Meet the Open Mainframe Project Summer 2024 Mentees and Mentors

The Open Mainframe Project’s Mentorship program continues to be one of its most popular initiatives. Since its launch, the Mentorship program has provided more than 80 students with hands-on learning experiences in Linux, open source, and mainframes. This year, we yet again set a new record for applicants. In the Summer 2024 term, which began on June 1st, more than 1,600 developers and students applied for the 10 mentorship programs. Our program’s incredible mentors had the challenging task of reviewing the applications to select 14 mentees.

This year’s mentorships include Open Mainframe projects such as Zowe, Galasa, Software Discovery Tool, COBOL Programming Course, and App Store UI. The mentees will complete their summer term with real-world, hands-on experience utilizing Linux, open source, and mainframes that they can carry with them into the next phase of their career paths. Some even return to become mentors in our program!

Please meet our Open Mainframe Project 2024 Summer Mentees and Mentors:

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COBOL Programming Course

Mentees:

Rituraj Mahato, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore

Fun Facts: 

1. I am learning new things every day.
2. I listen to different genres of music.
3. I like to watch movies and play games in my free time.

Ali Mohamed, University of Western Ontario

Fun Facts: 

1. I am a big fan of Kaiju Films (Like Godzilla).
2. I’m a hobbyist game dev.  On my PS Vita handheld I have (and can play) a game-jam winning video game that I made.
3. I am a cat person and I’ve raised a litter of kittens in the past.

Mentors: 

Michael Bauer, Software Engineering Supervisor, Broadcom Corporation

Fun Facts:

1. I am a racecar driver – 410 sprint cars!
2. I’m an Open Mainframe Project Ambassador and IBM Champion advocating for the mainframe platform.
3. I enjoy the outdoors – I like hiking, boating and snowboarding.

Ashis Kumar Naik

Fun Facts:

1. I’m a reverse engineering enthusiast who loves to dive deep into how things work under the hood.
2. In my free time, you’ll often find me playing chess, strategizing my next move. 
3. When I’m not engaged in mental battles, I’m hitting the road on my Royal Enfield, exploring the breathtaking terrains of the Himalayas as a solo biker and traveler.

Sudharsana Srinivasan, IBM Z Influencer and Program Manager, IBM

Mentorship Description:

The goal of this summer mentorship is to continue enhancing the Testing chapter in the COBOL Programming course. Introduce CI/CD for COBOL application development using Jenkins. Update the course to gain value from the Zowe V3 release. This will ensure that we are able to provide our learners with the modern Devops Practices.

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Finalize React Front-End

Mentees:

Deveshi Dwivedi, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Jabalpur

Fun Facts:

1. Originally from India, but the world is my oyster!
2. I’m a lifelong learner and am always curious to explore new things and meet interesting people.
3. Mountains for adventure, beaches for chill. I love them both!

Apurv Sonawane, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai

Fun Facts: 

1. I chose software engineering after watching the movie “The Social Network” back in 2017.
2. I am the only engineer in a family of doctors.
3. I can drift a car.

Mentors: 

Divya Goswami, University of Birmingham

Fun Facts:

1. I learnt hieroglyphics for fun when I was young and impressed my class by writing their names in it!
2. I love petty polyrhythmic challenges (playing multiple beats at the same time on different limbs).
3. I speak 5 languages (English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Japanese).

Elizabeth K. Joseph, Developer Advocate, IBM

Fun Facts:

1. I started working on mainframes in 2019.
2. I am a big Star Wars fan.
3. I received my amateur radio license during the 2020 pandemic.

Mentorship Description:

A React-based front-end has been developed for the Software Discovery tool, but it needs thorough review, and improvements to the documentation before it goes into production. This mentorship will also cover side-tasks that include improvements to onboarding documentation and data source updates.

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Galasa GitHub Actions Build Process

Mentee: 

Dhruv Jain, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi

Fun Facts: 

1. Software is one of the things that I do.
2. I was an Abacus regionalist when I was 9.
3. I love hip hop.

Mentors:

Jade Carino, Software Engineer, IBM

Fun Facts:

1. I have skydived from 10,000 feet.
2. I love to run; I ran a half marathon last year and I am training for my next one.
3. I have just brought home my first pet, a black cat, called Hannibal.

