Reflecting on SHARE Conferences 2024: Bridging the Skills Gap and Shaping the Next 60 Years of the Mainframe

Tony Perri | Oct 11, 2024 | Blog

With SHARE Kansas City 2024 now squarely in our rearview mirror, the mainframe community is already gearing up for the next big event. The Kansas City conference once again proved to be a hub of mainframe innovation and knowledge-sharing, with a strong focus on nurturing the next generation of mainframe professionals. As we reflect on the insights gained and connections made, our sights are now set on SHARE Washington D.C. 2025.

The Changing Face of SHARE

As long-time sponsors and attendees, we couldn’t help but notice the increasing presence of younger faces at the event, often accompanied by seasoned mentors. This demographic shift underscores a central theme that has become increasingly prevalent at SHARE conferences: How do we address the resources gap from the retirement wave in the mainframe industry?

One frequent attendee and mentor, a prominent voice in mainframe education, offered a multifaceted perspective on this challenge. He asserts that there’s no shortage of young, eager students ready to enter the mainframe field and that you could prepare 1,000 students every year for mainframe careers. But among the many issues at hand, companies often don’t realize there is a mainframe skills gap. Some don’t even know they have a mainframe, and the ones that do often struggle to craft appropriate job descriptions for their respective HR departments to fill these roles. All in all, we practitioners must get better at being advocates for the mainframe, something our IBM Champions colleagues do regularly, and socialize the prevalent need.

Innovative Initiatives Addressing the Skills Exodus

The mainframe community is not sitting idle in the face of this challenge. Several initiatives are underway to bridge the skills gap (this is not an exhaustive list):

1. Veterans in Tech: An inspiring program spearheaded by IBM Champion, Steve Hosie, targets former Marines, leveraging their disciplined approach and technical aptitude to fill mainframe roles. This initiative not only addresses the skills gap but also provides valuable career opportunities for veterans transitioning to civilian life, tapping into a rich pool of potential talent. According to Hosie, the program is life-changing for all involved. Hosie’s LinkedIn group, Veterans in IT, can be found here.
2. Open Mainframe Project: This collaborative effort, a Linux Foundation project, is making significant strides in mainframe education. The Project was founded in 2015, as a focal point for deployment and use of Linux and Open Source in a mainframe computing environment. Their latest initiative offers universities free access to mainframe resources for college students to learn programming and other critical IT systems skills. Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project Governing Board Chairperson, Converge Technology Solutions Mainframe Practice CTO, and IBM Champion Len Santalucia emphasizes its potential to democratize mainframe education and create a pipeline of skilled professionals to carry the mainframe torch for the next 60 years. By providing hands-on experience with mainframe technology, the project is nurturing the next generation of mainframe experts.

Santalucia adds: “The Open Mainframe Project (OMP) has been offering a mentorship program since its inception in 2015. This year the OMP hosted one of the best groups of mentees ever, producing many great projects by many great mentees worldwide. Please take a moment to review some of the blogs written by these mentees posted at https://www.openmainframeproject.org.”

1. Interskill Learning: Interskill is known for its comprehensive online mainframe training programs that train mainframe workforces at scale. It’s so widely used that Interskill delivers over a million hours of mainframe training annually, and staggeringly, more than 80% of all IBM digital badges awarded by IBM for mainframe training are powered by Interskill! Interskill is led by yet another IBM Champion, CEO Darren Surch, who is one of only two Lifetime IBM Champions for IBM Z and has dedicated his career to empowering mainframers, organizations, and the industry through education. More info on Interskill and Surch can be found at https://interskill.com.

Surch adds: “The most successful at-scale mainframe skills solution I am seeing in the industry today is the internal mainframe talent pool! Mainframe orgs around the world are proactively cross-training and upskilling high-potential internal IT professionals with deep mainframe skills. This ensures a pool of quality IT personnel with known mainframe skills that can be moved as needed to open mainframe positions without the sourcing, onboarding, delay, and uncertainty of finding external talent. It has become a real competitive advantage!”

Looking Ahead: SHARE Washington D.C. 2025

Mark your calendars for SHARE Washington D.C., taking place February 23-27, 2025, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Registration opens in November.

The D.C.?location brings a unique dimension to this year’s conference.?Government sector mainframers will be front and center,?providing valuable insights to the specific challenges and opportunities faced within the public sector.?This cross-industry networking will foster collaboration,?knowledge sharing,?and a deeper understanding of the evolving landscape of mainframe security and large-scale data management and service delivery.

As the nation’s capital,?D.C.?offers a prime setting for discussions on policy and regulation.?Attendees can expect thought-provoking sessions on how evolving laws and regulations might impact mainframe operations and data governance.?These discussions will help organizations stay informed and adapt to the changing regulatory environment.

Infotel at SHARE D.C. 2025

We’re excited to showcase our latest innovations in mainframe optimization and modernization. Stop by our booth (TBA) to explore how our solutions can support your organization’s mainframe journey. If you aren’t attending, be sure to visit us at insoft-infotel.com to learn about all our enterprise software solutions.

Follow us on LinkedIn for regular updates on our products, services, and insights into mainframe modernization, database management, and the future of enterprise computing. Together, let’s continue to drive the mainframe forward into its next 60 years as the backbone of modern enterprise.

See You at SHARE D.C. in February 2025!