On this episode of the “I Am a Mainframer” podcast, guest host John Mertic, Director of the Open Mainframe Project, is joined by Salisu Ali, a current mentee of the organization. A final year medical student at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria, Salisu was introduced to the mainframe in 2017 through IBM’s Master the Mainframe contest. He participated in the contest for three years and joined the Open Mainframe Project when he started looking for an internship in the mainframe space. In addition to being an Open Mainframe Project mentee, Salisu is a TechChannel zSystems Rising Star and is helping to modernize the mainframe through his contributions to ZEBRA, an open-source incubator project under ZOWE. During their conversation, John and Salisu talk about the valuable advice he’s received and that he shares with others: You can’t learn everything overnight, be patient as it takes time to see results, and get involved and contribute — that’s how you’ll get where you want to be. Connect with Salisu on LinkedIn.