Hello folks, my name is Peizhao Mei, and I am pursuing my bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Pittsburgh. As an undergraduate student, I have longed to use theoretical knowledge in a practical setting, especially working for industry and making contributions to the community. This summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be part of the Next Generation Mainframer Program, working side by side with the Zowe team at the Broadcom, Pittsburgh office. It was an exceptionally valuable and wonderful experience that I will cherish forever.
Mainframe and Zowe
Before diving into my journey, please allow me to introduce mainframe and Zowe briefly. A mainframe is a powerful, large computer system used primarily by large organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing, and large-scale transaction processing. This type of system has been introduced for a long time, and many efforts were put in order to keep the mainframe evolved and relevant. With that being said, Zowe, a project sponsored by Broadcom (and many other companies), is an open mainframe project that aims to build an integrated and extensible open-source framework for z/OS and offer modern interfaces to interact with z/OS. To achieve its goal and provide wider support, Zowe contains a core set of applications out of the box in combination with the APIs and OS capabilities future applications will depend on.
Zowe Client Python SDK
My journey started with the Python SDK, which belongs to the Zowe project. The Zowe Client Python SDK, is a set of Python packages designed to allow programmatic interactions with z/OS REST API interfaces with minimal effort. It allows programmers to create powerful scripts/applications that can interact with z/OS components in Python.
My Team
From my experience, the Zowe team is an inclusive, respectful, friendly, and inspiring team. The work environment is flexible and supportive, and the content improves my ability greatly. On my first day of arrival, I was warmly welcomed by my team. I received a full tour around our office, and that was super considerate and enlightening especially for a new guy. Activities were held from time to time to enhance our belongness. For example, there was an icebreaker for the whole office during my first week, where many new employees and Next-Gen Mainframers introduced themselves and senior employees shared their stories at Broadcom. Also impressive were the food contests. We had a donut contest between multiple local donut shops, and the whole office was invited to vote for their favorite. My team also held a cereal contest where twelve different cereals competed for the champion. I was glad that my favorite won the title.
My work
My responsibility during the summer was to maintain the Python SDK and implement new functionalities based on the team’s conception and feedback. Usually, I would be assigned to certain issues that the team prioritized, but I was also free to pick up issues under my considerations. My mentors would not interfere with my style of work, and they always gave me more support than I needed. I was grateful for that because it gave me more freedom to solve problems, and I was more prepared for independent work in the future. My mentors would review my code and give me valuable feedback in a decent and timely manner. I was also grateful for that, given that they had their own work at the same time. With their help, I was able to refactor the whole structure of the Python SDK, added a few enhancements including a logger class, and fixed several severe bugs. I felt that my work was truly valued and respected, and I took great pride in what I accomplished.
My first step towards new possibilities
Overall, I am fortunate and grateful that my first step in the industry started with the Zowe team and Broadcom. The team showed me a great combination of professionalism and team spirit. I will cherish this summer forever, and my experience will keep me going in the future.