From Gaming Curiosity to Mainframe Career

My Journey into Systems Operations

I first found my love for know-how on the age of two, holding a Super Nintendo controller that my dad positioned in my palms. That early spark of curiosity grew as I performed extra video video games, main me to surprise why some consoles outperformed others. Why couldn’t my PlayStation 2 run the most recent PlayStation 3 video games? The console was from the identical producer, however why didn’t it work? That easy query drove me to dig deeper into the variations in {hardware} and software program, and shortly I used to be evaluating system specs the way in which automotive fans speak about engines.

By the time I reached highschool, computing was my favourite topic. What started with doodles in Microsoft Paint and tinkering in Microsoft Office advanced into studying about laptop graphics, {hardware}, and my first publicity to programming via Visual Basic. Coding captured my creativeness. Fueled by my ardour for gaming, I set my sights on turning into a online game programmer and enrolled in a Computer Science diploma program.

Expanding My IT Horizons

At college, my perspective on know-how widened dramatically. I explored programming in a number of languages, studied the software program engineering lifecycle, realized laptop structure, experimented with primary AI, and tackled cybersecurity and arithmetic. Although my authentic dream of online game growth shifted, I noticed myself thriving in software program engineering or laptop design.

What I didn’t see, nevertheless, was the mainframe–which by no means made it into my lectures or labs. Like many laptop science college students, I mistakenly thought they had been relics of the previous—till my profession search informed me in any other case.

Modern Mainframe Intrigue

When I graduated in 2022, the software program engineering job market within the UK was bleak. Layoffs had been rampant, and most accessible roles required years of senior-level expertise. Then, in 2024, an surprising alternative landed in my inbox: a message on LinkedIn about Broadcom’s Mainframe Vitality Program.

Curious, I began researching. The extra I realized, the extra intrigued I turned. Far from being outdated, fashionable mainframes provided staggering ranges of efficiency, safety, and reliability. Realizing mainframes are the spine of worldwide industries fully modified my outlook. I utilized to this system and was lucky sufficient to be accepted.

Building a Strong Foundation

To put together, I started with IBM Z Xplore, getting a style of mainframe fundamentals earlier than diving into the Vitality Program’s curriculum. The program itself offered structured, progressive coaching:

• Foundations Course: Covering z/OS, ISPF, JCL, REXX, COBOL, and culminating in a capstone challenge
• Professional Skills: Focused on communication, presentation, and agile methodology
• OPS/MVS Training: A deep dive into operations over 5 weeks
• CA7 Scheduler Training: An intensive three-week module

I put this information to the check in a six-month residency at a big UK financial institution, the place I labored as a techniques operator. Thanks to this system’s basis, I wasn’t ranging from zero. The Vitality Program’s residency section allowed me to use ideas in real-world situations, accelerating my development and confidence.

Completing the residency was just the start. I used to be provided a full-time place on the financial institution, a milestone I by no means imagined once I first picked up that Nintendo controller years in the past. None of this might have been doable with out the Mainframe Vitality Program, and for that, I’m deeply grateful.

A Message to Future Technologists

This leaves me with one ultimate piece of recommendation for my fellow laptop science graduates and tech fans: Don’t overlook the mainframe. Technology tendencies come and go: AI at present, cloud and social media yesterday, cell computing earlier than that. But for over half a century, mainframes have been operating silently and reliably within the background, powering the techniques all of us rely on.

For these keen to take a more in-depth look into mainframe careers, they’ll discover that they provide not solely stability but additionally the possibility to make an actual impression on this planet of enterprise computing.