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Mainframe. The last time you heard of them was – probably – in a 90s sci-fi hacker movie. But even in 2023 you will come into contact with them an average of twenty times a day. These are huge, almost infallible computers that can process enormous amounts of data.
“The big companies literally line up here during the graduation ceremony”
Chantal Teerlinck
Head of IT & Digital Innovation HoGent
“Without exaggeration, they are the beating heart of our society,” says Leendert Blondeel, lecturer and mainframe expert at HoGent. “They are among the most advanced machines in the world. They serve applications that companies, institutions and governments cannot expect to fail.” Think: banking, international warehouse management for large multinational companies or ticketing for airlines. (read more after the photo)
Eniac, the world’s second largest “electronic calculator,” is what many people think mainframe computers look like: old. — © BELGAIMAGE
“Imagine withdrawing money from the wall and halfway through the “server” fails. Your card was swallowed, the money from the account, but no notes… that’s simply unthinkable! Or a bank that cannot process transactions for 24 hours. It just goes bankrupt and makes world news.” For this reason, mainframes are built with the main goal of being robust and reliable. “You can even unplug the power cable and the main computer continues to run.” KBC, Colruyt, Belfius, ArcelorMittal… they all have mainframe computers as the beating heart of their companies. (read more after the photo)
But this is what a modern mainframe computer looks like. For experts: The “Z16” from market leader IBM — © IBM
Extinct species
But anyone who can program mainframe computers is a dying breed, because to do so you have to know the Cobol programming language. “The average age of a Cobol programmer today is 62 years old,” says Blondeel. Retirement age is approaching and far too few IT specialists are graduating with Cobol in their fingers. “We currently have 250 students in their final year,” says Chantal Teerlinck, head of IT & digital innovation at HoGent. “Among them: 15 who chose Cobol as an elective. The shortage is particularly acute. There is a crisis in the making.”
The programming language was developed in the 1960s, but is still crucial to the operation of mainframe computers today. Especially when it comes to banking transactions: They have to be processed in a few milliseconds and Cobol is still more efficient than “newer” programming languages.
“The problem is that Cobol is hardly taught anywhere anymore,” says Blondeel. IBM, the market leader in mainframe computers, now even offers free courses. “It’s not a difficult programming language. Mainframes just aren’t really that sexy. Working or programming on this is “back-end” work. Literally behind the scenes.”
However, they are great machines. “Take this from EuroClear, the stock exchange’s accountant or ‘bank of banks’. Within 6 hours, a total of transactions worth the Belgian GDP take place there.” As an IT professional, you would almost develop a complex of gods. “But students prefer to create apps or eye-catching websites.”
However, everyone who knows Cobol easily receives a gross salary of 1,000 euros more than other IT starters. “The big companies literally line up here during the graduation ceremony,” says Teerlinck. When you search for “Mainframe” you will find 132 open positions on Indeed.com. “But mainframes are unknown and unloved. Perhaps logically: they never make the headlines because they are never known.”
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