lemington

I'm sure that they, indeed, can't respond officially to this, but since they read, I will say it anyways:

I believe that IBM would be doing itself a service by offering more gateways for hobbyists to play with their platform.

There are various ways, mentioned in this AMA, for "aspiring professionals" to start working with the platform. But hobbyists have a way of becoming professionals....

Just my two cents :)

Thanks- online classes sound interesting.

What can I do, as someone who is interested in z/OS, has worked with it in the past (a little shy of a decade ago), and would love to continue to explore it and sharpen my skills?

My current employer has near zero interest in mainframe technology, so whatever I do must come out of my own pocket. I have no connection to any academic institutions which might be partnered with IBM.

I understand that there are things like zPDT which bring the cost down into the 4-digit USD range. Is that it? Of course, no one expects the cost of professional development to be free, but it seems that in the PC world, there are ways to cut your teeth on virtually any new technology without spending a lot of money up front.

Will check it out, thanks.