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How do I stay relevant in the current market scenario?

Posted on: 14 October 18

Hi,

I have been a mainframe professional for close to 11 years with experience in different domains including but not limited to Banking, Insurance, Retails etc. I've worked in various roles including development, QA as well as production support. Although most of my experience has been in development (around 8 years).

Although I have worked on multiple technologies on the mainframe platform (including PLI, COBOL, EGL, REXXX & Natural), I could find that there are very limited opportunities for the same in Indian IT market at the moment.

I would like to point out that I am not averse to moving to other roles like Business analyst etc. also at this point of my career. But I would like to choose some technology practice which will keep me relevant to the market for at least next few years & also will help me take advantage of what I have learned so far.

I would greatly appreciate your kind advice in this regards.

Thanks & Regards,

Amit Pal

Hi,

I have been a mainframe professional for close to 11 years with experience in different domains including but not limited to Banking, Insurance, Retails etc. I've worked in various roles including development, QA as well as production support. Although most of my experience has been in development (around 8 years).

Although I have worked on multiple technologies on the mainframe platform (including PLI, COBOL, EGL, REXXX & Natural), I could find that there are very limited opportunities for the same in Indian IT market at the moment.

I would like to point out that I am not averse to moving to other roles like Business analyst etc. also at this point of my career. But I would like to choose some technology practice which will keep me relevant to the market for at least next few years & also will help me take advantage of what I have learned so far.

I would greatly appreciate your kind advice in this regards.

Thanks & Regards,

Amit Pal

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Amit
Amit
 

2 Responses

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  • Jit

    4

    15 October 18

    Hi Amit,

    Let me try to give you some pointers please. You can keep yourself relevant by upgrading your tech/soft skills, role and/or industry knowledge.

    1. You could extend your Cobol skills to Cobol/400 on AS/400 system. You already worked in Insurance industry. You may have opportunities within Insurance industry domain as many Insurance companies continue to use CSC applications which run on AS/400 platform and require Cobol/400 & Smart/400 skills.
    2. One of the ways to keep yourself relevant is to keep a look out for learning opportunities within your organisation e.g. if there is an analytics initiative and you are working with the analytics team to assist them then you may like to explore learning opportunities. Other option to stay relevant is to keep upgrading your skills, not only technology skill set but other skills like team management, stakeholder management, project management skills etc.
    3. Yes you can be a BA. If you have already mastered a few capabilities like documentation, understanding the specifications, QA etc.. then your job shall become easier. Invariably, BA role requires understanding of industry domain as well. Depending upon your industry domain knowledge, you can work towards a role of BA within that industry domain. Once you get a career opportunity within Insurance industry, with better or existing industry domain knowledge, you could apply for BA roles as well. MyTechLogy platform’s interview guidance tool can assist you in preparing for interviews as well.
    4. Lastly, many organisations and government agencies world-wide continue to use mainframes and therefore, if you are open to relocate, you may explore the MF career opportunities in other countries. You can edit MyTechLogy Career Insight accordingly and shall start getting career opportunities digest through e-mail.

    Hope these pointers are of help.

  • Mario

    3

    15 October 18

    Hi Amit,

    The rounded software lifecycle experience that you have, as well as your industry domain exposure are both very valuable. While mainframes are unlikely to go away anytime soon, the broad technology application areas in which demand for skills is expected to keep growing in the foreseeable future are Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (commonly referred to as SMAC). There are many different types of skills required in these areas: various combinations of core technologies, Big Data processing, mobile computing, networks, security, user experience, artificial intelligence, etc. Each of these skill areas involves enough depth and complexity to base a new career specialisation on, so depending upon your aptitudes and interests, you could pick one of them and get yourself started by learning about it.

 
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