We all know the technology world evolves at a breakneck speed, and SHARE has been at the forefront of many of those changes. Today, SHARE is opening its doors to more members through its individual membership program and ensuring its events, education, and volunteering opportunities are as flexible and welcoming as ever.

Individual members will have access to exclusive content, on-demand conference recordings, expert dialogue sessions, online discussion forums on a variety of topics, and so much more. Additionally, individual membership is not tied to an employer. Current corporate members can take advantage of this flexibility and sign up as individual members. Through their own, separate member record, they will gain access to benefits exclusive to individuals. Corporate members will not have access to the learning platform, SHARE’d Knowledge. Check out each membership type and decide which is right for you.

As we embrace this new flexibility, the education tagging system has shifted into focus areas and tracks to cater to the crossover that happens with projects and to better mirror the mainframe shops of today. This will help folks newer to the SHARE ecosystem navigate the conference, using nomenclature they are more familiar with. The new system also ensures that sessions of interest can be more easily identifiable based on everyone’s needs and expectations. This new system also dovetails with the volunteer opportunities at SHARE, enabling volunteers to propose conference sessions in multiple tracks and attract more attendees. None of these tracks and focus areas are set in stone, and with regular evaluation, they will be updated and changed, or new ones added to meet the needs of the industry and our members.

Current volunteer opportunities still exist, but under the new system, the focus of those positions could change with advancements in the mainframe and its tools. Some positions could become virtual opportunities to provide expertise or direction, opening these opportunities to fresh faces and offering greater flexibility and networking possibilities. As the learning platform is rolled out, SHARE members can volunteer to help manage the learning journeys available to their peers and ensure that content remains relevant.

SHARE’s members are known for their adaptability as job parameters change and new code needs to be tested. In this new era, we’re fully embracing this flexibility to provide even more for our members going forward — SHARE’d Knowledge at your fingertips.