Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

I used to work on the IBM mainframe systems like Hogan, for around 25 years actually. My only experience with Hogan is with query only capability. However the other IBM mainframe systems that I worked on involved modifying existing code, writing new mainframe code, installing mainframe based software packages, etc.

The IBM mainframe systems are very complex. It involves JCL (Job Control Language), knowing your disk packs and the space allocated on them for your job. The mainframe jobs have to allocate adequate disk space or they will abend. They must have valid job credentials, setting many parameters in the JCL code. The program code is usually in a programming language like COBOL or SAS. The mainframe jobs are run based on priority settings in the job parameters, requested space allocation, etc. That means if your mainframe job is low priority, or takes a lot of resources, it may not run for a while during the day, after other jobs in the run queue go first. Not like working with SQL Server, UNIX, on a LAN, or host that has immediate turnaround response for code execution.
On the mainframe you have to schedule your job to run and then wait, and wait for the code change you are testing to get scheduled to execute and run. So it takes MUCH longer to test code changes on a mainframe system. There is all of the documentation to update as well. Yes it takes a long time to implement code changes on an IBM Mainframe platform, if that is the point that needs to be made. Much longer than on other host platforms.