Missing Mainframe and IT Skills: How Enterprises Can Respond

Attendees at GS UK 2025 noticed a new track, WAVEZ 101, dedicated to early-career and undergraduate mainframers. I was delighted to be invited to speak on mainframe skills and what I see for the industry’s future employees. 

A Gloomy Skills Outlook

The IT skills topic – or lack thereof – is widely discussed, and press headlines paint a bleak picture. Reports from IDC, CIO, and InformationWeek warn of a USD 5.5 trillion global impact due to IT skills shortages.

The mainframe sector, often overlooked, is also exposed. Despite critical roles in industries such as finance, healthcare, and government, the workforce supporting these systems is aging, and younger professionals often view mainframes as outdated. Programming, operations, and other technical roles are harder to find – a fact that holds true beyond COBOL and z/OS.

The skills gap also spans AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, data analytics, and blockchain. And it’s a global issue—affecting the UK, the U.S., Germany, and beyond. The demand for digitally skilled professionals is outpacing the growth of the talent pool, and businesses are feeling the pressure.

The Business Impact

But this isn’t about missing a few key staff here or there; it’s a strategic concern. Surveys from Futurum Group, Forrester, Deloitte, and Vanson Bourne reveal:

• 91% of organizations anticipate hiring mainframe talent within two years
• 93% say acquiring the right resources is moderately to extremely challenging
• 96% face development and testing challenges on the mainframe
• 79% cite staffing limitations and poor tooling as barriers to meeting business goals

A Multi-Faceted Skills Strategy

In the mainframe world, as elsewhere, solving the challenges above, and the IT skills crisis more broadly, will differ depending on the affected organization’s location, current resourcing, industry, and hiring approach. It will likely require more than one approach as part of a more strategic plan.

Here are some key considerations – 

1. Academic Partnerships

While only a few of the world’s 25,000 universities teach mainframe or COBOL, notable exceptions include Northern Illinois University (NIU), Marist, East Carolina University, and the University of Nebraska Omaha – all of which are working with employers to produce skilled graduates.

Elsewhere, the EMMA digital apprenticeship program, which only started in 2024, has hundreds of apprentices on its books, its first graduates already placed, and has a large mainframe vendor and a number of other organizations looking to sign up as partners. It’s proof that when visibility exists, demand emerges. 

2. Third-Party Training

Outside the education system, 3rd party organizations offer a broad, supplementary, industry-ready syllabus. For example, Interskill Learning delivered over 1 million hours of IBM mainframe training in 2023. Platforms like Udemy and Coursera offer accessible learning, while specialized providers deliver targeted expertise.

In fact, according to CobolCloud/Interskill Learning, 81% of organizations now leverage third-party learning platforms as part of their skills development efforts.

3. Consulting and Contractors

Sometimes, the necessity for talent is too pressing for a lengthy training program. Boutique consultancies offering specific niche skills and experience can be a flexible means to acquire high-skill solutions more instantaneously. Larger system integrators also provide more mainstream talent services, helping bridge the skills gap at scale.

4. In-House Training

Sometimes skills needs are so unique that outside help cannot be the full answer. Organizations across the globe, including TD Bank, SEB, and Syspro Central have invested in their own in-house technical skills bootcamps and onboarding programs.

These efforts include recruitment, training, role placement, and cultural integration—strategic investments that, for those organizations, pay off.

5. Technology Support

Onboarding new skills can sometimes be hampered by the availability of the environments in which to learn. Virtualized z/OS environments, such as those provided by PopUp Mainframe, offer “always-on” access for training, addressing the challenge of limited mainframe availability.

More broadly, modern mainframe tooling—application analysis, debugging, DevOps integration, plus a plethora of AI innovations—can reduce reliance on scarce skills and improve productivity.

Strategic Planning Starts at the Top

Stepping back from tactics, the fundamental questions about IT skills must be addressed at the C-level. With high turnover rates and generational shifts, long-term strategic planning is essential. Millennials and Gen Z now make up a majority of the mainframe workforce. Their expectations differ, and organizations must align their CIOs, CHROs, CFOs, and CEOs to ensure staffing strategies support business goals, now and in the future.

A Brighter Outlook

There is hope. Generational shifts are natural, and younger professionals are acquiring hybrid skills that blend AI and legacy system knowledge. 

Remember the staggering USD 5.5 trillion in losses from missing IT skills?  While the problem has intensified, generative AI capabilities are helping to fill some gaps. IDC trimmed its estimated USD 6.5 trillion in revenue losses down by USD 1 trillion, largely due to “AI coding technologies, personalized learning, and other improvements.”

In the eyes of the organization facing it, the IT skills crisis is real. But even then, it’s not insurmountable. The key lies in strategic planning and proactive investment in technology, people, and skills. 

Whether an organization’s IT skills future is a blue sky or a dark cloud depends on the choices made today.

Next Steps

• What’s it like being a newbie? Felix Scott shares in “New to Z: Year One as a Mainframe Trainee.”
• Catch up on more mainframe workforce and training content.
• Find a job or post a job at the Planet Mainframe Career Center.