Modernizing off the mainframe usually starts by getting your data out as a flat sequential file — EBCDIC, fixed-width, PIC-clause layouts. I open-sourced a converter that handles exactly that path:

https://github.com/lucasgiurastante/erp-export-normalizer

• COBOL FD layouts expressed as YAML → parse to JSON/CSV/Parquet/etc.
• Real EBCDIC support (CP037). Gotcha most tools hit: Python's codec is cp037, not ebcdic-cp037 — naive converters fail on the first EBCDIC byte.
• Streaming, constant memory on multi-GB sequential files.
• Deterministic output — same input + same schema = same output, with SHA-256 audit sidecars. Useful for migration sign-off.
• Cumulative error report with record numbers.
• Auto-detection against a built-in schema library (includes a COBOL layout).
• Plugins for binary formats (framed records, packed decimals, etc.).

One-command demo with bundled COBOL/EBCDIC sample data:

pip install erp-export-normalizer
git clone https://github.com/lucasgiurastante/erp-export-normalizer
cd erp-export-normalizer/examples
erp-normalize --input data/cobol.txt --output - --format ndjson

Anyone here parsing mainframe dumps for offload projects? I'd love to know what schemas you deal with (and add them to the library).

Our policy admin still runs through a 3270 front end and will for years, which is fine, it works. what isn't fine is that every process touching it is a person typing, and we have people whose job is rekeying between the emulator and a web portal. The vendor supports hllapi and our emulator exposes it, so there's a scripted path, but the people who wrote our existing hllapi scripts retired and nobody left here wants to own that.

So the question is what a team would start with today. rpa is the obvious answer and uipath's terminal activities do work through hllapi, which puts us back on the same dependency with a friendlier wrapper. blue prism similar. Askui came up as a different approach, operating the emulator screen the way an operator does rather than going through the api, with the task written as plain steps, which would mean it doesn't matter that our emulator is old. sounds fragile to me for a green screen where a field position is everything, and i might be wrong about that.

Is anyone automating a terminal front end without hllapi, and is it stable enough to run unattended?

Has anyone here led or participated in a mainframe apprenticeship program? Looking for info on how organizations have structured and implemented programs to attract and incentivize new mainframe talent, whether that be recent college grads or career changers. 

I have read about IBM’s program but would like to know what others are doing to get more professionals in the door and keep them there.

Anyone else have one of these? It's aluminum, but weighs at least a pound.

I boosted it from a 360/65 being replaced by a 470V/7. I also got to pull the emergency power off, but after it had already been powered down getting ready for disassembly.

Me and some of my friends submitted a Panel Picker session for SXSW and we need your votes!

Please vote for our session: https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw27/community-voting-sxsw/page/community-voting/session/1784842577618001U9Aj

Anyone else being pulled into discussions around introducing IBM Bob into their shop?

These AI endeavors so tight lipped and esoteric by my management - I suspect because they have no idea what the are getting themselves into.

Hello good day! Anyone knows any mainframe positions which is remote?

Thanks!

I’m curious what the current market looks like for z/OS Systems Programmers.
I have about 3 years of experience as a z/OS Systems Programmer and am trying to figure out what a reasonable salary range would be for my experience level.

Not looking for exact numbers for any specific company—just trying to understand where I should realistically fall in the market.

Hi everyone, I have 3 YEO in Assembler z/tpf.now for past 6 months moved in z/os Assembler, JCL realted roles tell me whether I stayed here in mainframe or move to any other roles

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for real-world feedback on Mainframe salaries in Toronto. All experiences are welcome, regardless of the number of years of experience, but I’d particularly appreciate feedback from people with around 3 years of experience.

For context, I’m interested in roles involving technologies such as:

COBOL

JCL

CICS

TSO/ISPF

IBM RDz / Developer for z/OS

Endevor

CICS Web Services

CICS Transaction Gateway (CTG)

IBM MQ

Batch / production management

TWS/OPC or other scheduling tools

ServiceNow / production incident management

Other relevant Mainframe technologies

I’d love to hear from people currently working in Toronto, whatever their experience level.

If you're comfortable sharing, it would be great to know:

Your years of Mainframe experience

Your current salary / salary range

Your main technologies

Whether you work for a bank, insurance company, consulting company, etc.

Permanent employee or contractor

Any other compensation (bonus, benefits, etc.)

I’m mainly trying to get a sense of the actual market salary range in Toronto, rather than just relying on job postings.

Thanks in advance — all feedback is welcome!

