you deal with when programming in assembler is foundational. In Python and other languages, you can combine various bits of existing code and in the end you might say ‘I don’t know why this works, but it does.’ In assembler, you always know why it works… it doesn’t happen by accident. Everything is intentional, foundational, and direct, which I like.”
The Future’s so Bright…
Just as punchcards and plastic flowchart stencils are no longer with us, many long-time mainframe professionals will one day become part of the proud history of the computing platform that started it all. Yet the legendary hardware, software, and culture that encompasses both will live on. The good news is that the fate of the IBM Z platform is in great hands.
With talented developers like Tyler and Nichol, outspoken IBM Advocates like Professor Decker, and great resources like IBM Z Explore and Zowe, the future of the mainframe is in good hands indeed. For as long as companies continue to rely on IBM Z for their critical IT systems, LRS will also be there to provide secure output management solutions to ensure reliable, cost-effective delivery of the documents that drive key business processes.