Without in the least wishing to opine on the question itself, I just got an email from a recruiter looking for a number of skills of which assembler was listed first. Some of the description:
1. Good technical skills in the Mainframe platform - Assembler, COBOL, JCL, VSAM, DB2, EXPEDITOR, FILE- AID, CICS. 2. Good Analytical skills. Should be able to read the code and create Design Specs. 3. Candidate having experience in reverse engineering is an advantage. 4. Exposure to Cloud/Distributed technologies will be an added advantage. I can pass it along off-list to anyone who's interested. Me, I just thought the timing was good. --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* Nearly all men can stand adversity. If you want to test a man's character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Bill Johnson Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 09:48 How much demand is there for IBM mainframe Assembler programmers? Ray Mullin said this: I'll be honest - it's getting smaller and smaller. It's become a niche, mainly for system tools ISVs. Metal C is where the invisible hand of IBM is pushing the industry. Having said that… There is a benefit to learning assembler, or more specifically, the z/Architecture instruction set. You learn how the instructions work, and by reading the 1500+ page Principles of Operation (or, if you don't want that much reading, the General Instructions and Decimal Instructions chapters, plus some of the first 6 others), you can design efficient 3GL programs. In addition, use the LIST option of compilers to see the generated instructions. Through this, you can self-optimize and create efficient code, code that performs, and can save precious CPU and wall clock time. Look at the z390 emulator. This allows you to play with it on your own time on your own machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
