A wild ride: mainframes, motorcycles and me

As a teenager, I fell in love with mainframes and motorcycles. In the latter case, to be more precise, with classic Kawasaki bikes of the 1970s and 80s. And for me, there are important crossovers. 

The first point is that I love building and fixing things. The mechanics of motorbikes, and mainframes, have always fascinated me. I’m an engineer at heart, a grease monkey. I love understanding how things work, diagnosing problems, taking things apart, fixing them, and then putting them back together so all the components work smoothly and interact to achieve the performance you want. 

Fortunately, I get to do this with mainframes in my role at Vertali, and with motorbikes in the small business I set up with friends a few years ago to repair and restore classic bikes. If you have a methodical mind and a taste for engineering, then fixing or improving a mainframe system might as well be, I don’t know, restoring a Kawasaki 400 S3A, or stripping down and rebuilding a carburetor, or vapor blasting and repainting parts. The resulting machine has to be safe, tested, and ready to do what you want. It’s about getting the best out of the machine, in line with its specifications and capacity. Optimizing for high performance, whether it’s a z16 or GPz1100.

The second crossover is that mainframes and motorcycles both come with their own distinctive communities. You naturally build up a network of contacts, meeting like-minded people and sharing ideas. The biker community is a passionate collective. As with the mainframe community, you meet people from different backgrounds, with shared interests but diverse experiences and outlook. Being part of ‘something bigger’ is important. I also think it’s important to give something back. In mainframes, that’s meant my involvement with SHARE over the years and, of course, Guide Share Europe UK and its annual conferences. A few years ago, I also decided to use my biking experience to give something back. I sat my advanced test and applied to be a volunteer rider and fundraiser with the Midland Freewheelers charity, part of the UK National Association of Blood Bikes. This provides a dedicated emergency courier service for the NHS and Midlands Air Ambulance, delivering anything medical that can be safely carried on a bike: blood and blood products, plasma, pathology samples, breast milk, chemo drugs, patient notes, and medication.

Which leads to my third crossover. Whether it’s doing a Blood Bikes shift or dealing with mainframe matters, you need to stay calm. As a techie working over many years, I often had a CIO, IT manager or security person standing over me asking “What’s wrong… tell me what’s wrong?!” and pushing for a fast resolution. I always tell younger mainframers, including the talented folk on Vertali’s ‘New to Z’ program, that when the proverbial hits the fan, the most important thing to do is step back, take a breath, and ask “What just happened?” You have to stay calm, work out the problem, and formulate the steps required to start solving the issue in the right ways. With Midland Freewheelers, when I’m handed drugs or blood and told I have 45 minutes to deliver, I need to stay calm and organize myself: plan the route, concentrate on riding safely throughout the journey, take no unnecessary risks, and so achieve my goal and arrive at my destination. You sometimes have to think on your feet, sure, responding to changing circumstances and improvising along the way. Experience helps, of course. But you need to stay calm.  

The other thing that Blood Bikes underlined for me, my fourth crossover, is that nothing can really happen without the team. Like the mainframe, the Midland Freewheelers operates 24/7. Yes, there’s a person in charge, our chair, who’s great at organizing us. But she’s also backed by a big group of volunteers, who not only ride bikes but also coordinate activity, sort out admin, raise funds, and more. We need all that vital work going on behind-the-scenes to ensure delivery on the front line. We have a similarly brilliant team at Vertali, one that now extends across the world including the USA and Asia-Pacific, and the backing of an amazing pool of talent. It’s always a collaborative effort.

The fifth and final crossover is a simple one, for me at least. It really helps if you love what you do. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve worked in an area that I love for more than 40 years. I was introduced to the mainframe aged just 16. And from 16, I’ve always owned at least one motorcycle. Many things have changed over the years but my passion for M&Ms – mainframes & motorbikes – has endured. And I haven’t even mentioned my third obsession, football.

So, what have I learned, from mainframes and motorbikes? Think like an engineer: understand how things work, how different parts interact. At the end of the day, it’s about building something or fixing stuff to make it work better. Try to be part of a community – we’re stronger together – and to give something back. Stay calm, even though that’s not always easy, and think things through. Clarity of thought will generally take you further than going off half-cocked, so to speak. 

And above all: enjoy the ride.

Midland Freewheelers is a registered charity in the UK – to learn more and if you’d like to make a donation, visit https://midlandfreewheelers.org.uk/