Since the launch of the mainframe in 1964, the people required to keep these systems running, and to develop and deploy new applications, were trained in traditional ways. As the mainframe customer base grew, the pool of technicians who could work on the mainframe also grew. These professionals were responsible for managing mainframe operations.
But in the late 90s it became clear that this generation of skilled technologists were heading into retirement, taking 25 or more years of experience with them.
The main issue was not in finding new recruits to train up, but in replacing the lost expertise quickly enough so that organisations could continue to maximise their investment in the technology, says IBM's new workload leader for the Middle East and Africa, Andy Hoiles.
It was in this context that IBM started looking at how it could support the development of skills so that students moving into the workplace already had the knowledge necessary to be more productive for their employers, he notes.
While many CIOs believe the mainframe will continue to be an important business platform in years to come, they are concerned about a shortage of skills. This is according to research from Compuware, which also highlights that newer developers often struggle to get up-to-speed with this technology.
IBM is trying to tackle this skills dilemma by training a sufficient supply of professionals who are able to keep these systems running and relevant today, says Hoiles. He cites the IBM Academic Initiative, which was introduced in 2004, as a programme to create partnerships between IBM and the academic community and provide support to higher education establishments by delivering adequate mainframe training to their students. It provided academic institutions with IBM course materials and curriculum, IBM technology and tools and education for faculty and staff to teach the courses, Hoiles says, adding that the training was also offered on a variety of technologies other than the mainframe platform.
For example, Marist College, a leading US University with funding from the National Science Foundation, created the Institute for Data Center Professionals (ICDP). The ICDP delivers online mainframe education to people around the world, mentions Hoiles. This includes access to mainframe systems to conduct practical exercises, with guidance from skilled instructors. It also features an e-learning methodology that develops the mainframe skills of people both in work and in education, notes Hoiles.
"The National Science Foundation recognised the mainframe and enterprise computing skills issue that was starting to plague many government organisations, banks and others, to the extent that they provided funding to create the courses that became the Institute for Data Center Professionals." In addition to this, Hoiles outlines that IBM clients can also receive mainframe training through the company's Education Services division.
Mainframe training in SA
Since the launch of the Academic Initiative in 2004, thousands of academic institutions have run courses across a broad range of technologies to almost four million students, says Hoiles. One of the most recent endeavours is the establishment of the Belgium Campus (BC), an IT focused university near Pretoria, in South Africa. Not only has the institution been delivering mainframe education to their own students as part of their IT degree, but it has also collaborated with the industry to deliver mainframe training to students at organisations with large mainframe deployments using materials provided through the Academic Initiative, he notes.
Belgium Campus lecturers are also collaborating with Marist College and will form part of the first cadre of South African lecturers that will deliver IDCP online courses across South Africa and across a number of other African countries where mainframe skills are in demand, Hoiles continues.
"While thousands of students have taken IDCP courses, run from the US using Marist's network of instructors located there, including many from South Africa, setting up this cadre of locally based lecturers in South Africa will provide a significant boost to the development of skills in the region."
Finally, Hoiles outlines how in recent weeks a programme called "Master the Mainframe" was launched by the IBM Academic Initiative team as part of the mainframe 50-year anniversary series of events. The African countries chosen to participate in the programme included Kenya and South Africa, where students were invited to compete in a global competition with the possibility of qualifying to attend the final round of events held in New York.
A South African competitor from Stellenbosch University came second overall, Hoiles states. "This competition introduced mainframe technologies to a new generation of IT students and was a showcase for some of the highly talented students in Africa."
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