Join host Steven Dickens in this inspiring episode of I Am a Mainframer featuring Junior Tadiffo, a third-year Computer Science student at University at Buffalo, IBM Z Student Ambassador, and President of the UB IBM Z Club.
Junior shares his journey discovering the mainframe through a friend’s recommendation, earning IBM Z badges on z/OS Explore, and igniting his passion for this powerful platform. From his first “mind-blowing” experience accessing z/OS to running the university’s IBM Z Club, Junior discusses the perception challenges on college campuses, the importance of hands-on access like z/OS Explore, and how open source Linux on mainframe makes it more accessible to students. He also shares advice for the mainframe community on supporting early-career talent and his vision for more public resources, YouTube tutorials, and greater mainframe integration in modern computing over the next 10 years.
Celebrating Black History Month: This episode highlights Junior Tadiffo’s journey as a Black student leader breaking barriers in mainframe technology during Black History Month. Junior represents the next generation of diverse talent bringing fresh perspectives and energy to the mainframe ecosystem, proving that innovation knows no bounds.
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Transcript:
Steven:
“Hello and welcome. You’re joining us on another episode of the I Am a Mainframer Podcast. I’m your host as always, Steven Dickens. And I’m joined by Junior. Like we bounce around on the show and we have just recorded an episode this morning with a person who’s been on the mainframe for decades. But now I’m going to chance to speak to you on the same day, Junior. And you’re early in your journey. So tell us a little bit about you, introduce yourself, and we’ll just kick off the conversation and go from there.”
Junior:
“Yeah. So hello listeners. Like I said before, my name is Junior. I’m a… I’m actually a student at University at Buffalo, so he’s in Western New York. I’m a third year computer science student. And I’m very new to the mainframe. Actually, I learned about it about one and a half years ago. I actually learned through a friend, which is, yeah, through a friend. And so she was an IBM Z Ambassador, which is the IBM Z program by your year. And then she sent me a link.
It was a video. I don’t know if you know about the video, but it’s like a video. It shows the path from someone ordering something online, how the mainframe processes it, everything. And then when all these people to the person. So I find it very interesting. And as we try to go on YouTube and learn more about the mainframe, there’s not that much content on the mainframe online on YouTube, surprisingly. And that’s where I went ahead and I got my IBM Z badges on the Explore platform. I got the concert badges. I got the advanced badges. And then I was like, oh, I want to learn more about this. So I applied to the IBM Z Ambassador program. And first of all, today, I’m an ambassador and I run the UB IBM Z Club.
Steven:
“Fantastic, Junior. So, so much to unpack in there. But tell me, just—you’re in college, you’re probably doing a lot in the computer science space. You’re interacting with different platforms. You’re on the, you know, you’re using different languages. You’re on different cloud platforms. Tell me about that first mainframe experience.
You love the first time. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Is it new? Is it weird? Is it interesting? Talk me through it.”
Junior:
“Yes, for sure. Especially that in college. In my college, there’s no mainframe course. And even in the introductory seminars, they mention a lot of new technologies. But nobody talks about the mainframe. So it was very new to me. And I was a positive surprise, right? When I went, I was doing the badges. Just having access to that—to like a platform with so much power. And like when you know all the new things it can do, just having access to that through the Z Explore platform was just amazing to me. So getting those first badges, just changed everything. I started getting interested. Actually, I really like the Linux challenge. And yeah, it’s just different. It’s very different.”
Steven:
“If you’ve been involved in the Open Mainframe Project, have you got involved in any of that work yet?”
Junior:
“Not yet. I’ve read a lot, but I haven’t done any hands-on yet.”
Steven:
“Yeah, that’s definitely an area. I’d love to get you to get involved in some of those communities. So what’s the reaction when you’re on a college campus talking about the mainframe? Are people scratching their head going, ‘I thought that was dead’? And they kind of—that’s a weird technology. What’s the reaction when you say, ‘Hey, I’m a mainframer on a college campus’? I’d love to unpack that.”
Junior:
“Yeah, for sure. Most students don’t know at all what it is. But I feel like when I explain it, they were also at IBMZ, the program, they give us a lot of resources. We should also like to explain better to the students. So obviously at the beginning, there was a lot of misunderstanding. And they really don’t know what the mainframe is, right? But after that, people have put it to a surprise. And they’re just wondering, like, why haven’t I heard about this before? Right? So I have to start to remember from something that has learned the background. And most people don’t know about it. But yeah, I don’t know..”
Steven:
“Barriers? The people have… Because of this kind of perception, the college kids don’t want to learn the mainframe. I don’t believe that… You’re an example of that. You say, ‘Hey, this technology’s out there. This is what it does.’ What is that initial reaction from people? Do they want to go, ‘I want to find out more. I want to play with this. I want to get engaged’? Or is it kind of step back? ‘I don’t want to touch this platform. That sounds kind of weird and old.’ Which—what’s the reaction, what do you get?”
