Introduction to Mainframe

Mainframes are high-performance computers that are dedicated to processing billions of calculations and transactions in real time. Mainframe developers create and maintain the applications that keep mainframes running.

Why we recommend Mainframe

Mainframe is the foundation of many companies, particularly in insurance and banking. It offers a stable career path with opportunities to grow into senior-level positions.

Mainframe Resources

Course Name	Description	Skills Covered	Time to Complete
Mainframe Development: Big Picture	This Pluralsight course gives an introduction to mainframe architecture, history, and continued relevance in enterprise computing.	Mainframe Architecture	2 hours
TSO/ISPF Getting Started	This Pluralsight course builds the foundation for understanding ISPF utilities for program analysis and project management.	ISPF Navigation and Editing	2 hours
COBOL Big Picture	This Pluralsight course teaches you COBOL's basic language features and what the common use cases are for COBOL programming.	COBOL Ecosystem	1.5 hours
CICS Transaction Server: The Big Picture	This Pluralsight course teaches you how CICS Transaction Server fits into enterprise computing.	CICS Overview	2 hours
Relational Databases: The Big Picture	This Pluralsight course will lay the foundation for relational databases.	Relational Databases	2 hours
JCL Fundamentals on z/OS	This Pluralsight course will teach you how to execute programs and define resources using JCL.	JCL	3 hours
COBOL Fundamentals	This Pluralsight course will help you gain mastery of variables, loops, conditionals, and functions in COBOL. It will also teach you how to create tables and run reports.	Data and COBOL, Conditionals, Loops	2.5 hours
Murach's Mainframe COBOL	This Pluralsight course is based on the book "Murach's Mainframe COBOL." It teaches the essentials of COBOL language, reports, file handling, CICS (for transactions), and DB2 (for databases).	COBOL Environment Setup, Creating Tables and Reports, Sequential Files	6 hours
CICS Application Programming Fundamentals (COBOL)	This Pluralsight course is an introduction to CICS application programming using COBOL.	CICS Environment Setup, CRUD Application Building	9 hours

IBM z/OS Mainframe Resources

Course Name	Description	Skills Covered	Time to Complete
Introduction to IBM z/OS	This Pluralsight course is an introduction to IBM Z mainframe architecture. It will help you build a foundation to understand how IBM Z is implemented.	Mainframe Security	1.5 hours
Learning COBOL Programming with VSCode	This Pluralsight course will help build a foundation for coding with COBOL.	COBOL Syntax, Intrinsic Functions, Branching Logic	1.5 hours
Introduction to z/OS Commands and Panels	This Pluralsight course will help you understand how to navigate ISPF/PDF dialogs and TSO/E command interfaces.	User Interfaces, Data Sets, z/OS Commands	1 hour
Introducing z/OS Unix System Services	This Pluralsight course describes how open standards are implemented in a z/OS system by z/OS UNIX.	z/OS UNIX Shell and Utilities, z/OS Commands	3.5 hours
Systems Programming on IBM Z	This Pluralsight course will teach you about DB2 database management on mainframe systems and administration of z/OS system libraries.	VSAM, Generation Data Groups, RAIM, DB2	2 hours