Why to start your IT career on the Mainframe technology?

If you just finished university with a degree in Computer Sciences, you are probably looking for a job… and if you are reading this article, you are probably still searching. Although you might not even know what a Mainframe is, you might want to consider a career on the “big iron”; and here is why.

The mainframe is a 40+ year old platform and most software is written in low-level languages such as Assembler or Cobol. Granted. As much as it appears non-attractive, it is a real opportunity: while most of the world data and processing resides in Mainframes, Mainframe professionals (so called “Mainframers”) are close to retirement. The equation is simple, IT talents with such knowledge will be a rarity in the very near future, and the biggest fortune companies will crave for them.


But … do not think Mainframe is solely legacy. In fact, lots of new projects exist on Mainframe, most of which use Java, C, or C++. The new trend of “virtualization” is a notion which has existed for decades in the Mainframe world. If you think about it, Mainframe systems are nothing other than a private cloud: Mainframe means an enormous amount of data, incredible processing capabilities, and very high security (who ever heard about a virus on a Mainframe?). Mainframe also rhymes with green computing, since it uses much less energy than other platforms, because one Mainframe can support a workload equivalent to thousands of distributed servers.

In a few words, it is cool to work on Mainframe!

If you are looking for a Mainframe job in central Europe, check out this link:
www.proudly.cz/catechnologies

4th csDUG Conference: A great success!

The 4th csDUG Conference happened on Friday, in Prague. This year, this one-day FREE conference had 2 tracks (Database Administrators and Database Developers) and was attended by 50 DB2 users from Czech Republic and Slovakia. The event was held in the IBM lab in Chodov, and was sponsored by CA Technologies and IBM. Various famous international speakers made the trip to share their DB2 expertise and give presentations about DB2 for z/OS.

Group Picture during 4th csDUG conference

Mariusz Koczar (csDUG president) kicks-off the event

David Lukaš (Česká spořitelna) shares his experiences with DSNUTILU

Jacek Rafalak shares his experience as DB2 DBA at Asseco

Jan Musil explains Test Data Management and Masking

Saso Prek gives an update on DB2 Accelerator

George Wang came from IBM lab in California to speak about Spark

Steve Thomas explains DB2 locking, latches, claims, and other drains

csDUG members are having Fun With SQL (session ran by Phil Nelson)

Additional pictures of the event can be found at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6Me1ZcE15xWa1NCNjc2dVhZRDQ

Presentations are available at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6Me1ZcE15xWVzZ2Sk5EU2tTQVE

If you missed the conference this year you will have opportunity to attend next year. As we shape the next event, we would like to hear from you with your preferred city (Prague, Brno, Ostrava or Bratislava), the most convenient time of year for you, and what topics are you interested in.

If you attended the Conference, feel free to leave a comment below to indicate, for example, which session / presenter you enjoyed the most !

PDUG conference in Krakow - 28 & 29 September 2016

The IX PDUG DB2 Conference took place in Krakow, on September 28 & 29. The conference had 2 tracks (z/OS and LUW) and roughly 65 attendees.

Although I could not attend myself this time, I heard it was a great conference again, you may find more information at https://www.pdug.pl/podsumowanie-ix-tej-konferencji-pdug/

The event was sponsored by CA Technologies, IBM, and Database Consulting.

If you attended the Conference, feel free to leave a comment below to indicate, for example, which session / presenter you enjoyed the most !

October 14, 2016 – csDUG Conference

The Czech Republic and Slovakia DB2 Users Group (csDUG) is a new Regional User Group (RUG) that was created 4 years ago. csDUG was awarded by IBM during the last IDUG conference in Prague !

On October 14^th 2016, we will be hosting our FOURTH csDUG EVENT, this year with TWO tracks!

The event is sponsored by IBM and CA Technologies.

This is a full day FREE conference with top industry speakers - an great opportunity DB2 users to meet industry experts !

Agenda of the conference

Location

IBM lab, building 4

V Parku 4, 148 00 Prague 4, Chodov

Czech Republic

Are you a qualified DB2 specialist? Do you want to discover what DB2 is or what it can do for you? Are you an experienced DBA in environments other databases and need support in DB2 for a new project? Are you interested in what role it can play a DB2 architecture of your business?

     --> Join the October 14 csDUG conference to listen to industry experts and network with other people interested in DB2!

Register to this FREE conference by sending an email to Register.csDUG.14.OCT@gmail.com
Please specify your name, country, job title, company and language(s) spoken.

PDUG conference in Warsaw - 5 & 6 April 2016

The VIII PDUG DB2 Conference took place in Warsaw, on April 5 & 6. The conference had 2 tracks (z/OS and LUW) and roughly 100 attendees (60 for z/OS, 40 for LUW).

PDUG VIII Kick-off

It was a great conference again, you may find the agenda at http://www.pdug.pl/media/9725/AgendazOS_VIIIkonferencjaPDUG.pdf

http://www.pdug.pl/

The event was sponsored by Asseco, CA Technologies, and IBM.

A few pictures from some sessions:

Pawel Hryb - PKO BP - DB2 Performance Reporting

Gareth Jones - IBM - DB2 v11 Overview

Ramon Menendez - BMC - Recovery Tales from Experience

Steve Thomas - CA Technologies - Cloning DB2 for z/OS objects

You may find more pictures and comments on https://twitter.com/db2forz

If you attended the Conference, feel free to leave a comment below to indicate, for example, which session / presenter you enjoyed the most !

3rd csDUG Conference: A great success!

40 attendees from Czech Republic, Slovakia, and some other European countries attended the 3^rd csDUG Conference yesterday, in Ostrava. This one-day conference was held in the Tieto lab in Ostrava, and sponsored by CA Technologies and IBM. Various famous international speakers made the trip to share their DB2 expertise and give presentations about DB2 for z/OS.

Mariusz Koczar (Tieto) presenting SQL Monitoring Costs

Jacek Rafalak (Asseco) and Michal Bialecki (IBM) discussing SQL

Steve Thomas (CA Tech) presenting Real Time Stats

The nice view on Ostrava from Tieto's 12th floor

Sample of Free Education material for csDUG attendees

If you missed the conference this year you will have opportunity to attend next year. As we shape the next event, we would like to hear from you with your preferred city (Prague, Brno, Ostrava or Bratislava), the most convenient time of year for you, and what topics are you interested in. 

Group Picture of csDUG III

Feel free to post a comment below. Thank you.

October 6, 2015 – csDUG Conference

The Czech Republic and Slovakia DB2 Users Group (csDUG) is a new Regional User Group (RUG) that was created 2 years ago. Last year, csDUG was awarded by IBM during the IDUG conference !

On October 6^th 2015, we will be hosting our THIRD csDUG EVENT, sponsored by Tieto, IBM and CA Technologies !

This is a full day FREE conference with top industry speakers - an great opportunity DB2 users to meet industry experts !

Agenda of the conference

Location

Ostrava, Tieto Office

28. října 3346/91
702 00 Ostrava
Czech Republic

Are you a qualified DB2 specialist? Do you want to discover what DB2 is or what it can do for you? Are you an experienced DBA in environments other databases and need support in DB2 for a new project? Are you interested in what role it can play a DB2 architecture of your business?

     --> Join the October 6 csDUG conference to listen to industry experts and network with other people interested in DB2!

Register to this FREE conference by sending an email to Register.csDUG.6.OCT@gmail.com
Please specify your name, country, job title, company and language(s) spoken.