Syracuse University's Mainframe Program

Check out Roger Kay's Forbes article “Kids See A Future In Mainframes.” Much like our discussion of Marist College, Roger writes about Dave Dischiave’s efforts at Syracuse University to train up new Millennial Mainframers through the interdisciplinary Global Enterprise Technology program. Dischiave says that GET enrollment “numbers are on the rise” indicating that “whatever we’re doing seems to resonate.” The dramatic expansion of z/OS course offerings throughout the world seems to mirror his assessment. It is a well known fact that companies are concerned about mainframe skill shortages as their graying workforce retires. According to a recent independent CompuWare survey, 71% of CIOs are concerned about skill shortages in their mainframe shops. While some have predicted that this skills shortage will lead to workloads shifting off the mainframe, this Millennial Mainframer believes that this skill shortage will be solved by close cooperation between universities, corporate sponsors, and the IBM Academic Initiative.

Hats off to Dave Dischiave and Syracuse University's GET program!

It's definitely worth noting the active involvement of Syracuse University in the 2011 Master the Mainframe competition. They placed 3rd in the number of students to complete the challenging Part II.