Mike Cobbett, Senior Software Engineer, IBM

Mentorship Description:

Galasa is an open-source Open Mainframe Project and Linux Foundation incubator project. It is a ground-breaking tool used in test automation, to orchestrate the running of test cases with enterprise-level capabilities.  Galasa build infrastructure currently has a build process which is less than ideal. We are looking for someone interested in CI/CD pipeline technology to help create a brand new set of build pipelines using Github actions on public Github.  The work will be open source, visible to the world, will greatly enhance the productivity of the Galasa team, and make it far easier for others to contribute to the project in future.

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Improve Feilong Packaging Process

Mentee: 

Aazam Thakur, Vasandada Patil Pratishthans College of Engineering & Visual Arts

Fun Facts: 

1. I speak three languages (English, Hindi, Arabic).
2. I love reading and lifting weights.
3. I wish to travel the world and try out all sorts of cuisine.

Mentors: 

Eric Bischoff, Quality Engineering Specialist, SUSE

Fun Facts:

1. I speak five languages: French, English, Italian, Spanish, and German.
2. I started with mainframes as a trainee in 1985.
3. I am a fan of Italian cinema.

Mike Friesenegger, Solution Architect – Alliances and Integrated Systems, SUSE

Fun Facts:

1. I am learning German using Duolingo.
2. I enjoy working outside throughout the year at my home, especially using my tractor.
3. I enjoy contributing to open source and working for an enterprise open source company.

Dong Ma, Software Engineer, IBM

Fun Facts:

1. I like to collect stamps and fridge magnets. 
2. I am the father of two kids.
3. I once took pictures with Linus Torvalds.

Mentorship Description:

Improve CI/CD workflow for automated Feilong package builds.

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Mainframe Open Education

Mentee:

Maryblessing Okolie

Fun Facts: 

1. I love playing video games.
2. I enjoy my local delicacies.
3. My siblings are over a decade older than me.

Mentors:

JJ Lovett, Head of Education and Customer Engagement, Mainframe Division, Broadcom Inc.

Fun Facts:

1. I have stood on the easternmost and westernmost points on the African continent.
2. My two daughters were both born at 12:52 AM – 22 months apart.
3. I restore seasoned objects – currently working on a 30 year old Jeep and a 35 year old sport-fish boat.

Lauren Valenti, Director, Mainframe Education, Customer Engagement, Vitality and Mainframe Expert Program, Broadcom Software

Fun Facts:

1. I enjoy skiing.
2. I have over 20 years of industry experience, with over 8 of those years working with mainframes.

Mentorship Description:

Mainframe Open Education is a community that focuses on ‘open sourcing’ mainframe learning roadmaps and community knowledge transfer.  Mainframe Open Education’s mission is to deliver to mainframe users a convenient platform to create or donate learning tools, so we cultivate skills, and we allow for knowledge sharing and community contributions. This effort being a community-based program, is the differentiating feature, offering a distinctive difference from all other sources of education.  It is the collective body of knowledge within our generous community that matters, creating a groundswell of people who are leading the way for future mainframe technicians.

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Modernization White Paper

Mentees:

Aditi Rai, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT)

Fun Facts:

1. I am a Poet.
2. I am an Introvert.
3. I love listening to music.

Swathi Rao, PES University

Fun Facts: 

1. I speak three languages- English, Hindi and Kannada! I know a fair bit of Japanese and I’m currently learning German. 
2. I love to cycle, learn music and read in my free time
3. I’ve been learning how to bake these days!

Mentors:

Bruno Azenha, FSI Global Solution Architect, Red Hat

Fun Facts:

1. I speak four languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, French).
2. I’ve visited 53 countries.
3. I’m a fan of good food and wine.

Misty Decker, Mainframe Modernization Consult Leader, Kyndryl

Fun Facts:

1. I was the release manager of the first release of z/OS.
2. A third of all the t-shirts I own are mainframe shirts.
3. I’m a beer judge at the TAP NY beer competition.

Mentorship Description: 

Mainframe Modernization is a complex topic with many varying points of view.  The Modernization Working Group was created to provide guidance to the many organizations worldwide trying to determine the best way to make their mainframe environments meet their changing business needs.  

We are launching an effort to create a series of white papers sharing a fair and balanced point of view on a variety of topics.  This mentorship program will focus on whatever topic you are most excited about for example DevOps, cloud integration with mainframe, modernization techniques and tooling, business value of modernization, etc.  We will teach you about mainframe modernization and help you choose a topic that interests you.  Then you will research the topic and write a white paper which we will help publish and promote.  There may be an opportunity for you to present your findings at virtual conferences.

