Have I got "New to z" for you

In this edition

Mainframerz Event Teaser ?? Update on the Mainframe Book Club ?? Mainframe Myths Debunked ?? IBM Mainframe vs. The Cloud?? What is a Mainframe ?? Helpful free certification for 'new to z' ?? Potpourri - various stories ??

Intro

The Mainframerz meetup events & newsletters are designed to share the latest news and training to 'help you grow your skills and network'.

At our events and through the newsletter you can network with like minded friendly folks keen to help and engage in discussion around the mainframe.

To get the most from our community we invite you to jump in with questions, ideas, or helping with one of our events.

Mainframerz: Have I got new to z for you

?? Inspiration

It's time to give a few more details around our next event: Have I got new to z for you. I know a few of you like to know what has inspired the title for a newsletter or event.

Our title is inspired by a UK television show that has run for many years which brings a mix of news and fun with the latest stories in a recap of what has happened over the previous week, it also has I think quite a catchy theme song.

We wanted to use the play on words, not all of you will have seen the UK based TV show and this gives me the opportunity to share where we found the inspiration for the title.

For me one of the fun parts of being a part of the Mainframerz team is the choosing of the title and we have a bit of fun choosing a title between ourselves.

As a rule the really good and memorable titles are chosen by different members of the Mainframerz team, we actually take a vote on the best name.

Coming up......

With little over a month until our next event planning has been in full swing we have lined up a number of interesting speakers and topics.

As a community we hope you will support the presentations with your experience that our community brings and if you have new mainframe hires and you are mentoring or want to help support the mainframe as we grow then please join in the conversation at our event.

20th March 2025 @ 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (UK UTC/GMT)

Presentation themes:

? Comparing Porsche to the Mainframe

? zXPLORE and a live demo

? Experiences of a new Mainframer

? Talk to Emma for a Foundation in Mentoring and more

? Plus one more mystery presentation - TBC

Sign-up on Meetup as we will release more details very shortly: Meet-up Registration

We have a sneak paeak of our next event to Meetup, if you register on Meetup or subscribe to the newsletter you will be issued with the link to join our event and you will find out more about our speakers and the topics we are presenting.

Just a reminder: If you are new to our event many of our speakers are available for up to two weeks after the event to answer questions and we offer Replays of past events on our YouTube Channel as a Replay, many of our previous events are available to watch.

We opted not to offer the live events where we held an open mic as a replay - sorry.

?? Book Club

Read all about it!

In my last newsletter and in an earlier LinkedIn post I discussed creating a mainframe book club, I promised to go away and work on this idea. So far I have already spoken to a various people in the community and there is interest in a book club, this will I hope be a fun idea.

My plan is to speak to to a wide range of diverse voices ranging from 'new to z' to 'old hands', from 'England to Ethiopia'; I want to engage the community reaching out around the world and talking to everyone who supports our community from development, support, storage, hardware, sales, open mainframe, AI and more.

After thinking on this I thought it would be interesting to see if the reading list is the same all around the world or maybe we may uncover a hidden gem.

Once I have recorded the book club chat I will share the book club meeting as a video link in the newsletter and make the recordings available via YouTube.

Talking Mainframe

Mainframe Myths Debunked

As our next event will be themed around how Mainframerz can help those 'new to z', I thought it might be interesting to share a video on a topic I have seen crop up a couple of times recently in posts from IBM & Topic Trick among others around debunking mainframe myths.

When we discuss our mainframe, we are not always as loud as some other alternatives, People do not know what we do or how we do it. In fact it can be a very interesting opening statement "I work in mainframe", as people always want to ask about it.

IBM recently published an interesting posts on debunking mainframe myths and it is definitely worth a quick google search if you haven't seen it; I thought I would share a short video from another source around debunking those 'Mainframe Myths'.

I like to try and share content from across our community and I had a few choices and opted for the video below, if anyone is wondering as far as I know the man in the video below is not based on me.

The IBM Mainframe vs. Cloud?

Another post I found very interesting is from Chris Knowles who has shared a balanced discussion about the differences between the cloud and the mainframe, which for me is a line that is becoming more blurred in recent times.

I really liked the way Chris laid out his post and his content, as we all have an opinion I wanted to share his post but mention that the mainframe also has some really great AI capability now, with the release of new AI capable chips.

