Mainframes are a type of computer generally known for their large
size, amount of storage, processing power and high level of reliability.
They are primarily used by large organizations for mission-critical
applications requiring high volumes of data processing.
Or, as Grabowski describes it, “Mainframe technology is quite
honestly the biggest, baddest type of computing on the market. It
handles over a thousand credit card transactions daily. Companies
like Amazon, eBay, PayPal and others all operate their financial
transactions through a mainframe. And Verizon uses it to process
all their SMS messages for texting. Mainframes have zero downtime
and have a high rate of reliability because of their hardware
components and resistance to computer viruses.”
In 2015, he became a full-time teacher at PTC.
“There was an open position that needed to be filled. My
background, adjunct status, and experience provided the perfect
“With each new job, I learned
more and more about computer
hardware, servers, and Information
Technology. It’s given me the
baseline knowledge for what I
teach today.”
opportunity to teach full time and begin developing curriculum
that would educate incoming students, not only on the basics of
computer technology but also mainframes,” says Grabowski. “I
worked with Paul Newton, a consulting IT specialist at IBM, Packy
Laverty, Professor of Computer and Information Systems at Robert
Morris University, and John Scarpino, Academic Chair of the School
of Information Systems and Technology at PTC, to bring mainframe
training into the PTC curriculum.
Along the way, IBM Champion was added to his list of credentials.
“Bringing IBM technology into the curriculum at PTC was a big
help for me to become an IBM champion,” he explains. “Since the
school is part of the IBM Academic Initiative, we have access to the
software IBM offers including Mainframe technology, IBM Qradar,
IBM Guardium, IBM Watson Foundation and a strong presence of
the Internet of Things. The ‘Master the Mainframe’ competition is
centered on completing different computer tasks using mainframe
technology and programming skills. I won the Destination Z
Scholarship the first year I competed. It was pretty cool and a nice
feather in my cap. And I’m happy to report that last year more than
190 PTC students competed in the Master the Mainframe contest.”
But Grabowski’s real focus is teaching students how awesome
mainframe technology is and how they can benefit from it in the real
world.
“For the past two years I’ve taken students to different conferences
so they can see the types of jobs available for people with the
skills they are learning,” he adds. “Some of these conferences
have more than 200 vendors and the students are amazed at what
they can do in the field. In 2017, I took 31 IT students to the
S.H.A.R.E. conference in Providence, Rhode Island, and this year
11 accompanied me to New York to the Enterprise Computing
Community Conference, hosted by Marist College. It’s been
really eye-opening for them to know they have a promising
future outside of the classroom.”
Moving forward, Grabowski hopes to continue to engage his
passion, which is sharing the knowledge he’s gained over his
career and inspiring students to learn as much as they can for a
future in technology.
“At PTC, we pride ourselves on being hands-on and providing
a career-oriented, direct path from school to work,” he says.
“It’s exciting to be able to let the students interact with so many
people already working in the field and actually touch the
technology, instead of just learning the theory. The possibilities
for them are endless and I’m humbled to be a part of their
journey by paying it forward.” n
WEST ALLEGHENY
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WINTER 2018
11