Master the Mainframe Contest
Master the Mainframe contest is a mainframe programming challenge that is organized annually by IBM Academic Initiative System z.[1]
History[edit]
Originally catered to students attending North American institutions of higher learning (US and Canada, excluding Quebec), the contest is currently running in separate countries across the globe (30 to date).[2] The goal of the contest is to provide students with the opportunity to experience working with mainframes.[3] The contest was created in part to increase the number of mainframe skilled individuals in the computing workforce.[4]
Contest[edit]
The contest that runs for North America typically starts during the Fall semester and runs until the end of December. It is separated into 3 parts in which each part increases in complexity. Part 1 introduces the contestants to the basic aspects necessary to get started with mainframe technologies and requires minimal time to complete. Part 2 on the other hand involves more steps for each tasks and usually takes a day or so to accomplish. The first 60 winners of Part 2 will receive monetary prize in recognition of their achievement. Lastly, part 3 is more in depth and may involve multiple programming challenges such as COBOL, REXX, JCL, etc. (depending on the questions set for the year's challenge).[5]
Prizes[edit]
Past winners of Part 3 have receive gifts such as iPad, iPod, laptops or netbooks. Winners also receives an all-expense-paid trip to the IBM mainframe facility in Poughkeepsie, New York.
References[edit]
- ^ Salamone, Salvatore. "It's Now Cool to Master the Mainframe". Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ Todd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). ECC 2011. p. 8. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ Todd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). ECC 2011. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ Sharma, Niranjan. "IBM Academic Initiative Helps Fill the Skills Gap". Retrieved 10 January 2012.
- ^ Todd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Futur" (PDF). ECC 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2012.