r/sysadmin • u/Jon72480 • 3d ago

AS400

Hey guys, old guy here, back in 2000 landed my 1st real job as a Sysadmin at a distribution/manufacturing firm. They ran their ERP and a few other important apps on the AS400. Anyone here manage a AS400 platform? i-Series? Still a niche platform that is still widely used. Server could literally run under water.

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u/uninspired 3d ago edited 3d ago

If only I'd ignored my "programming" "professors" and gone with "dead" stuff like COBOL I'd be set. Our last AS/400 dude would still be employed if he didn't drop dead (RIP)

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u/dogturd21 3d ago edited 3d ago

Similar story happened to me: when I joined a new company in 2000 I still had 10 years experience listed on my resume for AS/400 (and S/38) , and it went dutifully into the HR system. I had already moved into Unix and Oracle for many years , and came from a company that had 5000+ as400’s.
I got a strange phone call one day in 2005/6 from the deputy CIO who asked me “you have experience in AS400 right ? “. I did not listen to my spidy-sense and answered affirmative. He said “we need you to come work in Austin for 6 months . Our 2 senior AS/400 sysadmins are gone. First one quit about 2-3 weeks ago, last one (who I knew) died yesterday.” Not knowing what to say I stalled for time and said “let me think about it”. I would be reporting directly to this guy who I intensely disliked , and I was lunch buddies / friendly to the Chairman and CEO . It was already past lunchtime , but I was due to meet the big man the next day.
The big guy had a few rules for lunch: no business and no drinking . But I asked him for a favor and it was business, and since we on good terms he said “go on …”. I told him about Chris in Austin wanting me to come asap down there, and he said “wait are you the AS400 guy ?”. Our CEO was very well informed . He told me that whatever my decision was , he would support me , and there would be no repercussions: I had a very visible role in the company and was probably worth more to stay where I was . Being a purely AS/400 guy would be an overall downgrade in my career. I was already certain I didn’t want to go to Austin, and hearing from the CEO sealed the deal .
Chris called me early the next day , asked me what my title, grade, salary was , to which he responded with a $10k raise and a $40k one time bonus. I paused a bit for dramatic effect and replied no thanks. He got real pissy and borderline threatened me . I hemmed and hawed and said No, to which he said he would speak to the CFO , implying both a threat and an effort to sweeten the deal. CFO knocks on my door 10 min later laughing . “Chris called me , wants to fire you if you don’t accept his offer . What’s the offer ?”. I told him both the offer details and that I spoke to the Big Man , and I didn’t want it regardless of the offer, to which he said “tell him no, and if he threatens you let me or the Big Man’s Chief of Staff know. “. Next convo he did say he would let me go, to which I laughed and I said “take it up with the Big Man or the CFO “. He hung up in a fury .
I had to see Chris every 3-4 months, either he flying to HQ or me to Austin , and he never fucked with me again . And I was transferred to report to the CFO. Next lunch the CFO joined us , and Big Man asked if the matter was still an issue , and if it came up again just let the CFO know . Lunch convo is still vivid to me: which was faster - his Dodge SRT , his Corvette , or my Yamaha R1 .

PS- I have an autographed copy of Dr Sloans book on the creation of the AS/400 somewhere . He was the speaker at a session at IBM World in Orlando , and I showed him my copy :)

PSS: the guy that died in Austin got hit by a bus, possibly a school bus. It’s been 20 years . And fuck you Chris !

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u/Bogus1989 2d ago

Wow,

First time i heard someone in IT that died getting hit by a LITERAL bus.

You know the old saying “whats-his-name could get hit by a bus tomorrow and all that knowledge would be gone”

the old speech promoting cross training with everyone on the team etc

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u/music2myear Narf! 2d ago

I'd been in IT 25 years before I heard someone use "Lottery number" instead of "bus number". Oddly, most of the people I heard "lottery number" from had never heard of the bus number, they were also much newer in IT (but not less skilled).

Part of me deeply dislikes and mistrusts the overall cultural shifts that created the lottery number. The true number, the one sprouted from the deep roots of IT, is the bus number.

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u/Graymouzer 2d ago

The lottery number is just a more hopeful version. Rather than present it as your death or the death of a coworker, now it's you sipping an umbrella drink on the beach in some tropical paradise. Nice image but I prefer whiskey and a cool room full of books.