For the next couple of days, I will be mostly skiving.
We’re doing the “z/OS Real-world Challenge” – a fairly shocking name, but the idea is that we get a few days out of the office to brush up our IBM mainframe sys-admin skills. We will be given a pretend scenario detailing customer requirements, then have to work out what we need to satisfy them – including how to install, set-up and configure any products that we need.
Not sure what we will be using, but it’s apparently a safe bet that it will include JCL, Java, WAS, DB2, COBOL, Assembler, CICS and WebSphere MQ among others.
Some of which I’ve never gone anywhere near before! 🙂
At the end of it all, our efforts are examined and graded by some more experienced architects.
It’s a chance for us to try our hands at some new things, as well as test some of our preconceptions on the best way to use products that we think we know. Should be fun!