On 2/4/2025 9:03 PM, Craig Kaercher via IBM TechXchange Community wrote:
> Steve,
> Thank you for your kind reply and advice. I can ask about the possibility of holding a class at GM(with me leading). The mainframe footprint is very big at GM but things do not move very quickly.
Also, when I taught at corporations, the intended audience was
employees of the corporation.
> I would think high schools would be looking for help in setting up a computer education program(although admittedly mainframe would not be their first choice). It would be a great add on at the local community college where I teach, but I imagine it would have to go through all sorts of reviews to establish it as a credit class.
> I believe I could do a course in basic COBOL and JCL on Hercules, which I have installed on my laptop. I believe everyone could do that or at least enough machines could be set up to accomplish that. Thom Breneman's 3270 emulator is what I use and although it does cost $30(lifetime) it seems to work way better than anything free I have tried.
I too use Tom's emulator; I started using it again last year after
a ten year hiatus and Tom honored the fee I paid _many_ years ago.
Along with COBOL and JCL we can do the major utilities like SORT,
IDCAMS, IEBGENER, IEBCOMPR, etc. I do not know if DB2 will work with
Hercules, but really you would just want to teach SQL which could be
done with any RDB. SPUFI would be easy to pick up. As for COBOL/DB2
programming, I have GNUCobol which will, I think, support RDBs. If not,
Python does the same cursor/open/fetch/close and I think it could
adequately convey how to program. Of course if IBM were to grant access
to a mainframe(because Hercules is similar to but is definitely NOT a
modern mainframe) that of course would be best.
> So many ideas. How to get them into reality. Please share your thoughts on how this might be done. Thanks for all the help.
Following my personal path, I would try to work with a local
company and build a curriculum for their employees and then
generalize it for a wider audience and approach other local
companies.
Of course, GM may already have a technical training group: have
you checked that out?
Do you have any idea how big your market might be?
-Steve
> Craig
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Original Message:
> Sent: 2/4/2025 6:06:00 PM
> From: Steve Comstock
> Subject: RE: Introduce yourself!
>
> On 2/4/2025 11:54 AM, Craig Kaercher via IBM TechXchange Community wrote:
>> Hello All!
>>
>>
>> My name is Craig Kaercher and I have been, and still am, working on the mainframe for 40 years. I currently work as a Senior Mainframe Developer at General Motors. I live in metro Detroit and have taught classes at local colleges in Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Databases and SQL, and College Algebra for over 20 years. I am hoping to get some advice/leads on teaching mainframe. These are just some of my questions:
>>
>>
>> Does the program have to be taught through a college?
>
> No. For over 45 years I taught classes on customer sites. They
> paid for a course, I installed the class files for the hands on
> labs, and I printed the student handouts.
>
> Sometimes a company would even allow some students from other
> companies to attend (That might not work these days.)
>
>
> Could it be done through General Motors?
>
> See above; but it depends on GM's rules / policies and who
> your intended audience is.
>
>
> A high school?
>
> Hmm. My courses were always hands on, so we needed all
> the students to have access to a mainframe; I doubt if
> any high schools have mainframes
>
> One option: check with your local IBM branch to see if
> they can provide access to a remote mainframe. IBM may
> also be able to provide access to a remote mainframe
> by this exchage or other training facilities
>
> (On the other hand, you would be competing
> against them in some slight way, so you
> might run into some pushback)
>
>
> If I were to try to propose this for the local community college I am
> currently
> teaching at, what are the selling points I could use?
>
> Hands on, real world experience building job skills
>
>
> How long would it reasonably take to set up such a program?
>
> Too many unknown variables for me here.
>
>
> Good luck!
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> -Steve Comstock
>>
>>
>> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> Craig Kaercher
>>
CraigKaercherCraig.Kaercher@yahoo.com>> ------------------------------
>> -------------------------------------------
>> Original Message:
>> Sent: Tue February 09, 2021 01:45 PM
>> From: Theresa Hans
>> Subject: Introduce yourself!
