Mainframe careers aren’t disappearing. They’re narrowing, deepening, and becoming more demanding. If you spend any time in tech conversations, you’ve heard the claim that mainframe careers are fading, the talent pool is aging, and the jobs tied to IBM Z won’t survive....
Career resilience in the mainframe world sounds like jargon—until change hits. Reorgs, new technologies, leadership shifts, or surprise opportunities don’t reward the fastest scramblers. They reward the people who were already ready. That’s the core idea Darren Surch,...
Attendees at GS UK 2025 noticed a new track, WAVEZ 101, dedicated to early-career and undergraduate mainframers. I was delighted to be invited to speak on mainframe skills and what I see for the industry’s future employees. A Gloomy Skills Outlook The IT skills topic...
Mainframe careers rarely follow a script. Rather, they grow through curiosity, mentorship, and a willingness to keep learning. This trifecta is especially necessary as tools, platforms, and expectations evolve. Planet Mainframe caught up with Chris Muncan, Lead DB2...
In 2025, Planet Mainframe celebrated a decade of amplifying the world’s mainframe voices. What began 10 years ago as a part-time blog evolved into a trusted hub for industry news, deep technical insight, and highlighting the people shaping enterprise IT. Fittingly,...
From Mainframe to Cybersecurity: Experience Is the New Superpower If you’ve written COBOL, debugged Assembler, or know how to resolve an S0C7 abend, chances are you belong to an older—and increasingly rare—demographic in tech. If you’re a woman, that group is even...
Mainframe talent is in demand. Broadcom reports that 91% of organizations plan to hire mainframe system administrators or application developers within two years. For IT leaders, the need for skills development, mentorship, and knowledge transfer is urgent. In this...
After perusing blogs, surveys, and insights - and attending SHARE- DC, it’s clear that several big trends are emerging about what’s shaping mainframe careers and training. Here's what’s standing out—and why it matters right now. 1. Hands-On Learning Is the New...
For International Women’s Day, Vertali’s Linda McGrath reflects on the changing fortunes of women in the sector When I started in this industry almost three decades ago, the world was a very different place in terms of perceptions of gender, and gender balance in the...
The demand for skilled mainframe professionals continues to grow in a world with Big Iron powering critical industries and massive data operations. Yet traditional pathways into mainframe careers pose challenges for newcomers and mid-career transitions.Enter the Eli...
