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Master the Mainframe contest was a mainframe programming challenge organized annually by IBM Academic Initiative System z.cite-ref-pfeiffer-1-0[1]

• History

• Contest

• Prizes

• References

• External links

Originally catering to students attending North American institutions of higher learning (US and Canada, excluding Quebec), the contest ran in as many as 30 countries across the globe.cite-ref-todd-2-0[2] The goal of the contest was to provide students with the opportunity to experience working with mainframes.cite-ref-tood2-3-0[3] The contest was created in part to increase the number of mainframe skilled individuals in the computing workforce.cite-ref-sharma-4-0[4]

For North America, the contest typically started during the Fall semester and run until the end of December. It was separated into 3 parts, with each part increasing in complexity. Part 1 introduced the basic aspects necessary to get started with mainframe technologies and required minimal time to complete. Part 2 involved more steps for each task and usually took a day or so to accomplish. The first 60 winners of Part 2 received monetary prizes in recognition of their achievement. Part 3 was more in depth, involving multiple programming challenges such as COBOL, REXX, JCL, etc. (depending on the questions set for the year's challenge).cite-ref-todd3-5-0[5]

Past winners of Part 3 received gifts such as iPad, iPod, laptops or netbooks. Winners also received an all-expense-paid trip to the IBM mainframe facility in Poughkeepsie, New York.

cite-note-pfeiffer-11. ↑ citerefpfeifferPfeiffer, Kathy. "IBM Academic Initiative at Your Service" (PDF). Retrieved 12 September 2024.

cite-note-todd-22. ↑ citereftoddnewton-pTodd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). ECC 2011. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2012.

cite-note-tood2-33. ↑ citereftoddnewton-pTodd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). ECC 2011. pp. 3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2012.

cite-note-sharma-44. ↑ citerefsharmaSharma, Niranjan. "IBM Academic Initiative Helps Fill the Skills Gap". Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.

cite-note-todd3-55. ↑ citereftoddnewton-pTodd, Mike; Newton, P. "Master the Mainframe Contest: Past, Present and Future" (PDF). ECC 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2012.

• IBM Z Academic Initiative program

• IBM Master the Mainframe Contest and Learning System