Compuware has released the results of a new survey that suggests trouble ahead for large enterprises that rely on mainframes. While 88 percent of CIOs at very large enterprises said that mainframes will remain a key part of their IT infrastructure for the next ten years, 39 percent of those surveyed said they had no plans to address the looming shortage of mainframe developers.
“About 70% to 80% of the people tied to mainframes are going to retire in the next three years, and in a lot of cases they are past retirement age,” explained Compuware CEO Chris O’Malley. He said that he knew of one large retailer that “had never hired more than one or two people a year for their mainframe for like 40 years. And now they realize they have to hire hundreds. Where are they going to come from?”
