Niall Ashley's Mainframe Journey
Security Consultant at Vertali Ltd. in the United Kingdom
About Me and My Current Role:
Name:
Niall Ashley
Location:
Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom
Primary Mainframe Focus:
Z Consultancy, specialised in the Security Engineering discipline, including the topics of RACF Administration, CARLa, Audits, Assessments and Remediation.
Tertiary Mainframe Focus(es):
Experience in z/OS, JCL, REXX, Unix and TWS.
Amount of time in the Mainframe Space as of writing:
4.5 years (from Nov 2021 to present)
Public Speaking repertoire:
Mainframe Fundamentals, Security Fundamentals, Impostor Syndrome, Neurodiversity, Panels, Public Speaking and Article-Writing.
🚀 My Path to the Mainframe:
Before the Mainframe, what was my background?
Prior to a career on the mainframe, I had an unshakeable love for IT and digital technologies.
Having long found enjoyment in undertaking coding projects, tinkering with the family computer, and playing video games, I was more than happy to study IT at Primary School and later needed no influence to choose Computer Science as a subject to study at Secondary School for my GCSEs.
Throughout these formative years, my father encouraged my enthusiasm, procuring old / decommissioned computers from his company that we took apart and cannibalised in order to ultimately build the most powerful free PC that I could then use for gaming:
To help put the timings into perspective, this device:
Ran Windows 98 (although was later upgraded to Windows XP)
Was a Frankenstein's monster of swapped-out components
Almost-never got connected to the internet (which was still dial-up modem at the time)
Had few USB 2.0 ports, and featured the PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN) mouse and keyboard ports
Was primarily used to play Star Wars games, including Galactic Battlegrounds, KOTOR, and both the Dark Forces series from LucasArts and the Jedi Knight series from Raven Software.
My love for computer technologies never waned, but it was put under a vast amount of stress during my time at Sixth Form College as I was unfortunately taught by a teacher who sapped all enthusiasm from the class, making no effort to teach nor encourage us.
What was promised as a course broken down into 60% coursework and 40% exam, ended up being a different course broken down into 80% exam and 20% coursework - As someone with a weak memory and who struggles with anxiety in exam-conditions, this was effectively a death-sentence for me and my grades suffered greatly.
Despite achieving a Grade-A on my coursework, my examination grades were far lower, which left me feeling despondent: If this was the sort of grade I would get at University, then there was no point getting into debt with tuition fees.
Thankfully, I had chosen to undertake work-experience placements as a young adult, including:
Work experience with Borwell at 15 years old, which involved working with C# to support ongoing projects for the UK MoD and other Government departments.
Work experience with EA Games (Criterion) at 16 years old, which involved helping with the animation / rigging during the creation of Battlefield 1 and reviewing the audio for the Star Wars Battlefront VR Mission on PS4.
Work experience with Royal Air Force (90SU) at 17 years old, which involved supporting the preparation and maintenance of rapid-deployment communication hardware.
With such a wealth of work experience across three different industries, I decided that the best option would be to find an apprenticeship working in a role that favoured physical hand-skills (measuring, drilling, sawing, deburring, milling, etc...)
Eventually, this job-hunt resulted in me becoming employed at Airbus UK in North Wales.
The Turning Point: What was the moment or reason you decided to pursue a career in mainframe technology?
Completing the apprenticeship (2017 to 2020) was an thoroughly enjoyable experience as I learned a lot during this time, eventually attaining qualifications including a BTEC in Aeronautical Engineering and an ILM in Leadership.
Following this I ended up working on the Bleed-Air system of Airbus' A320-family aircraft, which meant working at Hangars 91/92 alongside some great people.
Unfortunately, as many employees would attest, the vast majority of people at Airbus work dead-end job with no real opportunities for progression or growth: Many of my colleagues were planning to retire after 40 years of working in the exact same role, installing the exact same sub-assemblies.
This was antithetical so someone like myself with a growth-mentality and the determination to constantly better myself - If I ever had kids and they were to ask me "Dad, what work did you do at the start of your career, and what do you do now" then I knew that I would feel shame if I couldn't respond in any other way than "I've been doing the same thing for decades, that's all there is to my professional life".
By Q3 2021 this all came to a head with my departure from Airbus acting as the turning point in my professional life, forgoing a career in engineering for a different career.
Having no source of income but also knowing I had the chance to reinvent myself, which felt simultaneously scary and liberating - This was my chance to get back to my roots, so I abandoned the engineering sector and instead sought a career in IT.
Coincidentally, my personal trainer from a local gym knew that a trainee opportunity was opening at the company his partner worked for: So it was, that I become introduced to the "Mainframer-in-Training" (MIT) scheme at BMC Software, and began my new career on the 1st November 2021.
