Crosspost: Ask HN: How to transition to mainframe development

Jobs
#1

Saw this on Hacker News - what would be your recommendation?

I am a sr software developer with 6 years of C# experience and am itching to get into mainframe development with COBOL or even assembly. I have a few months professional experience with COBOL but don’t know how to make the transition to a full time COBOL gig. It isn’t as easy to pick up COBOL like C# is since the ecosystem is very limited. I have a MS in CS but didn’t touch any mainframe type content so I have no formal education in this either. Is the only option to really apply for entry level jobs and take a pay cut?

( original post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15698763 )

#2

Hi. I’ve worked for companies that use C/C++ for mainframes instead of COBOL. In my opinion, transitioning to C/C++ from C# would be much easier than C# to COBOL. Plus, C/C++ will be around longer than COBOL and has a larger array of applications (more opportunities). You won’t need to take a pay cut. Good luck.