From the Editor: Welcome to Mainframe Muggle
At Planet Mainframe, we love a good debate—especially when it comes with a dose of wit. Our new (anonymous) opinion series, Mainframe Muggle, is here to spark conversation, ruffle a few feathers, and (hopefully) make you laugh along the way.
It’s a fresh perspective from someone who stumbled into the mainframe world, stuck around despite the quirks, and isn’t afraid to say what many newcomers are thinking. It’s thought-provoking and a little cheeky.
So, read with an open mind, engage in discussion, and remember: the future of the mainframe isn’t just about the past—it’s about those evolving with it.
Enjoy, and let the games begin.
—Amanda, Managing Editor @ Planet Mainframe
“Muggle.”
Like our dear Mr. Harry Potter, I once found myself looking from the outside into a world of wizards, spells, and centuries-old traditions. It was the world of Mainframes.
I am a Mainframe Muggle.
I had no idea what a mainframe was—or even that my employer used one—until it was too late to change jobs.
Fresh out of my wonderful student years, I imagined my IT career would place me among the best minds on the planet, working at the bleeding edge of technology. I would help humanity charge into the third millennium, armed with the finest tools that modern engineering could offer.
Then I met you.
Suddenly, I was no longer at the cutting edge of innovation. Instead, I found myself surrounded by eight-letter acronyms, archaic yet indestructible programming languages, and systems that predated the Internet by decades.
It was disorienting. At first, I questioned my decision to stay. Every single day. Yet, with time, I became a mainframe sysprog.
My days are now spent deciphering codebases older than I am, navigating documentation that reads like ancient scripture, and troubleshooting software that has long outlived its sell-by date. And yet—here I am, keeping the wheels of the digital past turning.
Why did I choose this path?
Maybe it’s intellectual curiosity. Maybe it’s the same nostalgic fondness one feels around a beloved Grandpa—he’s outdated and a bit grumpy, but he’s also full of wisdom.
Maybe, just maybe, I actually want to understand your customs, your anachronistic rituals, your deep, sacred knowledge of RACF and production specials.
Maybe, someday, even I will be accepted among the elite sysprog clan.
Someday.
But for now, I remain the Mainframe Muggle—an outsider trying to make sense of a world where batch jobs still rule, COBOL refuses to die, and where “modernization” is a word spoken in hushed tones, like an unholy curse from he-who-must-not-be-named.
Tech wanderer who accidentally fell into the mainframe world—and never left. Equal parts curious and rebellious, The Muggle respects the legacy but questions the traditions. Bridging past and future, one skeptical sysprog at a time.
“And now for something completely different…”
My entry into the wild, wonderful world of mainframes was exactly the opposite. My dad was a field engineer for IBM for 36 years. He started in 1955 working on systems that pre-dated even the concept of the System/360.
I clearly recall when, how and where I saw my first computer. I was 9 years old. My dad and I were out running some errands when he decided he needed to stop in at one of his accounts to check something. Security was non-existent in those days and I found myself in the middle of a very loud room. A wall full of tape drives that were busily doing their appointed tasks: some were advancing tapes in fits and starts, others were rewinding tapes at breakneck speed. Printers were clattering away as they churned out reports on green bar paper.
Then, in the middle of all that ruckus, I saw IT… a System/360 Model 50. The lights on the operator’s console twinkled and blinked… some in unison, some to their own rhythm. The operator’s hands deftly flew over the keys. A look at the cryptic messages and his responses led me to believe he had to be one of the smartest people on the planet to be so conversant in such an arcane language.
That’s when I felt it. It was the sting of a bug that would infect me for the rest of my life. I knew right then and there what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be just like my dad and do what he did.
Dad retired from IBM in 1991 and has since passed away. I’m starting my 40th year in IT and have held just about every role that can be done in a mainframe shop from small ones with a handful of developers to several in the Fortune 100. Naturally, there have been some downs here and there but overall, the ups have been plentiful and frequent. I’m currently doing a z/OS upgrade for a small ISV.
Eventually, I’ll start thinking about winding down and stepping aside for the next generation. But not today. Today, I’m still having way too much fun.