_NetNomad

i THINK he went through these guys but i’ll double check tomorrow and let you know if i was wrong https://www.franklinapprenticeships.com/

if you have an edu email, IBM also does a “master the mainframe” program every fall that takes you from zero experience to developing a full application, which is a great way to learn the whole stack

yeah, at least where i am the cowboy days are long over. we have a modern change control system on the box that ties into our company’s broader service management system, and methodologies like agile are used (and misused) just like in the newer departments. the software and hardware are also constantly being updated by IBM and keeping up with them and other vendors is a full time job all on it’s own- really the only things ancient about it are the oldest parts of our own codebase and the terminal interface. we actually have a product that lets us bypass the terminal now and do everything in eclipse but the old timers don’t use it because the terminal is easier for them and then the newbies don’t use it because any time the oldbies teach them how to do something, it’s on the terminal emulator lmao

i have a mainframe (the type of computer that runs COBOL) IT job after four years of school majoring in CS and minoring in mainframes. my most recently hired coworker got the same job with no college and an aprenticeship program. if i could do it all over again, that’s the route i would take in a heartbeat

i can remember all of them from when i was a kid, but that number has since tripled. if i was a kid now i don’t think i would be able to learn all of them in the first place!

you’ll pry my END command from my cold, dead hands…

many retro systems have implementations of a language called BASIC, which is about as easy as it sounds. it has some quirks that aren’t transferable to newer languages and you won’t be able to make anything nearly as sophisticated as retail games for the same hardware but if you find modern engines intimidating, it can be a good place to start

that said, +1 for godot if you want to learn a more modern tool. it’s way simpler than it may seem at first and there is a huge wealth of beginner-friendly tutorials available online