With the Integrated Large-Scale Enterprise Computing Systems (ILSECS) being used in Fortune 1000 companies and a majority of the industry’s employees headed toward retirement, the advanced technology has become one of the most highly sought after skills in graduating students. Illinois State University is one of the few universities in the United States to offer an academic path to this field.

The ECSA is dedicated to bringing the ILSECS technology to the forefront of the School of Information Technology (ITK) at Illinois State University. The ECSA organizes various activities related to ILSECS such as seminars and lectures from Enterprise Computing System expertise, enterprise data center visit, employment opportunity (resume posting board and career discussion), coding competition, certificate study, hands-on practice on Enterprise Computing System, and more.

Seminars and Lectures
Seminars and lectures will concentrate on mainframe infrastructure (z/OS, MVS, etc), Linux, UNIX, Websphere, JVM (JAVA Virtual Machine), system security, database, and other enterprise computing system related topics. The ECSA will frequently invite speakers such as ITK professors, and experts/managers from major enterprise shops. Participating students could gain the newest knowledge on Enterprise Computing System.

Data Center Visit
Data center visit will be valuable for students. The ECSA will arrange trips to visit data centers at different enterprises. The visitors can view the efficiency of the running Enterprise Computing Systems, system architecture setup, design of system security, and network flow as well as the business strategy.

Employment Opportunity
In the ECSA, we will organize some activities which relate to employment opportunity, such as resume posting board and career discussion. In the resume posting board, students can upload their resume so hiring companies may view them. Also the monthly career discussion with human resources/recruiters and/or senior technicians will provide resume critiques, interview tips, and employment information. These activities will benefit students who are looking for internships or full time jobs.

Coding Competition, Certificate Study, Hands-on Exercise
Except for the ECSA activities mentioned before, there are additional activities in which students could enhance their technical skills such as coding competition, certificate Study, and hands-on exercise. We will form study groups for those who want to obtain IBM certificate. Also, students could do hands-on exercise on real Enterprise Computing Systems. For the students who complete the ILSECS technology related projects with professors, we provide opportunities to participate in the share conferences.

As the organization grows in size, we will create new interesting, exciting, and challenging activities. Again, the ECSA’s goal is to promote students’ interests in the ILECS field of study, and establish strong foundation for further education. Therefore, we believe the ECSA will be a good and beneficial student organization for students while they are pursuing their educations at ISU.