WITS at the Mainframes are MAD GSE-UK Conference 2022

The Mainframes are MAD (Modern, Adaptable, Diverse) in-person conference was held at Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire next to Silverstone Grand Prix circuit from Tuesday November 1st to Thursday November 3rd 2022.

GSE UK's Mainframes are MAD (Modern, Adaptable, Diverse) conference took place in Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire last November. There were 18 streams, with almost 250 sessions and nearly 500 delegates. It was a resounding success. WITS Ireland’s member, Aileen Wynne, chaired the three very successful WITS stream sessions.

Michelle Harris and Dolly Poppat, both of Macro4, presented, "Women in the mainframe world – yes we exist and are thriving!”, giving wonderful examples of how working in a software house is an excellent career choice for women who want families. One of the surprises of the session was looking at maternity leave as planned leave, and that, with an average of two pregnancies over a full career, it’s less than 5% of your working life. This is often less that the unplanned sick leave that many people have to take.

The second session, "Want to Standout at Work?” was chaired by Pooja Uppalapati, with Julia Carter, Cindy Peake, Shubham Gupta, all from Broadcom and Maryam Ahmed of HSBC on the panel. This was a delightful opportunity to hear the views of men and women, both seasoned and new, in the mainframe industry and their tips and tricks on succeeding in a professional environment.

The final session, "Does Your Wisdom Have Ism?” was facilitated by the brilliant Resli Costabell, life coach extraordinaire, who took us on a journey of discovery, diversity and reflection, empowering us to see things from different perspectives, with some very powerful, yet fun and insightful exercises.

As this conference is often the only technical education for the delegates in a given year, the WITS stream ensures the conversation about women in the industry is kept in mind, while allowing people attend their technical session and upgrade their skills. It was well worth attending and a great opportunity to network with others in the mainframe community and to learn what’s new in the mainframe world.

This is the fifth year that there is a WITS stream at the conference.