Comment by CountHackulus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CountHackulus | Hacker News Reader

Hi, I worked on the C/C++ compiler for zLinux, the COBOL compiler for zOS, and on the non-open-source version of Hercules.

If you've got zOS and COBOL knowledge then Toronto is the place for you. IBM develops their zOS software in Toronto (well, Markham) mostly. At least the compilers, DB2, and parts of WebSphere.

The other users are the major banks, and they're all headquartered in downtown Toronto. They're desperately looking for people with zOS and COBOL knowledge, I get plenty of recruiter emails for that despite not really having much COBOL knowledge.

Honestly, if you apply for any of those jobs with even a passing familiarity of COBOL you're pretty much guaranteed. Also, welcome to the mainframe club!

Not relevant to this post, but I clicked your username out of curiosity (and because I am apparently a super creep). Turns out I worked with you years ago (I was on the j9jit team). Small world.

Hm. I'm mildly curious, and I figure there's no harm in asking, so... what about Australia? Is there anywhere in particular that's looking for anything over here?

I've long thought mainframes were interesting, seemingly for the same sorts of reasons as OP - alien rock-solidness, for want of a better way to put it. But I'm not sure if .com.au has much in the way of mainframe-type development, or if there's much of a job market here.

> Honestly, if you apply for any of those jobs with even a passing familiarity of COBOL you're pretty much guaranteed.

This is interesting. How the companies there react to the fact that one doesn't have an academic degree despite IBM devops knowledge?

That I honestly don't know. Everyone but one person in the compiler area had at least a Bachelor's degree, and that one person had what was essentially a 4 year diploma. I'm not familiar enough with any of the areas or the bank hiring to know for sure.

Thanks for the input, the adage follow the jobs seems apt here, I'll have to get used to the scale and commute but it seems Scarborough/Toronto/Markham is the plan. At least I have a goal to aim for.

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