Hello guys,


Would like to check with you especially those with work experience as per title, may I know what other jobs / positions out there that requires one to have mainframe COBOL knowledge (along with JCL, VSAM, FM, quikjob, eztrieve, changeman, endeavor etc), but without the need to do overnight support / long OT after office hour or during weekend? I'm tired of living like a walking dead already, on top of that i need to attend daily meetings with hot headed, toxic human being.

I really don't know who to ask probably due to i'm an introvert and bad in socializing. Hopefully I could find answer here...Thank you.

IT Banking. Lots of banks still use legacy systems running on AS400/Mainframe which requires COBOL.

Go for the development teams and not the production support so you don't have to do weekend support. You may still need to do OT and support over weekends during deployments, but that is planned. It is part of the territory.

Thanks for your reply. Yes I'm with the IT dev in banking, but it's really tiring when dev also need to do L3/L4 support.

Still I'm looking for role that my skills can fit and without the need to work during rest time and weekends. I don't mind if it's not a dev role or different industry.

Okay. The only issue I've heard is you not wanting to do L3/L4 support which is understandable. I haven't heard you disliking the technical job itself.

If this is the case, then the solution is obvious. Have a friendly chat with your superior that you do not wish to continue doing support work and only want to focus on development. In almost all places that I know of in IT Banking, this is a common request which is usually accommodated. If they push back, then look outside. You need to state what you want.

Most technical people I know have a challenge to have that conversation with their superiors in the first place. Perhaps it is an introvert thing. They would rather leave than have the open talk.

Being in already the role that you are at a bank, perhaps you might want to look towards other roles internally first. Such as project management, service management, operations management or deployment management. In order to also achieve that, don't just think on your own personal gain but think of a succession plan to your role. Is there someone you can groom up to take over your current role as you move to the next?

Alternatively, if the long OT and weekend support is something that you aren't too keen on, start collecting data on it. Means how long do you normally OT and how many hours in a weekend do you work extra. Does it warrant an additional headcount that you can suggest to management with the data. Because just complaining about it is just basically it, complaints. Data and good anecdotes (say from your colleagues) would enable your manager to help fight for you and get an additional headcount to reduce the overall burden.

bump thread looking for answers, thanks

Firstly, if you choose to remain in banking industries, you can’t run away from midnight and weekend OT. These are the windows available for the IT teams to do technical changes or maintenance because most of commercial and retail customers are sleeping and not active.

Secondly, COBOL is an outdated programming language and its existence is mainly due to the survival of AS400 systems. If you don’t transform your skillsets, you might face more challenges when the products reach their end of lifecycles in near future.

Thirdly, for matured professional workers, the key competitive advantage against younger workforce is the soft skill to handle hot headed and toxic human being. Whether you are introvert or extrovert, you can't avoid working with difficult persons. There is no way you can escape from this – even you choose to start your own business. Ask anyone who operates Shopee or Lazada stores, he/she would have plenty of stories to share with you.

So, if you wish to get an answer, I would say, you need to be more mature to handle situations and stress. There is no easy life in this world. Even my younger kids, they are facing exam pressures and many other stress we adult usually face.