Carrer shift - training

[giri@ibm]

Dear Members

I have 13+ Years of experience in Mainframe- Development and Manual testing- specialization in TEST Mainframe Environment setup for batch job processing ,manage & maintenance.To up skill my self,would like to pursue course in Mainframe System Administration.Is it a good choice?does MF System Administration has market for people like me who's switching career(Mid of their life) from Batch job/TEST Environment setup specialist to mainframe administration?what are the industry expectations/standards with respect to Mainframe System Administration?also is there a institute who can provide unlimited virtual lab felicity and online training?

[Anuj Dhawan]

As I see, there are multiple layers in your post - I might sound philosophical as I write this post but you'd need to get in touch with yourself to answer some of the questions, which might follow:

[ol][li]What is bothering you just now - the work or the work-environment? Basically, why are you thinking about shift?[/li]
[li]Are you finding yourself in "midlife career crisis"? Yes? No? Choose one - and answer why do you make that choice? You can chose not to reveal  your answer here in the public Forum, but make sure you answer it to yourself,with clear, crisp and with a high sound in your mind.[/li]
[li]Why do you call it as a career shift? [/li]
Even if you are in to admin role, you are still in to mainframes? A career shift could have been like, just leaving IT behind altogether. Keeping the wording of your post in mind that might sound too broad for the shift so narrowing it down would still mean (for me) leaving mainframe and choosing some other IT filed. Opinions might vary however, I believe that what you have said, is a career upgrade rather than a shift.[/ol]
Mainframes administration is a niche skill and there sure is a market for it. As far the the expectation is concerned from this role - that would vary from shop to shop. And we need to talk about system programmer as well. And the distinction between system programmer and system administrator varies widely among mainframe sites. In smaller IT organizations, where one person might be called upon to perform several roles, the terms may be used interchangeably.

In larger IT organizations with multiple departments, the job responsibilities tend to be more clearly separated. System administrators perform more of the day-to-day tasks related to maintaining the critical business data that resides on the mainframe, while the system programmer focuses on maintaining the system itself. One reason for the separation of duties is to comply with auditing procedures, which often require that no one person in the IT organization be allowed to have unlimited access to sensitive data or resources. Examples of system administrators include the database administrator (DBA) and the security administrator.

While system programmer expertise lies mainly in the mainframe hardware and software areas, system administrators are more likely to have experience with the applications. They often interface directly with the application programmers and end users to make sure that the administrative aspects of the applications are met. These roles are not necessarily unique to the mainframe environment, but they are key to its smooth operation nonetheless.

In larger IT organizations, the system administrator maintains the system software environment for business purposes, including the day-to-day maintenance of systems to keep them running smoothly. For example, the database administrator must ensure the integrity of, and efficient access to, the data that is stored in the database management systems.

Other examples of common system administrator tasks can include:

[ul][li]Installing software[/li]
[li]Adding and deleting users and maintaining user profiles[/li]
[li]Maintaining security resource access lists[/li]
[li]Managing storage devices and printers[/li]
[li]Managing networks and connectivity[/li]
[li]Monitoring system performance[/li][/ul]
In matters of problem determination, the system administrator generally relies on the software vendor support center personnel to diagnose problems, read dumps, and identify corrections for cases in which these tasks aren't performed by the system programmer.

I have taken couple of last paragraphs directly from IBM. However, some of the system admin jobs description, in India, I've observed are like the one listed below: 

Sample 1:

[ul][li]Capable of installing/upgrading z/OS systems.[/li]
[li]Should have sound knowledge of JCLs, IPL, TSO, MVS concepts, SMP/E, JES2/3, HCD, RACF, SDSF, Sysplex, USS, Catalog Management, z/OS problem management etc. and knowledge of installing and supporting widely used ISV products from different vendors which includes IBM, CA, BMC, Compuware and ASG."[/li][/ul]
Sample 2:

Responsibilities include (but not limited to):

[ul][li]Storage management relating to mainframe technologies and Disaster Recovery readiness. [/li]
[li]Support changes in tape library backup systems (e.g. IBM, Oracle, BusTech).[/li]
[li]Training and education on storage and backup related technologies and system products.[/li]
[li]Management of replication software and configuration (e.g., Flashcopy, BCM).[/li]
[li]Perform Disaster Recovery exercises and manage DR plans.[/li]
[li]The management of Tape Products; i.e. RMM, CA-1, HSC, CSC[/li]
[li]The management DASD storage pools[/li]
[li]Troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve storage hardware/software issues[/li][/ul]
I would not recommend a specific training institute for this, as we don't have any spoke person from them on this site, at the moment. But what's your location, it would depend a lot on that too.

Hope this helps.