Written by Donna Hudi, Chief Marketing Officer at Phoenix Software and Chair of the Open Mainframe Project Marketing Committee Women’s History Month is coming to a close.  I kicked it off by reflecting on my own journey and those that have come before me.  While it was great to reflect, as I said a month ago, history can be made every day and we do so not only through our actions and events, but also by telling the stories.  A month ago, I left you all with a challenge but I also decided to challenge myself.  My goal was to pay attention to all of the amazing women in t ..read more

Written by Keelia Estrada Moeller, Marketing Content Specialist at Broadcom Mainframe Software In 2017–my final year of undergrad at the University of Minnesota–I took an internship at a content marketing agency. At the time, I already had plans to pursue graduate school and further my goals in academia to eventually become a professor. But Ithought, why not see what else I can do with my writing and communication skills? Little did I know, that internship would become the unexpected gateway to my mainframe career. Within a few months, I was hired as a full-time employee specializing in techn ..read more

Written by Billie Jean Simmons, Software Developer at IBM and Zowe Explorer Squad Lead My journey begins in a small community college in a small town in northeastern North Carolina. I was studying for an Associates Degree in Arts to transfer – unsure of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Then, I took an Intro to Programming class as an elective and everything changed. The class covered concepts and general intro topics, writing programs in pseudocode code on paper. We then had to try writing a program using Assembler language and have our programs actually run and do what we wanted, it ..read more

Written by Lauren Valenti, Head of Mainframe Education and Customer Engagement at Broadcom and Member of the Open Mainframe Project Technical Advisory Council As you begin this exciting journey, I want to offer you some encouragement and guidance to help you navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead. First, your decision to explore mainframe technology is a wise one. Despite the perceptions and myths that mainframes are going away, they continue to play a critical role in enterprises all over the world, from banking and finance to healthcare and transportation, and many more.  Your ..read more

Written by Donna Hudi, Chief Marketing Officer at Phoenix Software and Chair of the Open Mainframe Project Marketing Committee March is Women’s History Month and, as we kick it off, I am thinking about not only my own journey, but am excited at the thought of hearing about those of the other women involved in our community. First, let’s get me out of the way… I spent the majority of my career as a self-taught developer in the distributed world.  While I loved the creativity that came with writing code, what I loved even more was problem-solving and debugging.  Secretly, I think I al ..read more

Written by Emma Pitzl, Managing Editor of TechChannel A version of this article was originally published in TechChannel. For more content like this, click here. By definition, belonging is a unique, subjective experience that relates to the desire to connect with others—according to American psychologist Carl Rogers. It’s how a person feels supported, respected, heard and valued; how they can feel proud of themselves and the others around them. So, how can the mainframe community make belonging a reality for everyone involved?  This is one of the focuses of the Making Our Strong Community ..read more

Written by Dr. Cameron Seay, Professor at East Carolina University and Open Mainframe Project Governing Board Member I was asked once again to write an article about HBCUs and the mainframe for Black History Month.   I will certainly do that, but I am compelled to broaden the perspective a bit.  Perhaps you will understand why when I tell you a little bit about why I am teaching in the first place. I was in the IT industry for over 20 years in a variety of roles from programmer to DBA to manager.  I found the work enjoyable but unfulfilling.  On a visit to North Caroli ..read more

Are you looking for internships, hiring, and career programs in technology? If so, have you considered positions in the mainframe industry, which quietly but reliably powers over 70% of Fortune 500 companies? To that end, program leaders from IBM, Broadcom, BMC, and the Open Mainframe Project are hosting a free webinar on October 16, 2023 at 9 am Pacific/ 12:00 pm Eastern titled, “Closing the Knowledge Gap: How to Attract and Retain Next-Gen Mainframe Talent.” Registration is required and the webinar is open to all applicants from all backgrounds. This one hour event hopes to bring awareness t ..read more

Written by Yarille Ortiz Kilborn, Senior Project Coordinator at the Linux Foundation I am Yarille, a Senior Project Coordinator at the Linux Foundation, working on the Open Mainframe Project. When I started working for the Linux Foundation, I didn’t expect to come full circle with my childhood. I was an only child for most of my childhood. When I was four, my mother turned into a single parent. She was a hard-working mom and a network administrator working for a company that wrote computer programs for colleges and universities. She would take me to work with her on my days off of school. I r ..read more

Written by John Mertic, Executive Director of Open Mainframe Project and Steering Committee Member for the Software Developer Diversity & Inclusive (SDDI) Project  I’ve looked back on the blog posts and personal accounts shared by individuals in the mainframe community for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and it’s brought a sense of hope for how far we have come as a society. Even more broadly, we see places like North Carolina launching bi-partisan education in schools, which shows the intentional efforts to create an equitable society for all. But there is still w ..read more