Key Learning Resources: The most valuable courses, programs, or certifications that helped you get started:
The best way for me to learn is getting stuck-in, even if it means getting your hands dirty.
During the first week of my time as an MIT within BMC Software, I tuned-in for the GSE UK Region event (which was still entirely virtual because of COVID) and I took numerous notes, before attempting to practically apply any learnings on our internal sandbox system.
Throughout various training courses delivered by RSM Tech, I was always eager to move past the slide deck and start the practical exercises.
This preference for kinaesthetic learning is still ever-present: Vertali host semi-regular REXX training courses and have a series of "Bad JCL" modules that I have found exceptionally fun (even if challenging) and these have been widely appreciated by our New-to-Z employees.
💼 A Day in the Life
What is the core problem you solve for your company?
As a Security Consultant, my primary value has been in supporting clients with RACF Administration, Compliance Reporting, Audits, Digital Certificates, and Assessments & Remediation.
With some additional experience in z/OS, JCL, REXX, Unix and TWS, my secondary value has been in supporting clients as a Sysprog Consultant.
I am also one of the company's most prominent figures when it comes to Public Speaking, Training and Documentation.
What are the top 3 technologies or tools you use every day?
The main trio of technologies that I use every day are z/OS, RACF and the IBM zSecure Suite (being specific, zSecure Admin, zSecure Audit, zSecure Alert and zSecure Command Verifier)
I'm not sure if it counts as a technology or tool, but I do use JCL, REXX and CARLa regularly as they help me perform different functions, and I do often get involved in Unix for mounting new software / applications, and also from a security perspective (permission bits via chmod and chown, plus ACLs via setfacl)
What is the most interesting or rewarding part of your career?
There is a real sense of fulfilment knowing that you have helped clients solve their issues. Likewise, I have found it remarkably rewarding to see the success of new mainframers who I have had the chance to inspire and encourage.
Although the former example is more indicative of my main job function, and by resolving an issue for a client you are provided more immediate gratification, I find this less fulfilling than the other aforementioned part of my career.
The latter example invokes a much stronger sense of success for me: It truly feels like your time volunteering and mentoring an individual has helped them from from a seedling into a sapling, whereupon you can see the potential of a mighty tree.
Outside of your job, what pass-times are you involved in?
During the interim period between leaving Airbus and joining BMC Software, I worked part-time as a Barista between interviews. As someone who doesn't drink tea or coffee, this is something I was happy to leave behind when I started my new career.
Something I didn't leave behind, however, is that I started volunteering as a Civilian Instructor at my local RAFAC (ATC) Squadron, teaching various generations of Air Cadets about the topics of STEM, Cyber and Culinary Skills.
I also volunteered with the suicide prevention charity 'PAPYRUS' throughout the West Midlands, and was a trustee for the 'Positive Thoughts' (which has unfortunately since closed).
Following this, I became a qualified Suicide First-Aid trainer and he has undertookn numerous educational modules (including the NHS-affiliated 'eLfH' and training with 'BEAT'), all in order to better understand mental health and forms of support.
💡 Advice for Aspiring Mainframers
What is one key skill (technical or soft) you wish you had learned sooner?
Ask the right questions, in the right way - Nobody can ever expect you to know everything and anything about Mainframes, but when enquiring about what you don't know, you must endeavour to communicate the problem and the requested solution as clearly as possible.
Whether this is asking questions to some AI like ChatGPT or Clauge, or whether this is asking questions to your colleagues, you must try to ascertain what knowledge you need in a particular scenario.
Communing the wrong information, or delivering the right information but in the wrong way, has the potential to compound the problem even further as clarity will be lost and the context may be misinterpreted by those you liaise with (this may be further exacerbated if there is a language barrier)
What is your top piece of advice for a student or professional trying to break into the industry?
Put your hand up and proactively seek new learning and engagement opportunities whenever possible, but ideally without wearing yourself down and risking burnout.
Being able to support teams and to contribute to the business can feel really rewarding, as long as you set clear boundaries and don’t let yourself be taken for granted.
Most of the things people know me for are not in my job description, but by putting myself forward for more opportunities I get to support events like GS-UK while simultaneously promoting Vertali, and building my own personal brand.
These opportunities may even help you with expanding your network, therefore facilitating opportunities to build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Where do you see the most exciting growth or opportunity in the mainframe space right now?
Given the "Grey Wave" of people approaching retirement, there are a lot of fantastic opportunities for up-and-coming IT professionals to distinguish themselves and to progress into roles with more responsibility but also more respect (and hopefully higher pay)
With so much emphasis on moderisation in the current mainframe landspace, I am convinced that this is an area that aspiring mainframe progessionals should specialise in, such as ongoing projects like SEAR, Zowe, Galasa, etc...
That's my journey as of 8th March 2026 - Thank you for reading!
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