Tackling the Mainframe Skills Shortage on Multiple Fronts: The Asia-Pacific Perspective
Dallas Newton, regional director for Vertali APAC, observes that finding the next generation of mainframe workers is a global challenge
I recently read an article that included this sentence: “To stop the current skills challenge from becoming a full-blown crisis, organizations need to nurture the next generation of mainframe workers.” Well, in my opinion, this is a global problem that has been growing for over two decades.
In Asia-Pacific, there’s a serious lack of in-house “younger generation” expertise and experience to help organizations manage and optimize the mainframe, as traditional mainframe support personnel prepare to retire while graduates work diligently to try and catch up to the exiting knowledge base.
Mainframes Are Not Going Away
Why does it matter? It matters because the majority of the world’s top banks and Fortune 100 companies still depend on mainframes. Far from being dispensed with, today’s mainframes are being modernized and are becoming the hub for digital transformations, and their processing cycles are increasing year on year.
As a Forrester senior analyst put it, “Great technology doesn’t really go away.” A 2024 Information Services Group (ISG) Provider Lens report on Asia-Pacific’s mainframe sector included this comment: “Companies in this region that had expected mainframes to become obsolete have found lasting value in their resilience and capacity.” But you can’t unlock that value without the right people and skills.
Building the Right Technical Expertise
So how can you build an internal mainframe talent pool? Options include making sure you identify high-potential candidates, providing easy access to mainframe training and mentoring, working to establish a learning culture and making sure you are connected to the wider global mainframe community.
A longstanding advocate for talent development, Vertali’s primary focus is ensuring we have the right technical expertise to support our work. It’s imperative that we continue attracting, training, mentoring and developing this technical capability. Our efforts include short-term tactical solutions to close the skills gap today, and a longer-term approach to nurture and develop the mainframers of tomorrow.
Talent Development Resources
As previously mentioned, a large percentage of the mainframe workforce is currently, or will soon be, considering their retirement options, but still have a great deal to offer in terms of technical ability. For organizations facing an exodus of knowledge due to impending retirements, there are programs and services that can help, including programs that offer consulting, project delivery and mainframe support, as well as skills development and mentorship for the next generation of mainframers.
One such resource is the Mainframe Skills Council. Vertali was an early member of this organization, which was set up and supported by IBM to encourage the development of a skilled global community of mainframe talent. Member organizations include IBM clients, IBM partners, academia, user groups, not-for-profits and open communities, collaborating to implement mainframe skills development.
Other bodies focusing on people development include SHARE, the independent association that provides “education, professional networking and industry influence for the enterprise IT community,” and Guide Share Europe, which seeks to actively develop next-generation practitioners. Vertali has a long history of engaging with and supporting these industry organizations as well.
Technology Solutions
Of course, there are also technology solutions to help ease the skills shortage. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is already being used in various areas, including cybersecurity, modernization and operations. AI can increase productivity by, for example, scanning and modernizing code, or guiding a systems person through complex tasks to implement new software or processes.
And in observability, new tools are helping administrators to track and better understand system behavior and resource usage. These approaches are useful but are only part of the solution: We’ll always need talented people.
Workforce Gets Younger
In 2024, CIO Dive quoted John McKenny, vice president and general manager of Intelligent Z Optimization and Transformation at BMC Software, who said: “It’s about companies being ready to invest in recruiting and creating the right environment for young technologists.” McKenny said BMC has seen the percentage of mainframe workers under the age of 30 increasing as those over 55 start to leave the workforce, and he noted that the number of women in the field has increased, too. Maybe, just maybe, the tide is turning.