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IBM wants to rejuvenate mainframe workforce

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland

IBM has been working to rejuvenating the venerable mainframe, endowing them with mainstream computing technology, and now it's trying to rejuvenate the mainframe work force as well.

IBM and SHARE, a Big Blue user group, announced an effort Monday called zNextGen to train a new crop of mainframe experts. The name is a play on the zSeries name for the mainframe line. In the program, would-be mainframes can take courses at more than 150 universities, win programming prizes, become interns under the tutelage of SHARE members and read a mainframe blog.

IBM and SHARE announced the plan at the 50th anniversary meeting of the user group, which was founded just two years after Big Blue released its first computer. IBM has pledged to help train 20,000 professionals in mainframe operations by 2010.