The Computer Systems Department at Farmingdale State College wants its students to
be industry-ready. To do this they need access to the tools used in the industry.
To give students some of the best tools, the Computer Systems Department, chaired
by Dr. Jill O’Sullivan, sponsored and coordinated the Master the Mainframe competition.
The Master the Mainframe competition is hosted at a variety of places around the world.
On October 25, 2019, the Computer Systems department hosted its own Master the Mainframe
event. The event had the added bonus of being under the umbrella of the IBM Career
Connection. This provided students with further hands-on experience when working with
IBM’s mainframe operating system z/O. 
The event opened with remarks by the college’s provost and a panel of IBM and IBM partners. The IBM panel discussed current trends in the industry, went over their day-to-day workflow, and discussed what job opportunities are available to students prepared with these skills. The competition is an effective way to introduce students to mainframe environments and to the tools used within these environments. Many students at the event had not been exposed to the z/O operating system, used by IBM, before registering.
For the competition, the students were required to execute commands using numerous coding languages and to combine the use of these languages to reach different sections of the environment to perform tasks. The students were exposed to zSystems languages; such as Job Control Language (JCL), COBOL programming language, Time Sharing Option (TSO), and z/OS specific UNIX System Services. The challenges in the competition provided much more than a lesson on the syntax of these languages; they offered real-world applications that allow the student to understand the usefulness of these languages. In addition, the students used a client emulator within the mainframe environment. Without this emulator, students would only have isolated experiences with these languages. It is the environment, made accessible by this emulator, that makes the Master the Mainframe experience a true application of various computer skills. Having the client emulator gave the students the added benefit of a genuine mainframe experience.
The challenges kept the students engaged as they explored and learned about the mainframe environment. Being able to pick up a new skill quickly is a major asset that employers look for in a new hire. Students got a chance to show IBM and their partners that they are one of those fast learners who can work on an enterprise system. While students worked on their mainframe environments, they also had the ability to pause their efforts and converse with the employers one-on-one outside of the labs. This allowed students to have an insight into what life could be like after college. They were also able to ask IBM and their partners a variety of questions, to learn about the work these companies deliver. The Mastering the Mainframe was a complete success. Since the event, the Computer Systems Department offers an online special topics course in IBM z/Os operating system. Mastering the Mainframe served as both a workshop and networking environment because it gave students the opportunity to obtain hands-on mainframe experience and to also expand their network skills.