"There seems to be this myth of some kind of crazy monetary saving when moving to the cloud, as a common reason businesses consider migrating is the perception that it will reduce costs. While cloud computing operates on an OPEX (operational expenditure) model, avoiding large upfront investments, this does not always translate into savings and I’ll tell you my thoughts as to why this is".

I don't want to give away all the goodies in the post from Chris but he does end with a really nice and simply laid out way of seeing the benefits between the mainframe & cloud.

You can read his post on this topic here:

What is a Mainframe?

All you need to know

If you are new to the mainframe and are reading this newsletter a great almost quick start guide to the mainframe has been written by IBM. In the post by IBM you can find out all of the key facts you might want to know such as:-

? What is a Mainframe

? What does a Mainframe look like

? The history of Mainframe Computing

? How does a Mainframe work

? The benefits of the Mainframe Offers

? Mainframes vs Super Computers

? & more

If you would like to read this post from IBM you can find it here:

Helpful 'free' Training

Certification

If you are looking to get started and looking for some free certification to show your commitment to the mainframe then I have a couple of free courses for you from IBM:-

Entry level Certification as a Mainframe Programmer

? Click the link to join the course: IBM Mainframe Developer Professional Certificate

"gain the job-ready skills for an entry-level Mainframe programming role."

? Click the link to join the course: IBM z/OS Mainframe Practitioner Professional Certificate

"immerse yourself in skills you'll need for these roles: Mainframe Application Developer, System Programmer, System Administrator, or DBA Practitioner."

Q. Are there any changes you would suggest to improve the mainframerz newsletter?

"Do you have an idea or topic you would like to present at one of our Mainframerz events, do you have a topic you would likes us to discuss at the Mainframerz event.....

....or would you like to suggest an article, topic or discussion for the newsletter...

...if so I want to hear from you as well as my regular contributors!"

? ?? Potpourri {mainframe & non-mainframe stories} ?

Don't put your Tea next to the PC

I'm not sure how many of you have ever heard anything along those lines of make sure you don't put your drink next to the computer in case it spills as water and electric don't mix. I have heard it from my mum and at work, to be fair I have seen a few cups knocked over next to the computer at work in my time.

OK, this does lead me nicely to share a quick video I have been meaning to share for ages and I apologise if I have shared this before but it is worth resharing in case some of you have not seen this before.

When I think of a water cooled mainframe this is not the image I think of..... but maybe it could be in future.

When I think of Direct Liquid Cooling I picture a radiator in a set-up similar to a car where cold liquid circulates around the CPU or other heat source and removes the heat by surrounding the object in a cold water jacket; it looks like we have made a step forward and now the jacket is off and the water can be applied directly to the heat source.

Hack All the way from Fridge to Mainframe

I wanted to share a great post that was posted by Rui Miguel Feio who some of you may know from the Mainframe Society I found his post very interesting "Hack All the Way Through from Fridge to Mainframe"

Good Luck to all of you who are New to z

On a personal note from myself that will be echoed I am sure by many other fellow mainframerz....

"....a journey of a 1,000 miles must start with one small job step"

"You've made it this far don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter or check out the links below before you go"

Useful Links ??

Join our Slack Channel (Link expires - 13th October 2024) here:

{"job opportunities - Job info", "General - General queries" plus much more}

Join our Meetup page & visit out latest event here:

{stay up to date on our events "event agendas" "dates" "Link to join event"}

View Jobs (if you have already joined our slack channel) here:

{free to post jobs and ask job questions}

NEW: Help find a Mainframe role here:

{"are you looking for help with a 1st role", "making a 2nd move in your career". Many new updates from everyone in the mainframe community added}

Save Mainframe Licensing costs newsletter here:

{"do you have an ELA upcoming" or "major hardware event"}

View the Mighty Mainframe newsletter archive here:

{Monthly source of information for mighty mainframe experts.}

View our list of useful Guides, Tips & Resources here:

{lots of helpful resources recently updated}

Message/connect with me here:

{talk to me about any mainframe questions}

Mainframerz YouTube - watch replays of our events here:

{missed an event - catch-up on our Replays on Youtube}

DevOps Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/pro/devops-exchange/

{the worlds largest DevOps meetup event}