u/Ecaflip_investor

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for real-world feedback on Mainframe salaries in Toronto. All experiences are welcome, regardless of the number of years of experience, but I’d particularly appreciate feedback from people with around 3 years of experience.

For context, I’m interested in roles involving technologies such as:

COBOL

JCL

CICS

TSO/ISPF

IBM RDz / Developer for z/OS

Endevor

CICS Web Services

CICS Transaction Gateway (CTG)

IBM MQ

Batch / production management

TWS/OPC or other scheduling tools

ServiceNow / production incident management

Other relevant Mainframe technologies

I’d love to hear from people currently working in Toronto, whatever their experience level.

If you're comfortable sharing, it would be great to know:

Your years of Mainframe experience

Your current salary / salary range

Your main technologies

Whether you work for a bank, insurance company, consulting company, etc.

Permanent employee or contractor

Any other compensation (bonus, benefits, etc.)

I’m mainly trying to get a sense of the actual market salary range in Toronto, rather than just relying on job postings.

Thanks in advance — all feedback is welcome!

I'm curious to know if anyone has experienced something similar.

Before my PhD, I was a much more carefree person. I could have problems, deal with them, and move on. I didn't constantly analyze my thoughts, my existence, or the passage of time.

After several years of doing research, I feel like my brain has become permanently stuck in "analysis mode". I question everything, including things that probably don't need to be questioned.

Sometimes I become extremely aware that I'm conscious, that time is passing, that I'm getting older, that my childhood is gone, etc. Even positive memories can suddenly trigger this strange feeling of sadness and existential awareness.

It's not necessarily anxiety about a specific problem. It's more like being too aware of being alive and conscious.

What's strange is that I genuinely wasn't like this before my PhD.

I sometimes wonder if years of constantly analyzing, questioning and looking for deeper explanations can train your brain to do the same thing with your own existence.

Has anyone experienced something similar after a PhD, years of research, or intense intellectual work?

And if so, did you eventually learn how to "turn off" this hyper-awareness and simply live without analyzing everything?

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I'm curious to know if anyone has experienced something similar.

Before my PhD, I was a much more carefree person. I could have problems, deal with them, and move on. I didn't constantly analyze my thoughts, my existence, or the passage of time.

After several years of doing research, I feel like my brain has become permanently stuck in "analysis mode". I question everything, including things that probably don't need to be questioned.

Sometimes I become extremely aware that I'm conscious, that time is passing, that I'm getting older, that my childhood is gone, etc. Even positive memories can suddenly trigger this strange feeling of sadness and existential awareness.

It's not necessarily anxiety about a specific problem. It's more like being too aware of being alive and conscious.

What's strange is that I genuinely wasn't like this before my PhD.

I sometimes wonder if years of constantly analyzing, questioning and looking for deeper explanations can train your brain to do the same thing with your own existence.

Has anyone experienced something similar after a PhD, years of research, or intense intellectual work?

And if so, did you eventually learn how to "turn off" this hyper-awareness and simply live without analyzing everything?