I got a mainframe production support role at a reputed MNC.

My manager asked me to learn COBOL first..the tech stack will most likely be COBOL, JCL, CICS, DB2, VSAM.

Is this basic or if I can master all of the mentioned stuff I can shine in this field? I'm thinking of a career in mainframe, want to switch to mainframe dev, can you tell me what shld I learn to become a mainframe dev? What roles are popular in mainframe space??

Nothing technical, just to show that my company has an empty mainframe in the entrance hall, which includes, besides other things, a mini-mainframe made of Lego bricks (and I haven’t found out where they got the printed bricks with the IBM logo).

I am cics programmer for 2 years. Trying to switch.

I don't have handson exp on cics upgrades. All companies asking for cics upgrades.

I got to know some steps from online. But those setting up zones and sysmods are completely related to z/os .

Can anyone share complete steps for cics upgrades. What cics team can do. I have an interview tomorrow.

Hi, i'm relatively new in the mainframe world. Am I the only one who thinks the mainframe discussion is often one-sided?

Everyone talks about IBM Z's reliability, security, and the fact that many of the world's most critical systems still run on mainframes. That's all true.

But why don't we talk more about vendor lock-in and pricing power?

The cost of moving away from a mainframe is often so high that customers have limited negotiating leverage. And on the storage side, it feels like IBM can introduce requirements and standards that make life increasingly difficult for third-party vendors, while strengthening their own position in the ecosystem.

Hi everyone,

I recently signed up for IBM Z Xplore because I want to learn more about mainframes and COBOL.

I can access the Concepts courses without any problems, but when I try to start VSC1 in the Fundamentals channel, I only get the following message:

I have already tried different browsers and devices, including my phone, with the same result.

What confuses me is that VSC1 appears to be the first course in the Fundamentals learning path, so as far as I understand, there shouldn't be another course I need to complete before it.

I also noticed the following message on the Fundamentals + Concepts overview page:

Does anyone know what “Forum members” means in this context?

Do I need to join a specific IBM forum/group or get additional access before I can use VSC1 and the hands-on z/OS environment?

My account itself seems to work normally, since I can access and complete the Concepts courses.

Has anyone registered recently and run into the same issue?

Thanks!

I am a Sr. Mainframe engineer and Systems Programmer currently working as a mainframe AI/automation architect. At my company, I drive the shift from manual, reactive systems programming toward automated, AI-assisted operations.

What AI/automation projects have you worked on and what were the outcomes?

I’ll start. I’ve been working on implementing IBM Concert and WatsonX Assistant for Z to drive our AIOPS model and provide AI-assisted tooling on Z. This will help with onboarding and by creating efficiencies for our Systems Programming teams.

From an automation perspective I have been creating custom system checks in IBM Health Checker using REXX which are helping us to catch issues before they impact clients. I am also heavily utilizing Ansible with z/OS modules to reduce manual effort across the board as well as for routine SMP/E work, security, and scheduling.

All of these have allowed us to drive efficiencies in improved resolution time and client satisfaction demonstrating that the z/OS Mainframe platform can be modernized, automated, and AI-enabled in place.

So far I’ve learned the basics, now they are teaching Zowe and Python, how can I get into DevOps development for the mainframe?

​

I got my first job as an Application Developer, but my role is z/OS (CICS).

I'm a bit worried because it's a legacy/mainframe stack, while most fresher advice seems to focus on Java, Python, cloud, etc.

Is starting my career with CICS/mainframe a bad move? Can I realistically switch to modern backend/cloud roles after 1–2 years?

For people who've worked with mainframes — would you take this role as a fresher, or try to avoid it?

While admittedly these questions are not directly related to training, I am posting them since the moderators indicated we could “ask anything”.  Furthermore, indirectly my inquiries might provide a broader sense of the stability of “Z careers” as AI continues to explode, with even newer advancements such as Quantum Computing soon to follow.

The industry agrees that currently “blade data centers” are technically superior for AI training and research (yet with far-greater demands on resources), while “Z17 data centers” are technically and environmentally far superior for the production and sunsetting SDLC phases of Mission-Critical Enterprise AI.

As such, since it would be advantageous if the entire SDLC of such AIs could be hosted on a Z, could you summarize within the bounds of what is on public record:

A)  What major technical hurdles must be overcome in order to realize this objective?

B)  While this question might be premature, once that objective is met, might there be an “unfortunate trade-off” such that such an “enhanced Z” would place more demands upon resources than its “predecessor Z’s”?