The Need for Mainframe Skills Is Only Growing. Help Spread the Word.

Marc Smith, education programs consultant at ProTech, shares observations on mainframe hiring and the need for more learning opportunities

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about enhancing the mainframe skills pipeline as a generation of experienced technologists retire, but that conversation has been happening for a very long time.

It’s been part of my work since 2005, when I volunteered as a university ambassador while on the IBM Z marketing team, travelling to colleges and universities to highlight the need to educate students on IBM mainframes (Z systems). For about eight years prior to my retirement, I was able to help two universities enhance their COBOL classes and two community colleges teach enterprise computing (mainframe) certificate programs.

Since my retirement from IBM, the need for mainframe skills has only grown. I continue to present to high school students about “Enterprise Computing’s Best Kept Secret,” and I’ve attended high school career fairs to promote the opportunities a mainframe career offers.

The Mainframe Skills Council

IBM drew more attention to the issue two years ago when it commissioned an effort called the Mainframe Skills Council. The council consists of IBM and business partners such as ProTech Enterprise IT Training & Consulting, 21CS, Broadcom, Kyndryl, Rocket Software and others. Also included are educators from institutions such as the University of North Texas, Marist University and others.

The overall council is pretty much a volunteer effort with several goals, including:

• Raising educators’ awareness of the mainframe and its importance to everyday life, impressing upon them the need for more institutions to teach the platform, and increasing employment opportunities for their students
• Reaching out to students to raise awareness and excitement of continued education and career opportunities
• Highlighting the existence and importance of the mainframe to executives of companies that are not mainframe-aware

For each of the goals, the council created teams who are working on various communication deliverables to get the message out that even in the age of AI, the mainframe is relevant (even more so with its new AI capabilities) and, in most cases, required to keep businesses leading-edge, productive and profitable.

A Vibrant, Next-Gen Community

The Mainframe Skills Council and similar efforts exist for a good reason. For the mainframe to remain leading-edge, young new hires are needed to begin the task of picking up new skills from their mentors, many of whom are looking to retire in the near term. After all, how many years does it take to get 20 years’ experience?

The scale of this global reliance is immense, yet it remains largely invisible to the public.

IBM’s report, “How mainframes are rewriting the AI playbook,” outlines the magnitude of the “why”: Mainframes still process 90% of all credit card transactions and 68% of the world’s production IT workloads. Every time someone swipes a card, checks a bank balance or books a flight, they are actively relying on a mainframe. Because these systems are the foundational baseline of the world economy, the talent crisis isn’t a problem we can ignore; it is a boardroom-level priority.

Fortunately, the IBM mainframe community is a vibrant one that is getting younger. At the spring SHARE 2026 conference in Orlando, Florida, I met many young people who have recently started their careers at various companies. I also met students whose professor had found sponsors to bring his students to SHARE to see the community in action, talk to seasoned mainframers and, of course, build excitement around joining the community and starting their own careers. The 2026 VM Workshop, where 10 students from Virginia Commonwealth University registered to attend, offered another opportunity to learn more about the platform and network with the experts.

The Industry’s Growing Need for Mainframe Skills

The need for mainframe skills isn’t new—I’ve been talking about it since my days as a university ambassador for IBM Z in Texas. Back then, I spent a lot of time meeting with department chairs, educators and IBM clients to explain why teaching mainframe technologies mattered. That need hasn’t gone away. In fact, it has only intensified.

What makes the situation more urgent is the workforce shift happening right now. Many seasoned mainframers—the people who built and maintained these systems for decades—are approaching retirement. As I often tell students, you don’t get 20 years of experience overnight, and companies know they need new hires now so those new hires can learn from the experts before they walk out the door. The community is vibrant and getting younger, but we need more students stepping into these roles.

Another point that often surprises people is how modern the mainframe has become. Today’s IBM Z systems integrate AI, cloud, automation and open‑source tools. This means the industry isn’t just looking for COBOL developers or JCL experts, they’re also looking for Python developers, DevOps engineers, cybersecurity specialists and cloud architects who understand how modern workloads run on Z. The platform has evolved, and the skills needs have expanded with it.

Because so few institutions teach mainframe topics, students who do learn these skills enter a job market where demand dramatically exceeds supply. I’ve seen this first-hand at SHARE conferences and career fairs: Companies are actively recruiting, and students who show even a basic understanding of z/OS or COBOL quickly find themselves with interviews and job offers.

The bottom line is simple: The industry needs mainframe talent, and it needs it now. Whether it’s raising awareness among educators, reaching out to students or helping executives understand the importance of the platform, the Mainframe Skills Council and the broader community are working hard to make sure the next generation is ready.

How You Can Help

In closing, I encourage anyone reading this to help spread the word. Tell your family and friends about the importance of the mainframe in their daily lives. Talk to your local schools, your alma mater or even your own kids’ high school.

The opportunities are real, and the need is only growing, so share your experiences and make sure students know these career paths that are out there.

Resources & Connections

• For Students and Learners: IBM’s zXplore learning platform is an excellent tool for students or folks just wanting to learn more about the Z platform.
• Get the Presentation: As a bonus, anyone who might want a copy of my presentation named above, please reach out to me. Happy to send you a copy.  I will gladly make time to walk you through the presentation or send you a link to a recording.

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