[Info-vax] Possible VMS jobs

Thu Mar 21 16:19:22 EDT 2019

On Monday, March 18, 2019 at 2:35:41 PM UTC-5, Lorin Ricker wrote:
> On Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 1:15:04 PM UTC-8, Kerry Main wrote:
> > - VMS Software Engineer will be responsible for implementing projects and
> > enhancements in the TOLAS application. TOLAS is a legacy ERP system ,
> > running on Open VMS servers, originally licensed by GSI Transcomm (then ADP,
> > BULL, and now Adonix North America), a provider of ERP Solutions .The Parts
> > Division of Navistar uses TOLAS to operate its Parts supply chain system .
> > He / She will perform design, coding, testing, implementation, and
> > documentation of solutions
> > 
> > - Technologies: 5 years+ experience in developing and implementing Open VMS
> > systems
> > - Extensive Experience in VMS C, VAX BASIC, COBOL
> > - Must be able to develop, read, write, and debug OpenVMS DCL scripts
> > - Must be able to develop read, write and debug Oracle RDB, SLQMODs
> > 
> > Understand concepts of:
> > - Querying into RDB tables
> > - Command files vs. basic programs
> > - Running command file jobs in a scheduled environment
> > - Spooler processing to move data within and between systems
> > - File transfer methodologies such as (but not limited to): FTP, SFTP, GFTP,
> > MQ SQLLOADER
> > - Flat Configuration files vs. Data files
> > - Codes records to enable configurations and avoid hardcoding
> > - System logicals and symbols
> > - Linking and compiling Basic *.bas program files into executable *.exe
> > - Running an executable
> > - Building and using debugger tools to step into basic code while it is
> > running in debug
> > - Using a system subroutine guide to perform BASIC commands in a
> > standardized format
> > 
> 
> Having just moved hearth and home (plus the critter menagerie) from Colorado to SoCalifornia in early January (yes, everyone at PARSEC told me I was borderline nuts to move here), as WGA's new Director/SW-Dev, I've gained some perspective on this...
> 
> Here at Western Growers Association, core production applications run on a mixed VMScluster (mostly on one single "production system").  Apps are essentially  bespoke (custom) written over the span of "several decades" in Cobol, Pascal, C and C++, with some DCL "glue" scripts holding parts together.  Other application components are web-based (on Windows servers), so we've got two sub-teams working on stuff: the VMS folks and the Web folks.  Much of the current workload is break-fix against fast-changing business needs, and everything's a "priority."  Some staff have been here over a dozen years, others only a few months, so business and technical experience is all over the map.
> 
> In my new role, I've participated in several tech candidate interviews (for a department-level project manager, and for a new web developer).  Although we get help and support from our HR folks -- they're really a good and helpful resource, not an obstacle -- job descriptions and requisitions do seem to get "watered down" and generalized for "politically correct" &/or legal reasons, then posted to a combination of the online/aggregator "job boards" (aka "employment-related search engine") -- the usual suspects:  Indeed, Dice, JobVite and Monster are the current big players, I think.
> 
> Part of the problem, as I see it, is that -- like so many other things -- once this process becomes "web enabled," the expectation is to "do it, filter it with algorithms" (or worse, "artificial intelligence").  This has the knock-on effect of watering things down to the least-acceptable:  job descriptions, resumes, terminology and therefore candidates trend downwards towards least-common-denominators.  This is... um, not good.  Judging from candidates I've seen here since January (with one stand-out exception), the process tends to turn up mostly unqualified posers.
> 
> I'm sure that the process exacerbates itself with regard to VMS in particular: although skill- and experience-sets can be made explicit and clear by the hiring manager (thanks, Kerry, for that excellent example from KSN Tech), the process of algorithmic filtering -- including the fact that the SE-algorithms cannot tell (Open)VMS from virtual machines -- puts the whole process into its own kind of weird filter bubble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble), nearly or completely segregating the intentional employers from the experienced candidates.
> 
> The fact that the job websites also try to function now as "social media," or at least attempt to have a social media flavor, further magnifies the problem -- you have read Roger McNamee's book "Zucked", haven't you? (See https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/11/facebook-google-public-health-democracy for a synopsis.)  This is starting to feel to me like another manifestation, or variation if you will, of the problems McNamee identified and critiqued so insightfully in that book.
> 
> It's occurred to me (warning: half-baked idea ahead, open to discussion and debate) that maybe rather than grousing about all this, our sub-industry (the VMS community) might want to take it into our own hands somehow.  Short of a VMS-specific job board (website) itself, maybe there can be a clearing-house of some sort for both employers who still need serious VMS talent and VMS folks looking for a next gig...  I'm almost tempted to suggest that maybe VSI, or even PARSEC Group, might take this on and provide the technical &/or human resources, but I'm also afraid that the temptation to then treat this as a "proprietary database" (like a "customer list") might become too great -- so, maybe a true community-driven/supported agency instead?  I don't have a clue what the relevant rules, proprieties, processes or legalisms to properly administer and run such a thing might be -- I'm just spitballing here.
> 
> But clearly, this is a situation where web/cloud, algorithms, process and social media is not serving either employers or VMS talent well at all.  We've lost the direct touch, the humanity, of the skills-to-employment relationship.
> 
> For my part -- and in the absence of the above -- I'd certainly welcome any interested VMS coder/guru out there (you know who you are) to send your resume and cover-letter pro-actively to WGA (see https://www.wga.com/about/careers for the corporate happy-talk, and https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/western-growers-association/ for what's currently being requisitioned in our IT group), with a note to our HR folks to put your resume on-file against the day when we next issue a req for a VMS coder.  Mention me if you like -- I'll advise my HR partners to look out for same.

Congratulations on the new job, Lorin!

At least on the topic of jobs, I am also more than happy to hear from people in this group.  Our core business is OpenVMS and Unix admin for our customers and can occasionally look to supplement our staff either due to scheduling or if we get a request for something that is not a 100% match to what we do.  We then look for a great fit to make the customer happy.  If we can use someone that frequents this thread, it's a win-win-win.