Core technical skills
REST and JSON fundamentals: Understanding HTTP methods, status codes, headers, and JSON payload design is essential because z/OS Connect exposes and consumes RESTful APIs using JSON and OpenAPI definitions.
OpenAPI/Swagger: Ability to read and work with OpenAPI 2/3 documents, since z/OS Connect APIs are defined and deployed using these specifications and related artifacts.
Basic Java/Dev tooling: Familiarity with Java build tools (Gradle for requester APIs), containers, and IDEs or VS Code, which are commonly used with the z/OS Connect Designer and Gradle plug-ins.
Mainframe and z/OS skills
High-level z/OS understanding: Concepts like regions, started tasks, RACF/SAF security, SMF/WLM, and how CICS/Db2/IMS fit into the landscape help you reason about performance, security, and deployment.
CICS/Db2/IMS basics: Knowing how a CICS transaction, Db2 stored procedure, or IMS program is structured lets you map them correctly to services behind your APIs.
COBOL and data structures: Ability to interpret COBOL copybooks or similar layouts is useful to map between mainframe data structures and JSON fields, even if you’re not writing the business logic.