Volunteering with SHARE is like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book where the mainframer is in the driver’s seat of their own education, networking, and influencing within the industry. Dusty Rivers, SHARE director of leader development and senior director for U.S. Systems Z for Mainline Information Systems, offers real-world advice about how to get started and how volunteering with SHARE can empower a career and grow a network, as well as influence a platform.
“I recently received my 40-year volunteer pin. Over the years, people come up to ask me how to get involved with SHARE,” he says. “If you're new, if you're younger, if you're just getting out of college, volunteer. You can be a track leader, you can volunteer at in-person events, you can be a virtual volunteer with the learning management system (LMS). The opportunities are endless.”
Choose Your Volunteer Adventure in Mainframe
According to Rivers, the first step is to raise your hand for a volunteer opportunity that interests you:
- Task Force/Committee Opportunities – Help define the direction of your area of interest by working on technical steering or task force committees.
- Volunteer Opportunities - Be part of a Focus Area that advocates for your technical area of expertise or interest. Plan and carry out specific tasks at SHARE in-person events and other year-round educational events.
- In-Person Event Opportunities – Get involved by chairing a session, assisting with session handouts, or scheduling and suggesting speakers and topics for future events.
- Advocacy Opportunities – Represent your company's interests and influence the information technology strategies, products, and services of IBM and other vendors by participating in SHARE's Requirements process.
- Speaking Opportunities – Get involved by presenting a technical session and submitting your presentation for inclusion in the event proceedings.
- Writing Opportunities – Submit a technical or user success article for publication with SHARE’d Intelligence.
“Volunteering with SHARE is easy, and it doesn’t require a lot of your time,” explains Rivers. “If you are retired and have a lot of time to help, that’s great. If you’re just starting out in your mainframe career, volunteering can be tailored to your needs and schedule.” He adds, “If you’re going to be at one or both SHARE events, why not volunteer and influence the direction of the sessions and meet your mainframe heroes?”
If you have an area of expertise, such as Db2 or DevOps, as a member you can raise your hand to review sessions or videos for SHARE’d Knowledge or the LMS to ensure they are still as relevant to today’s work as they were when they were submitted. This also enables SHARE members to network with other people in their area of expertise, sharing experiences and lessons learned as well as building connections in their networks.
For students, who can become free members of SHARE while in college, SHARE events are the perfect place to grow their hands-on experience and their networks. Students can do more than just attend sessions and meet experts in the hallways or the exhibition floor, they can become volunteers and jump right into the mainframe ecosystem and share their own innovative ideas. According to Rivers, “Becoming a volunteer will provide you with the full value of SHARE membership.”
Benefits of Volunteering with SHARE
SHARE is focused on expanding the education opportunities for those working in mainframe, and whether it is online or in person, those opportunities can not be made available without volunteers from the industry. Volunteer benefits go beyond discounts on SHARE events for individual members, including:
- Influencing Focus Area topics, tracks, and session selection
- Reviewing and updating tutorials on LMS and SHARE’d Knowledge
- Meeting inspirational speakers and mentors in person and online
- Expanding your own expertise
- Learning about new features and tools for the mainframe
- SHARE your expertise with other members at our events
“SHARE’s speakers are the best of the best,” says Rivers. “As a volunteer, you can speak about new techniques that you’ve used at work to solve issues or provide new insights on a tool.” Not only does volunteering enable members to share their expertise with people in their Focus Area, but they also can share information across disciplines. It should come as no surprise that sharing knowledge can lead to new ideas and innovations that benefit the entire mainframe ecosystem.
Volunteers also can influence the direction of SHARE’s offerings. For instance, Rivers says that several years ago artificial intelligence and quantum computing were not talked about at sessions, but now they have their own tracks.
Once a member expresses interest in becoming a volunteer, their level of commitment, and what areas they are interested in, Focus Area leaders will reach out with a variety of opportunities. “SHARE members can set their own agenda for how involved they want to be,” he explains. “Dip your toe into the water. Start out small. You’ll find you want to grow your involvement.”
Another benefit for volunteers who attend the events is the reception. SHARE never forgets to recognize its hard-working volunteers for their expertise, attention to detail, and focus on the mainframe platform’s future. “We want to lean into members’ ideas, expertise, and forward-thinking strategies,” says Rivers. “We want SHARE to be as vibrant as the future of the mainframe.”
Check out the open volunteer positions today, and choose your own mainframe adventure.