u/MCS_Hammer_1995

While admittedly these questions are not directly related to training, I am posting them since the moderators indicated we could “ask anything”.  Furthermore, indirectly my inquiries might provide a broader sense of the stability of “Z careers” as AI continues to explode, with even newer advancements such as Quantum Computing soon to follow.

The industry agrees that currently “blade data centers” are technically superior for AI training and research (yet with far-greater demands on resources), while “Z17 data centers” are technically and environmentally far superior for the production and sunsetting SDLC phases of Mission-Critical Enterprise AI.

As such, since it would be advantageous if the entire SDLC of such AIs could be hosted on a Z, could you summarize within the bounds of what is on public record:

A)  What major technical hurdles must be overcome in order to realize this objective?

B)  While this question might be premature, once that objective is met, might there be an “unfortunate trade-off” such that such an “enhanced Z” would place more demands upon resources than its “predecessor Z’s”?

One of the presenters this week indicated that their mainframe shop is “more so Waterfall than Agile”.  Since I have over 20 years in Waterfall, and only limited hands-on involvement in Agile, I found that information to be “promising”.  Which leads me to the following questions:

a.  Is it true that mainframe shops tend to “lean towards Waterfall”?

b.  If not, do certain high-level, specialized efforts, such as “modernization”, “acquisitions/mergers/migrations”, AI deployments, and someday perhaps Quantum deployments better fit the Waterfall model?

c.  What high-level efforts are more so suited to Agile?

I spent 12 years in Z early in my 25-Year IT career and I’m currently searching for a job as an “IBM Z Project Manager” (or some similar role for which my prior technical knowledge would be a beneficial foundation but not the primary focus of my role).  While I seek such a position, I am currently refreshing my dormant Z skills and also learning areas which I never covered (e.g. CICS).

In that regard, in addition to the benefits of pursuing IBM Z Xplore, it seems that IBM has many tools to assist both "new to Z learners" and seasoned employed professionals.  Three that come to mind are:  IBM Bob, IBM Project Polaris, and IBM watsonx Assistant for Z.  Answers to the following questions will help all learners to call upon these resources at the appropriate time in their respective journeys:

a. Are there other such "learning tools within the IBM Suite" about which we should be aware?

b. Are some of those tools “proprietary” and therefore limited to “paid practitioners” whose companies have contracts with IBM, while others are available to the “general public”?

c. As a partial answer to “b.”, IBM Bob apparently has a “30-day offer”, even available to “outside learners”.  However, how do we determine if we have enough basic skills to “make good use of that trial”, and similarly benefiting from any other tools for which we might be offered such "trial access"?

d. Is there a way in which all or some of these tools could be "technically working simultaneously in unison with one another”, either in a way that is obvious or in a way that is transparent to us?

e. What are the "pros and cons" of each such tool so that we would have a basic understanding of the priority we should give to each one of these tools based upon the particular technical task that we are tackling?