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I also consult for Fortune 500 companies on a regular basis, and most of them still have core business processes running on mainframe code bases well older than
by cpitman 9y ago
I also consult for Fortune 500 companies on a regular basis, and most of them still have core business processes running on mainframe code bases well older than 10 years. No one is doing major greenfield development on mainframes, but they still exist all over the place.
- davedx 9y agoI'd love to read more about what it's like doing mainframe consulting. Do you own or know of any blogs in this area?
- cpitman 9y agoI don't know of any. I don't consult for the mainframe systems themselves. Usually I get pulled in when the client realizes that their last mainframe developers are years away from retirement, and they cannot find any new mainframe developers to hire. That starts a mad dash to migrate/replace the mainframe solution without disrupting the entire business. Despite the existing codebase, these projects are very difficult because noone knows how they work anymore. At one of my clients they had one mainframe developer left that knew their systems. She had already tried to retire, but they got her to agree to stay on for 5 years in return for bags filled with money. That meant they had 5 years to rewrite on a platform they could actually hire people for. 5 years to replace a system with decades of history.
- huhlig 9y agoI think IBM and their Z division would disagree. IBM Z Users: The 10 top insurers, 44 of the top 50 banks, 18 of the top 25 retailers, 90% of the largest airlines
- cpitman 9y agoThat seems to agree with me? Mainframes are still in use everywhere. However, that statistic doesn't imply that those customers build their brand new greenfield capabilities on those mainframes.