Mainframes are still a big thing (Interview)

This week we’re talking about Mainframes with Cameron Seay, Adjunct Professor at East Carolina University and a member of the Governing Board of the Open Mainframe Project. If you’ve been curious about Mainframes, this show will be a great guide. Cameron explains exactly what a Mainframe is and how it’s different from the Cloud. We talk COBOL and the state of education and opportunities around that language. We cover the state-of-the-art in Mainframe land, System Z, Linux on Mainframe, and more.

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Featuring:

• Cameron Seay – Twitter, LinkedIn
• Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
• Jerod Santo – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn

Show Notes:

• Open Mainframe Project
• IBM zSystems

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Timestamps:

(00:00) - This week on The Changelog
(01:16) - Sponsor: Sentry
(01:56) - Start the show!
(04:40) - What is a Mainframe?
(08:39) - What exactly is an IBM Z Mainframe?
(12:16) - What hardware makes up a Mainframe?
(15:50) - How is Mainframe different than HPC?
(22:58) - Sponsor: Postman
(24:13) - Should devs learn COBOL?
(27:43) - What's the interface to use a Mainframe?
(31:52) - Will IBM always own the Mainframe?
(34:19) - What flavors of Linux run on Mainframe?
(36:15) - The Open Mainframe Project
(37:56) - COBOL misconceptions
(40:11) - Demand for COBOL devs
(42:46) - How do you attract devs to this world?
(53:24) - What the path to get in?
(58:35) - The BIG opportunity
(1:02:25) - Thank you Cindy Harris!
(1:03:04) - Outro