Junior:
“I got this sort of reservation at the beginning. Because when you explain, the mainframe uses a lot of different technologies—COBOL, JCL, REXX. These are languages that they haven’t heard about before. So most of them are kind of reluctant to get introduced to these new languages. But now when I can do the fact that the mainframe is open source, Linux is running on the mainframe, makes all these technologies they wouldn’t know about be able to run on the mainframe. Now they’re more open‑minded to learning more about the mainframe. But initially, I would say the fact that the mainframe has different set of languages and protocols, it’s kind of a barrier for students to get into.”
Steven:
“So, what do you think the biggest friction? You’re probably in your college dorm actually doing this as we speak. What’s the friction point of getting access to a mainframe? Trying to be able to apply, develop your skills, program in the languages you just mentioned. What’s some of those friction points?”
Junior:
“So, the main thing is, actually the actual hardware in mainframe. I had a chance to see an actual mainframe that is z17. In Orlando at the IBM Tech Exchange, I was really happy. That was really my highlight of last year.”
Steven:
“Did you see PJ unboxing?”
Junior:
“Yes, I did. That was amazing.”
Steven:
“It does a great job. Shout out to PJ.
Junior:
“I was working on a mystical, like no one sees actually what it is. They don’t know what the actual hardware is. And then I’m asking them to actually go and try to get those badges. I feel like when you actually go on the Explore platform and then do these challenges. I think there’s on the course of badges, these regs, this, actually Python, this JCL. I feel like you actually need to go on there, try the challenges, see how it works. It’s just like mind‑blowing, right?”
Steven:
“You need to get your hands‑on Poughkeepsie. You need to come down to Poughkeepsie. PJ needs to take you around the test floor. It will blow your mind.
Junior:
“Is that an invite?”
Steven:
“It’s not my place to invite you anymore. If I still work for IBM, I would gladly host you and I would gladly take you around. There’s some people I know who would love to have you come down to Poughkeepsie. Anybody from IBM, if Tina’s watching, if Tom’s watching, if Meredith’s watching, there’s a bunch of people I know who couldn’t get you an invite, so let’s pick that up after that.
So one of the questions I ask everybody on the show, it’s kind of making me giggle how I would ask you this question. The questions I ask is you get a chance to go back to your 20‑year‑old, 22‑year‑old self and give some advice. I just was on with a guy Marcus, we recorded another episode this morning. His first time on DB2 was in 1988. So obviously he’s got a perspective that’s very different and he’s got some fantastic things. I’ve been asking this question for now six or seven years of people on the show and the thing that comes through is curiosity. But you are the younger version of yourself. So what advice do you want to hear? How can the mainframe community help you with all of our years of experience and why it’s in my beard? You’re the same age as my daughters. How can we help you as a community with your career and what’s ahead?”
Junior:
“Yeah, actually, I’m also getting a lot of help from the IBM Z program. So when you advance as an ambassador, you actually get access to the inter‑skill platform. So actually that’s what I’m working on right now, inter‑skill. So they have a lot of mainframe courses. Yeah, I guess. I remember the other nice guys are reminding. Yes. The platform is really, really good. So I’m following the learning path, the database, and we should talk learning path. That’s actually DB2, like you mentioned before. Just giving more of these resources, just making it more accessible to the public because I feel like it’s really hard to find. Even though it works really good, it’s really hard to find. So just giving all these resources to actually upskill earlier so that when we get to these stages of our career, when I’m trying to learn into actually getting a job, I’m really skill‑wise. And then I can actually contribute to the open source, contribute to the mainframe environment. So just getting these skills earlier, these resources earlier, I feel like it can go a long way with a lot of people.”
Steven:
“So Junior, I’m really fascinated to get this perspective, your perspective on the last question here, because you also have fresh, so new to the platform. Crystal ball, chance to look ahead, the missed clears. Where do you see the mainframe five years from there? But I’m not going to ask you just five years. I’m going to say 10 years, 15 years. Where do you see the mainframe platform that far out? It’s interesting. I get to ask all the fun questions of this one. And then just go to them. So I thought you were with this question.”
Junior:
“10 years. I would say definitely the open source ecosystem is getting larger, getting larger for sure. And I see a modernization—not of the mainframe, but of the way we use it, or the way we integrate it into past computing. And most importantly, for me, I think I want to see more, I think we are going to see, because they do a great job advocating. I’m part of it too. I want to see more public. You know, just YouTube tutorials, just YouTube videos about our body, just like more resources, just to be to the public. I feel like as time goes by, it’s going to keep increasing, increasing because actually me, the ambassadors and new college students are actually loving this technology. So we’re going to keep pushing it. And I feel like in 10 years, we’ll get paid for sure.”
Steven:
“Junior, I couldn’t think of a better way to finish our podcast today. This has been a fascinating conversation. You’ve been watching another episode of the I Am a Mainframer Podcast. I’ve had Junior here coming from his college dorm room. It’s been a fantastic episode talking about a new mainframer coming to this platform. Please like, subscribe, share with a friend, and we’ll see you next time. Thank you very much for watching.”
OUTRO- Thank you for tuning in to the Mainframe Connect podcast. And this episode in the I Am a Mainframer series, sponsored by Phoenix Software International and by Vicom Infinity, a converged company. Like what you heard? Subscribe to get every episode. Or watch us online at openmainframeproject.org. Until next time, this is the Mainframe Connect podcast.
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