>>
>> Welcome to the Educator Hub! Please take a moment to introduce yourself in this forum.
>>
>>
>> Where are you located?
>> What classes do you teach?
>> What help are you trying to find here in the Hub!?
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> Theresa
>> ------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Reply to Sender :
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793481&SenderKey=4f871c4f-4c50-4281-aa97-195c02103b2a>>
>> Reply to Discussion :
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793481>>
>>
>> To Download the attachment(s) click on the link below:
>>
https://community.ibm.com/eGroups/ViewAttachment/?DocumentKey=2b3a42f2-e6ac-4df5-a907-0194c39cf398>> (if the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your web browser)
>> -------------------------------------------
>>
>>
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> -------------------------------------------
> Original Message:
> Sent: 2/1/2025 5:24:00 PM
> From: Craig Kaercher
> Subject: RE: Introduce yourself!
>
>
> Hello All!
>
>
> My name is Craig Kaercher and I have been, and still am, working on the mainframe for 40 years. I currently work as a Senior Mainframe Developer at General Motors. I live in metro Detroit and have taught classes at local colleges in Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Databases and SQL, and College Algebra for over 20 years. I am hoping to get some advice/leads on teaching mainframe. These are just some of my questions:
>
>
> Does the program have to be taught through a college? Could it be done through General Motors? A high school? If I were to try to propose this for the local community college I am currently teaching at, what are the selling points I could use? How long would it reasonably take to set up such a program?
>
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Craig Kaercher
>
CraigKaercherCraig.Kaercher@yahoo.com> ------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------
> Original Message:
> Sent: Tue February 09, 2021 01:45 PM
> From: Theresa Hans
> Subject: Introduce yourself!
>
> Welcome to the Educator Hub! Please take a moment to introduce yourself in this forum.
>
>
> Where are you located?
> What classes do you teach?
> What help are you trying to find here in the Hub!?
>
> ------------------------------
> Theresa
> ------------------------------
>
>
> Reply to Sender :
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793749&SenderKey=4f871c4f-4c50-4281-aa97-195c02103b2a>
> Reply to Discussion :
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793749>
>
>
> You are subscribed to "Educator Hub User Group" as
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Original Message:
Sent: 2/4/2025 11:03:00 PM
From: Craig Kaercher
Subject: RE: Introduce yourself!
Steve,
Thank you for your kind reply and advice. I can ask about the possibility of holding a class at GM(with me leading). The mainframe footprint is very big at GM but things do not move very quickly.
I would think high schools would be looking for help in setting up a computer education program(although admittedly mainframe would not be their first choice). It would be a great add on at the local community college where I teach, but I imagine it would have to go through all sorts of reviews to establish it as a credit class.
I believe I could do a course in basic COBOL and JCL on Hercules, which I have installed on my laptop. I believe everyone could do that or at least enough machines could be set up to accomplish that. Thom Breneman's 3270 emulator is what I use and although it does cost $30(lifetime) it seems to work way better than anything free I have tried. Along with COBOL and JCL we can do the major utilities like SORT, IDCAMS, IEBGENER, IEBCOMPR, etc. I do not know if DB2 will work with Hercules, but really you would just want to teach SQL which could be done with any RDB. SPUFI would be easy to pick up. As for COBOL/DB2 programming, I have GNUCobol which will, I think, support RDBs. If not, Python does the same cursor/open/fetch/close and I think it could adequately convey how to program. Of course if IBM were to grant access to a mainframe(because Hercules is similar to but is definitely NOT a modern mainframe) that of course would be best.
So many ideas. How to get them into reality. Please share your thoughts on how this might be done. Thanks for all the help.
Craig
Original Message:
Sent: 2/4/2025 6:06:00 PM
From: Steve Comstock
Subject: RE: Introduce yourself!
On 2/4/2025 11:54 AM, Craig Kaercher via IBM TechXchange Community wrote:
> Hello All!
