Hans Gustafssons work

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My work

The way I make a living.

I, a consultant

I work as a consultant in the IT-, ADP-, Computing- or whatever one prefers to call the profession.
At present I'm employed at a company called "Programmera förvaltning AB" . As the name implies, for those of you who know Swedish, we work mainly with programming and maintenance of legacy systems for mainframe sites.

Sounds boring!? Let me tell you; it isn't. Quite the contrary!

In this line of business one will constantly encounter new problems that has to be solved, learn to handle new environments (not every MVS site looks the same!) and learn new tools and methods.

A background in banking

When I started out in the IT business some ten years ago, I got a job in one of the major Swedish banks designing expert-systems (as hot a topic in the mid eighties as the web is now). A most interesting and rewarding position that taught me a lot about both banking and expert-systems.
Since then I have worked more or less exclusively with banking systems, the main exception is mentioned later on.

Why keep it up?

In this day of C++, Java, GUI and WWW, you may ask yourself why anyone would like to work with mainframe computers, MVS, IMS, CICS, Composer, TSO, HPS, DB2 and every other three letter acronym you could possibly think of.
Well, for one thing; I'm used to it.
Then there is a question of what kind of problems you like to solve. There is a huge difference between designing a flashy and well functioning GUI application, and designing a time critical application for a 24 * 7 environment, that handles millions of transactions each day and must cater to thousands of users.

I'm not saying that one is better than the other, just that both areas present their own interesting aspects of programming and systems design. By chance I've landed in the banking and mainframe area, and so far there are no regrets.

When the urge to do some GUI work comes over me, I do some C & C++ hacking in windows (and have done some in OS/2 as well!) and I also indulge myself by toying with computer graphics and, as you may have noticed, I have created my own homepage!

My non-banking experience

The exception from working with banking systems, was a year and a half when I worked in pre-sales for Software AG , the company that brought you "Adabas", "Natural" and the "Entire" line of middleware, in Stockholm, Sweden.
A very enjoyable position, not least for my great colleagues and our super CEO.
I also got to travel, not only in Sweden, but also Europe and the US as well , and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and early -97, Software AG decided that it would be more efficient to concentrate the Nordic sales operation to Copenhagen, Denmark. Tough luck for me and my colleagues in Stockholm as we where made redundant.
Quite unpleasant, if you ask me. I hope that I will never have to go through anything similar again.

Still, we parted as friends, me and Software AG, and with my present position, I think it all worked out fairly well in the end.

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Last updated; August 1999.
All pictures copyright Hans Gustafsson 1997 & 1998.

I, a consultant
	I work as a consultant in the IT-, ADP-, Computing- or whatever one prefers to call the profession. At present I'm employed at a company called "Programmera förvaltning AB" . As the name implies, for those of you who know Swedish, we work mainly with programming and maintenance of legacy systems for mainframe sites. Sounds boring!? Let me tell you; it isn't. Quite the contrary! In this line of business one will constantly encounter new problems that has to be solved, learn to handle new environments (not every MVS site looks the same!) and learn new tools and methods.
A background in banking
	When I started out in the IT business some ten years ago, I got a job in one of the major Swedish banks designing expert-systems (as hot a topic in the mid eighties as the web is now). A most interesting and rewarding position that taught me a lot about both banking and expert-systems. Since then I have worked more or less exclusively with banking systems, the main exception is mentioned later on.
Why keep it up?
	In this day of C++, Java, GUI and WWW, you may ask yourself why anyone would like to work with mainframe computers, MVS, IMS, CICS, Composer, TSO, HPS, DB2 and every other three letter acronym you could possibly think of. Well, for one thing; I'm used to it. Then there is a question of what kind of problems you like to solve. There is a huge difference between designing a flashy and well functioning GUI application, and designing a time critical application for a 24 * 7 environment, that handles millions of transactions each day and must cater to thousands of users. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, just that both areas present their own interesting aspects of programming and systems design. By chance I've landed in the banking and mainframe area, and so far there are no regrets. When the urge to do some GUI work comes over me, I do some C & C++ hacking in windows (and have done some in OS/2 as well!) and I also indulge myself by toying with computer graphics and, as you may have noticed, I have created my own homepage!
My non-banking experience
	The exception from working with banking systems, was a year and a half when I worked in pre-sales for Software AG , the company that brought you "Adabas", "Natural" and the "Entire" line of middleware, in Stockholm, Sweden. A very enjoyable position, not least for my great colleagues and our super CEO. I also got to travel, not only in Sweden, but also Europe and the US as well , and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people. Alas, all good things must come to an end and early -97, Software AG decided that it would be more efficient to concentrate the Nordic sales operation to Copenhagen, Denmark. Tough luck for me and my colleagues in Stockholm as we where made redundant. Quite unpleasant, if you ask me. I hope that I will never have to go through anything similar again. Still, we parted as friends, me and Software AG, and with my present position, I think it all worked out fairly well in the end.


	Back to top Last updated; August 1999. All pictures copyright Hans Gustafsson 1997 & 1998.