Open Mainframe Project Summer Mentorship Series: Midterm Updates – At this midpoint, our selected mentees are reporting in. Below, you’ll learn what they’ve built, the challenges they’ve overcome, and their goals for the rest of the summer. We’re proud of every contribution and eager to see what comes next. Hear from Athar Ramzan, Polaris School of Technology, Bengaluru below.
I’m Athar Ramzan, a mentee under the Linux Foundation’s LFX Mentorship Program, working with the Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course. As we reach the midpoint of this incredible journey, I wanted to pause and reflect on how this experience has shaped me, both as a developer and as a person.
About My Project
The COBOL Programming Course offers learners a rare hands-on opportunity to work with mainframe and COBOL development. My project focuses on enhancing the course by improving existing labs and developing new ones, making it even more engaging and educational for learners.
So far, my contributions include:
- Completing the COBOL Programming Course to understand it from a learner’s perspective first
- Reviewing existing labs and suggesting improvements
- Improving the clarity and consistency of course content
- Adding new exercises under labs to deepen the learner’s understanding
- Currently working on creating entirely new labs, such as debugging exercises and real-world COBOL tasks
You can check out some of my contributions here:
Mentorship That Matters
A big shoutout to my mentors, Sudharsana Srinivasan (IBM) and Michael Bauer (Broadcom). Their support has been the backbone of my progress. They’ve been incredibly generous with their time and always just one Slack message away whenever I felt stuck or needed guidance.
I’m especially grateful that they gave me time to explore, learn, and grow, particularly in the early weeks when I was still making sense of COBOL, JCL, Zowe Explorer, and IBM Z Open Editor.
What I’ve Learned
This mentorship has been a goldmine of learning. It helped me grow technically and personally in ways I didn’t expect.
Technical Skills:
- COBOL programming
- JCL (Job Control Language)
- IBM Z Open Editor
- Zowe Explorer
- Curriculum design and writing technical exercises for learners
Soft Skills:
- Clearer communication
- Asking better questions
- Staying consistent and not giving up when things feel overwhelming
One specific example I’m proud of is a new exercise I added to Lab 8.6, which teaches learners how to update COBOL logic to filter and count clients from different states. It encourages thinking and reasoning, not just copy-pasting code, a skill that’s key for any developer.
Overcoming the Challenges: From Confused to Confident
I won’t lie – the beginning was tough. COBOL was completely new to me. Working with JCL, Zowe Explorer, and IBM Z Open Editor felt like learning a foreign language. But I stayed committed.
When I first joined, I felt overwhelmed. COBOL was new to me, and navigating tools like JCL and Zowe Explorer was challenging. But instead of panicking, I stuck with the learning. My mentors played a huge role in guiding me through this phase.
By the end of the first two weeks, I had completed the COBOL course, understood how to submit JCL jobs, and most importantly, gained confidence. From fixing a typo to designing new labs, my journey has been a steady climb.
Personal and Professional Growth
Looking back, I can confidently say that this mentorship has changed me:
- I’m more confident in my technical and communication skills.
- I’ve experienced the power of open source and what it means to build tools that educate and empower others.
- I’ve learned not to hold back when I have questions, and that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
What’s Ahead
As I move into the second half of the mentorship, I’m excited about:
- Implement some of my proposed lab ideas – add at least 5 new hands-on labs.
- Develop debugging labs to help learners understand and fix errors.
- Build labs for Common Abend (Abnormal End) scenarios.
- Designing more complex exercises that challenge learners to think critically.
My goal is to help future COBOL developers approach this language with confidence, curiosity, and excitement.
Final Words
This mentorship is more than a technical project; it’s been a journey of transformation. From feeling lost in unfamiliar syntax to now building exercises that teach others, I’ve come a long way. And I know this is just the beginning.
Thank you to my mentors, the Open Mainframe community, and the Linux Foundation for this opportunity. I’m looking forward to what the rest of the journey brings!