>
>
> My name is Craig Kaercher and I have been, and still am, working on the mainframe for 40 years. I currently work as a Senior Mainframe Developer at General Motors. I live in metro Detroit and have taught classes at local colleges in Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Databases and SQL, and College Algebra for over 20 years. I am hoping to get some advice/leads on teaching mainframe. These are just some of my questions:
>
>
> Does the program have to be taught through a college?
No. For over 45 years I taught classes on customer sites. They
paid for a course, I installed the class files for the hands on
labs, and I printed the student handouts.
Sometimes a company would even allow some students from other
companies to attend (That might not work these days.)
Could it be done through General Motors?
See above; but it depends on GM's rules / policies and who
your intended audience is.
A high school?
Hmm. My courses were always hands on, so we needed all
the students to have access to a mainframe; I doubt if
any high schools have mainframes
One option: check with your local IBM branch to see if
they can provide access to a remote mainframe. IBM may
also be able to provide access to a remote mainframe
by this exchage or other training facilities
(On the other hand, you would be competing
against them in some slight way, so you
might run into some pushback)
If I were to try to propose this for the local community college I am
currently
teaching at, what are the selling points I could use?
Hands on, real world experience building job skills
How long would it reasonably take to set up such a program?
Too many unknown variables for me here.
Good luck!
Kind regards,
-Steve Comstock
>
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Craig Kaercher
> CraigKaercherCraig.Kaercher@yahoo.com
> ------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------
> Original Message:
> Sent: Tue February 09, 2021 01:45 PM
> From: Theresa Hans
> Subject: Introduce yourself!
>
> Welcome to the Educator Hub! Please take a moment to introduce yourself in this forum.
>
>
> Where are you located?
> What classes do you teach?
> What help are you trying to find here in the Hub!?
>
> ------------------------------
> Theresa
> ------------------------------
>
>
> Reply to Sender : https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793481&SenderKey=4f871c4f-4c50-4281-aa97-195c02103b2a
>
> Reply to Discussion : https://community.ibm.com/community/user/eGroups/PostReply?GroupId=6127&MID=793481
>
>
> To Download the attachment(s) click on the link below:
> https://community.ibm.com/eGroups/ViewAttachment/?DocumentKey=2b3a42f2-e6ac-4df5-a907-0194c39cf398
> (if the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your web browser)
> -------------------------------------------
>
>
> You are subscribed to "Educator Hub User Group" as steve@trainersfriend.com. To change your subscriptions, go to http://community.ibm.com/community/user/preferences?section=Subscriptions. To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to http://community.ibm.com/HigherLogic/eGroups/Unsubscribe.aspx?UserKey=cf11c6c4-77bb-4295-8452-018c335c32b9&sKey=KeyRemoved&GroupKey=0b911a85-2e64-4f55-931d-9a357c1fce4b.
Original Message:
Sent: 2/1/2025 5:24:00 PM
From: Craig Kaercher
Subject: RE: Introduce yourself!
Hello All!
My name is Craig Kaercher and I have been, and still am, working on the mainframe for 40 years. I currently work as a Senior Mainframe Developer at General Motors. I live in metro Detroit and have taught classes at local colleges in Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Databases and SQL, and College Algebra for over 20 years. I am hoping to get some advice/leads on teaching mainframe. These are just some of my questions:
Does the program have to be taught through a college? Could it be done through General Motors? A high school? If I were to try to propose this for the local community college I am currently teaching at, what are the selling points I could use? How long would it reasonably take to set up such a program?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
------------------------------
Craig Kaercher
CraigKaercherCraig.Kaercher@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Tue February 09, 2021 01:45 PM
From: Theresa Hans
Subject: Introduce yourself!
Welcome to the Educator Hub! Please take a moment to introduce yourself in this forum.
- Where are you located?
- What classes do you teach?
- What help are you trying to find here in the Hub!?
------------------------------
Theresa
------------------------------
