IBM provides extensive screen shots and direction, guiding students along and telling them exactly what they need to do. This part of the contest is designed to get students comfortable with navigating the mainframe user interface, as well as to introduce them to some basic mainframe concepts. The first 200 students to successfully complete this section will receive IBM Mainframe t-shirts.
Part 2: Practical experience
This section will require considerably more work from contestants. Using the skills they learned in Part 1, they will perform some more extensive systems programmer-type tasks. The first 25 students to successfully complete this section will receive a Sony PSP.
Part 3: Real-world challenge
This section is very challenging, and will require extensive work from the student over a number of weeks. The top three students in this section will receive Lenovo ThinkPad, plus a visit to IBM Hursley, Winchester.
Registration begins October 2nd, 2007. The contest will run from October 16 to December 31, 2007.
