Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe

Connor Krukosky is an 18-year-old college student with a hobby of collecting vintage computers. One day, he decided to buy his own mainframe...an IBM z890. This is his story.

Connor's presentation "I just Bought an IBM z890 - Now What?" was featured at SHARE in San Antonio in March 2016. For more great content like this, register for the next SHARE by visiting www.SHARE.org/events!

© 2016 SHARE Inc.

[esra_erimez]

Fun fact: Connor now works at IBM on mainframe firmware. Well done.

[joekrukosky]

Liz and I are very proud of Connor. We thought he was crazy for getting the mainframe, and I have to admit, were against it at first. But Connor is persistent if nothing else, and now it seems it was a good educational investment. It was a little tricky getting it in the basement, but I love an excuse to use my toys too.

[SquidStudio]

This is incredible. People don't seem to understand, but operating an old mainframe like this requires such a high understanding of computers. It certainly is not as simple as "buying it and turning it on" as I see other people cynically stating. This is truly impressive.

[as_below_so_above]

I loved the enthusiasm from the crowd, especially when he was able to do his demo. I could only imagine how accomplished he must feel for putting so much time and dedication into this project! Love that he was able to share his story with the rest of the world.

[_________]

This is what happens when parents support you. There are millions of kids like this with desires and interests that were just squashed growing up.

Good job, parents.

[Thatguy]

Stick a sheriff's hat on him, and he's Carl from the walking dead.

[savior]

I just watched 45 minutes of this presentation and found it really interesting. The only problem is that I had no clue what he was talking about 99% of the time. But couldn't step away.

[LewysC]

Turns out he works for IBM now!! So proud of this guy :D

[TheBushdoctor]

So, is this the Connor that's going to create Skynet, instead of fighting it?

[clachanachoin]

When I was his age my economics teacher was busy telling us that the internet wouldn't amount to a row of beans and he could prove it by looking up the oil price faster in a newspaper than online. And now look at it - it can trick me into watching a 45 minute talk about something that I still don't understand.

[paultreneary]

"I think you've raised the bar for what all of us expect from our kids now" - hilarious

[michaelkennedy]

"You'll probably be getting a call soon from IBM asking you to upgrade" Brilliant!

[__-cdug]

I don't know why, but YouTube recommended this to me.
I understood about 1, 5% of this speech but it was enjoyable so... thanks I guess!

[JimDavies]

Wow, Connor is such an inspiration. After so many years in IT I'd forgotten what real passion looked like. This is it right here! Keep following your dreams Connor, greatness awaits.

[JMS_Hunter]

Jesus Christ... swapped my old HDD for a SSD on my laptop. I tried to clone the OS
SSD to USB cable wasn't working so after 10 min I said screw it fresh install.
And this kid sets up a god damned mainframe on his basement.
Kudos for not giving up.

[Kisai_Yuki]

The patience Connor shows with getting that z890 to work is amazing.

[TioDave]

Thanks Liz and Joe for being great parents!

[msquared]

this video reminds me of the time i had to unscrew the back of my sons RC car to change the batteries

[brandong.]

He did NOT give up! Incredible persistence. Appreciated his since of humor during the presentation.

[nomdeplume]

Smiled a lot, laughed a lot, took some nostalgic walks. Great presentation, great vibes. Message for mum and dad. Great job guys. Proud as I bet.