How To Become A Cics Systems Programmer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cics systems programmer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cics systems programmer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $42.0 an hour? That's $87,366 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -17,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCics Systems ProgrammerUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $87,366

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.1

Growth rate -7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 14.93%

Black or African American 5.09%

Hispanic or Latino 9.00%

Unknown 4.73%

White 66.06%

Gender

female 15.86%

male 84.14%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a cics systems programmer

Explore cics systems programmer education requirements

Most common cics systems programmer degrees

Bachelor's

71.1 %

Associate

13.4 %

Master's

10.3 %

Start to develop specific cics systems programmer skills

Skills	Percentages
Mainframe	12.28%
MQ	7.93%
Problem Determination	7.52%
COBOL	7.44%
Z/OS	4.34%

Complete relevant cics systems programmer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cics systems programmers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cics systems programmer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cics systems programmer resumes.

Research cics systems programmer duties and responsibilities

Manage systems support staff for mainframe, UNIX, and network.
Achieve improved efficiency and cost reduction goals through efforts and expertise provide in multiple LPAR eliminations and data center consolidations.
Develop COBOL and assembler applications for batch and online under IMS DB/DC and CICS.
Provide working environments for developers and customers by constructing new CICS, IMS and MQ regions.

Prepare your cics systems programmer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cics systems programmer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cics systems programmer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable cics systems programmer resume templates

Build a professional cics systems programmer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your cics systems programmer resume.

Apply for cics systems programmer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cics systems programmer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do cics systems programmers rate their job?

5/5

Out of 1 Cics Systems Programmer reviews, 100% were positive.

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Based on 1 ratings

Pay / salary

5.0

Overall rating

5.0

Work/life balance

3.0

Career growth

3.0

Cics systems programmer reviews

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2023

Pros

$88K may be the average, but a Senior CICS System Programmer (let's say 5 to 10 years of experience, and really knowledgeable) will pay $70/hour. Again, you really have to know your internals and debugging, and newer stuff like CPSM, TCP/IP, JVM, etc.

Cons

You will be oncall...personally,I am once every 5 weeks. My shop is pretty static, so I don't get called often...but some shops can have brutal oncalls.