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Modernization Video Series

Mentee:

Rahat Khan, Starex University

Fun Facts: 

1. I love Open Source.
2. I love traveling and connecting with different people around the world.
3. I am the first software developer in my family and whole town.

Mentors:

Bruno Azenha, FSI Global Solution Architect, Red Hat

Misty Decker, Mainframe Modernization Consult Leader, Kyndryl

Mentorship Description:

Mainframe modernization is a complex topic with many conflicting points of view.  The modernization working group was created to provide a fair and balanced point of view and provide clarity to the many organizations trying to determine which path is best for them.  

We’d like to create a series of short videos covering some of the many topics related to mainframe modernization such as DevOps, integrating with cloud, modernization techniques, data democratization and more.  We will find some of the world’s top experts on these topics and help you schedule a series of interviews.  You would be the host, researching the topic ahead of time so you’re prepared with questions for your guests.  We’ll publish the videos through the Open Mainframe Project and help promote them.

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Zebra JavaScript Application

Mentee: 

Zigurds Licis, Queen’s University

Mentors: 

Vincent Terrone, Senior Solutions Architect, Vicom Infinity

Fernando Zangari, Senior Consultant

Fun Facts:

1. I am a twin.
2. I speak two languages (Spanish, English).
3. I like programming.

Mentorship Description:

ZEBRA is a revolutionary performance monitor that uses Grafana and Promethius to display System Z metrics written in JavaScript running under Node.js. There are currently hundreds of metrics to choose from making selection a difficult process. Also, these metrics must be put in JSON which adds to the complexity. We are looking for an intern to modernize this process by creating a stand-alone JavaScript application which will allow users to choose what metrics they need and create this JSON file that ZEBRA uses.

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Zebra Plugin for Hitachi Mainframe Storage

Mentee:

Krishi Jain, DJ Sanghvi College of Engineering

Fun Facts: 

1. I’m a musician who plays the guitar and I often post music covers on social media.
2. I absolutely enjoy trying new places to eat and sometimes I carry a small notebook when I go to one and act like a food critic taking notes to get free food. Works 80% of the time.  
3. Video games are where my heart lie, there is nothing more I want to do after a long day of work than play video games.

Mentors: 

Joe Carlisle, Master Solution Architect, Hitachi Vantara

Fun Facts:

1. When I’m not developing enterprise storage solutions for customers, you can find me surfing at the surf breaks in Santa Cruz, CA.
2. I’ve worked at Hitachi Vantara for 37 years! I’ve been at the company long enough to see three name changes: National Advanced Systems, Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi Vantara.
3. Before starting a career in high tech, I was an oceanographer working for a company using Hitachi Vantara mainframes. (National Advanced Systems mainframes at the time). My experience as an oceanographer doing data analytics on a mainframe is what brought me to Hitachi Vantara 37 years ago!

Len Santalucia, CTO, Vicom Infinity

Fun Facts:

1. 2024 marks my 51st year in the mainframe business.
2. I have been the Open Mainframe Project Chair since its inception.
3. I own a 1964.5 Mustang which is 60 years old just like the mainframe.

Mentorship Description:

Developing an on-prem solution for monitoring mainframe performance using HMAI CSV data as input.

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Zowe – App Store UI

Mentees: 

Atharva Kanherkar, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur

Fun Facts: 

1. I code in the morning and hit the gym in the evening.
2. I love drinking black coffee. Some people do not like the taste of it, but without it, My life is incomplete. As Jim Hopper from Stranger Things said, “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation!” I live by the statement.
3. I would love to buy a camera someday and travel the whole world while capturing everything that comes in between.

Kanhaiya Yadav, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India

Fun Facts: 

1. I’m passionate about the history and geopolitics of different regions around the world.
2. As a kid, I was an avid PC gamer and spent countless hours immersed in my favorite games.
3. When I was younger, I loved collecting newspaper cut-outs to build my own unique collection.

Mentor: 

Leanid Astrakou, Software Engineer III Scrum Master, Rocket Software

Mentorship Description:

Zowe is an open, extensible set of APIs, tools, and visual interfaces to interact with the mainframe, closely resembling the core functionality of any OS today. Like any OS, it needs an app store to install extensions. Build with me upon existing work to polish a front-end (React/Node.js) and continue the groundwork of a highly secure back-end (C/metal C). The app store will allow Zowe users to install extensions from a UI, connected to a registry for example: on npm or from some secure remote location.

Stay tuned:

Mentees will be blogging about their experiences. Stay tuned here and the Open Mainframe Project social channels for updates.

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