On Day 3 of SHARE Cleveland, the SHARE’d Intelligence team focused on education and soft skills — from upskilling and effective IT presentations to career growth strategies. Which August 20 session was your favorite?
Skill Up! Mainframe Learning for All
We woke up bright and early to attend this conversational session featuring Devonte' Hawkins, Z data and AI technical specialist at IBM, Hunter Johnson, product marketing engineer for Beyond Code at Broadcom, Michael Bauer, software engineering supervisor at Broadcom, and Joe Winchester, senior technical staff member at IBM. Despite the early hour, the room was filled with energetic ideas focused on how to educate and empower the next generation of mainframers. Moderated by Hawkins, who offered his early-career perspective, the conversation was collaborative, with audience members actively contributing ideas and insights.
The session centered around the Open Mainframe Project’s use of GitBook to centralize mainframe resources. These guides offer information on foundational concepts, roles, and career paths, as well as point to external training resources through organizations like Broadcom and Interskill.
Key takeaways from the session:
- Knowledge sharing must go beyond conferences like SHARE and TechXchange. There’s a need for ongoing, accessible education — especially for those new to Z who may feel intimidated asking basic questions in formal settings.
- The GitBook is a living resource: Contributors are encouraged to add content, including early-career professionals.
- Outreach to academia is critical. Many professors don’t include mainframe in their curriculum, but showcasing resources like the GitBook and the Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course could help change that. These tools are free and designed to meet students where they are. The COBOL Programming Course was unfamiliar to many attendees. The hands-on, accessible course can help high school and university students looking to build in-demand skills.
- Corporate blind spots persist. Many companies still rely heavily on mainframes but still need a clear succession plan. Outsourcing often leads to high turnover and a loss of institutional knowledge, with vendors being asked to provide basic education to fill the knowledge gaps.
- Institutional knowledge matters. Even with technical skills, understanding how a system has been customized for a specific business takes time and curiosity — qualities that are often missing in outsourced support models.
- Zowe is helping bridge the gap by offering modern, familiar interfaces for new users. This tool has thousands of active users, making it a key entry point for next-gen talent.
At the session’s end, Hawkins asked, “What will you leave behind when you retire?” He underscored the urgency of all mainframers’ participation in mentorship, documentation, and community-driven education to ensure the mainframe’s strong future.
Sins of IT Presentations
Following this lively discussion on mainframe education, we shifted gears to a session on communication skills — a timely reminder that technical expertise is only part of professional success. We joined Anastasiia Didkovska, product manager at IBM, for a practical talk on how to avoid the most common pitfalls in technical presentations. She identified five overarching “sins," using the acronym “CLEAR” — Content overload, littered slides, erratic flow, audience disconnect, and remote disconnect. Didkovska also shared tips for making presentations more effective and human-centered.
How to Spot CLEAR “Sins” of Presentations:
Content overload: Throughout the presentation, Didkovska honestly shared her own “slides of shame,” showcasing her early experiences of stuffed, color-saturated slides. Her advice: Identify your presentation’s goal and ask yourself if you are informing, educating, or inspiring? If your presentation is just to inform, an email may be the better communication channel. If you’re educating, demos and real-world examples will be more effective. And if you’re inspiring, lean into storytelling. Cut anything that doesn’t support your message.
Littered slides: Didkovska recommends fewer than six elements per slide, as humans have difficulty taking in more than six elements at once. Additionally, consistent fonts and functional uses of color are key. As you develop your slides, consider using highlights to focus on relevant sections as you discuss and keep listeners focused on you. Keep it clean.
Erratic flow: Often, presenters jump from topic to topic, read their slides, and diverge from their focus. Structural templates can help maintain flow. For a session whose goal is to spur listeners to action, here’s an example:
- What? (Share an observation)
- So What? (How will this affect lives?)
- Now What? (Share your call to action)
If you wish to persuade the audience to action, share the problem, solution, and benefit; and if you wish to inspire them, share a failure, a learning opportunity, and how to apply it.
Audience disconnect: It’s rare when attendees are focused on only the speaker. To engage attendees, Didkovska recommended:
- Sharing personal stories because they are your “secret sauce,” something only you can bring to a presentation. As humans, we love hearing stories, so leverage this.
- Silence is golden. Pausing allows listeners the time to take in an important point, especially when it’s technical.
- Nonverbal communication is the most important. Don’t read off your slides. And don’t be afraid to be creative to make an impact — as Steve Jobs did when releasing the Macbook Air.
Remote disconnect: Online presentations are harder because your audience is one click away from leaving. Use polls and chat prompts to keep people engaged. Invest in a good mic, stand up while presenting, and test your technology ahead of time. She shared a tip about programming a remote for easy unmuting and using an open-source tool that can switch between different screen layouts with the press of a button.
Didkovska closed with a reminder that presenting isn’t just about sharing information. Whether you’re speaking to peers or executives, the goal is clarity, connection, and impact.
Architecting Your Career
The session with Frank DeGilio, chief technology officer for DeClunkification at IBM, Jovanna Hadley, WSC security client technical specialist & transformation specialist at IBM, and Rosalind Radcliffe, IBM Fellow and chief technology officer for the IBM Z Ecosystem, was less of a lecture and more of a candid conversation about what it takes to grow a mainframe career. The panelists didn’t offer a formula for success — instead, they shared stories, reflections, and practical advice for navigating a career that’s anything but linear.
Clearly Communicate and Stretch Your Soft Skills
One of the strongest messages was that soft skills matter. An IBM CEO study showed that traits like collaboration, communication, and flexibility ranked above technical ability. The assumption is that you’re technically capable; what sets you apart is how you work with others and how clearly you can explain what you do.
Radcliffe talked about work-life integration, not balance. "At IBM, no one tells you to stop working. You have to set your own boundaries," she said. Hadley added that boundaries only work if you communicate them because your team can’t support what they don’t know.
Connect With Others to Mentor and Be Mentored
The panel also emphasized the value of being in the office, not just to code but to connect. Hadley credited her early career growth to sitting next to her mentor and asking endless questions. Radcliffe shared how her team made space for her in a different area just because she was helpful to have nearby. Sometimes, the best ideas come from hallway conversations.
Mentorship was another recurring theme. Everyone should have mentors — and be one. Even if you’ve only been in your role for a short time, you have something to offer. Radcliffe encouraged attendees to be confident in reaching out, even if it feels awkward. Hadley recommended having multiple mentors with different perspectives to help you grow in diverse ways.
When it comes to career growth, comfort is the enemy. DeGilio urged attendees to seek out the stretch zone — where things feel challenging but not overwhelming.
Curiosity and Advocacy Are Key
The session also touched on language and self-advocacy. Words matter. Instead of saying “sorry,” try “thank you for your patience.” Replace “I don’t know” with “let me find out.” Track your accomplishments, even the small ones, and learn to describe your work in a way that resonates with people outside your role.
And finally, curiosity is key. Whether you’re breaking things apart to understand them or exploring new ways to collaborate, curiosity drives growth. But it only works if you share it. Talk about what excites you and let others help you explore it further.

As our week wrapped up at the SHARE Technology Expo, we left energized by the connections made and insights gained. SHARE has always been about more than technology — it’s about the people shaping its future. We’d love to hear what inspired you.
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