AS400 computer environment?

I have a question about the seemingly increasing requirement that job applicants be familiar with the AS400 computing environment.

Now I understand if one is an IT person, but why is this showing up in accounting and administrative jobs? What is so different about AS400 system applications that is dictating the requirement? I watched a tutorial on Lotus Notes and Domino, which are probably the two main apps and am not seeing what's so difficult. Or is the problem not in the apps but rather navigating around the system for the common user? Or are they using this requirement as a weeder requirement for those who have, say, large business vs small business experience?

Will someone please fill me in?

Might be something as arcane as wanting enough staff with the knowledge to recognize when the hotshot hired gun main programmer is trying to rip them off when doing thr yearly updates, or worse when they have something crash.

AS 400 is the database preference in maintaining huge financial information. Particuarily in large organizations that handles enormous amounts of cash. I work at one of the big three and our department utilitzes AS 400.

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... requirement that job applicants be familiar with the AS400 computing environment.

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Familiar needs further definition. Experience limited to general tutorials, online resources, and textbooks may provide familiarity with a technology without ever actually using it in a production environment. This qualifies as a beginner. Advanced capabilities come with really using the tools in a variety of complex situations [[integration, administration, etc...). Compensated experience is a benchmark.

That said, organizations typically build technology infrastructure around certain skills and tools [[proprietary or in-house). Full-time positions are created for Lotus Notes and Domino. Advanced abilities are beyond tutorials.

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Originally Posted by exdetroiter

AS 400 is the database preference in maintaining huge financial information. Particuarily in large organizations that handles enormous amounts of cash. I work at one of the big three and our department utilitzes AS 400.

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But AS400 is the computing platform not the software package you use [[right?) so what's the big deal about familiarity if not doing IT work? Isn't it comparable to knowing a Microsoft environment vs a Mac environment [[as opposed to knowing, say, Quickbooks vs Peachtree vs some custom or more complicated software)?

You are right lilpup, AS400 is a computing platform [[hardware). More precisely, it is a medium-sized IBM server. It is not a database or application [[software). You will find that Oracle and SQLServer are the primary database structures used by large financial organizations. AS400 is old technology and is the primary platform still in use by automotive suppliers [[maybe the automotives themselves as well - I don't know for sure) and some medium sized companies that don't want to get rid of their old applications.

I can't imagine why a company would want a non-IT person to have such familiarity, unless their applications are designed in such a way that the user has to be able to issue some AS400 commands in order to properly access or use the application/database.

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... the user has to be able to issue some AS400 commands in order to properly access or use the application/database.
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Correct. Mundane repeated tasks that are very important are often canned or scripted and then off-loaded from the engineers to others.

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... Oracle and SQLServer are the primary database structures used by large financial organizations.

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Business or Accounting Analysts will typically deal with exported, near-realtime business data using tools differing from those used by the engineers.