Peripheral equipment operator vs mainframe operator

The differences between peripheral equipment operators and mainframe operators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a peripheral equipment operator and a mainframe operator. Additionally, a mainframe operator has an average salary of $46,076, which is higher than the $33,885 average annual salary of a peripheral equipment operator.

The top three skills for a peripheral equipment operator include quality standards, peripheral devices and laser printers. The most important skills for a mainframe operator are windows, troubleshoot, and JCL.

Peripheral equipment operator vs mainframe operator overview

	Peripheral Equipment Operator	Mainframe Operator
Yearly salary	$33,885	$46,076
Hourly rate	$16.29	$22.15
Growth rate	5%	-
Number of jobs	40,530	26,604
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Peripheral equipment operator vs mainframe operator salary

Peripheral equipment operators and mainframe operators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Peripheral Equipment Operator	Mainframe Operator
Average salary	$33,885	$46,076
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $40,000	Between $36,000 And $58,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between peripheral equipment operator and mainframe operator education

There are a few differences between a peripheral equipment operator and a mainframe operator in terms of educational background:

	Peripheral Equipment Operator	Mainframe Operator
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Stanford University

Peripheral equipment operator vs mainframe operator demographics

Here are the differences between peripheral equipment operators' and mainframe operators' demographics:

	Peripheral Equipment Operator	Mainframe Operator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 67.4% Female, 32.6%	Male, 84.2% Female, 15.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.3% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.3% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between peripheral equipment operator and mainframe operator duties and responsibilities

Peripheral equipment operator example responsibilities.

Perform JCL maintenance when necessary, including the changing of parameter cards.
Monitor system activities, assist in IPL's, operation and maintenance of I/O devices.
Test micro fiche printers for quality and production, plus troubleshoot and repair any problems they may have.
Perform tape maintenance and effectively troubleshoot with reject or defective media.
Addressed undocument anomalies in infrastructure systems using skills and experience to research and isolate issues while escalating issues appropriately as necessary.
Train new console operators on new Honeywell security system.

Mainframe operator example responsibilities.

Manage local and remote output processing via JES2 node connections.
Lead the team for implementation of major enhancements with JCL, DB2, CICS and VSAM and documentation of the upgrades.
Monitor and correct production batch jobs with JCL, MVS, and JES3.
Monitor the MVS spooling system (JES2), security access (ACF2) and TCP/IP access and processing.
Monitor and address mainframe, VM systems issues.
Execute daily start-up of all CICS regions and ATM networks.

Peripheral equipment operator vs mainframe operator skills

Common peripheral equipment operator skills

Quality Standards, 43%
Peripheral Devices, 18%
Laser Printers, 14%
Equipment Maintenance, 9%
Xerox, 3%
Console Messages, 3%

Common mainframe operator skills

Windows, 8%
Troubleshoot, 8%
JCL, 7%
IPL, 6%
Mainframe Operations, 6%
SLA, 5%

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Peripheral Equipment Operator
Peripheral Equipment Operator vs Mainframe Operator

Updated January 8, 2025

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