Rocket Software’s Inaugural Group of Australian Mainframe Students Graduate, Accept Permanent Roles in the Business

Rocket Software, a global technology leader in modernisation software, today announced its first intake of students has graduated from Rocket's NextGen Academy in Australia. The cohort of 10 early-career technologists - two technical project managers and eight software engineers - successfully completed Rocket Software's full-time, six-month immersive course, which was marked by a graduation ceremony on Friday, 21 August in Perth.

The 10 NextGen Academy graduates have been offered and accepted permanent roles at Rocket Software, all based in Perth working with both local and global Rocket teams. Four engineers will be working in Rocket's infrastructure modernisation business, the other four engineers joining Rocket's data modernisation product team, and the two project managers working on Rocket's client projects across Asia-Pacific.

"Congratulations to our inaugural Australian graduates, your engagement, passion are outstanding. Your capacity to quickly learn new tools to deliver concrete projects is really impressive. You all passed with flying colours! We look forward to watching your progress and the impact you have as you embark on your mainframe career path at Rocket Software and beyond," said Guy Muller, Vice President, Software Engineering, Rocket Software in his speech to the graduating students.

Rocket Software's Australian NextGen Academy is the fifth location in the world for this international education program after the USA, UK and Lithuania, and most recently India. It is designed to prepare participants with the essential mainframe skills, hands-on experience, and knowledge needed for careers across the broader tech industry, supporting modernisation initiatives and addressing global workforce needs.

"In Australia, mainframes are still essential in running critical operations in both the corporate and public sector, and will continue to play a key role for the foreseeable future. However, a significant proportion of today's mainframe workforce is approaching retirement age, so initiatives like our NextGen Academy are bridging this emerging skills gap," said Karla Bester, Country Manager Engineering, Rocket Software. "As organisations increasingly adopt AI and other new technologies, it's important we don't forget about the infrastructure that supports them. We need people in the workforce who are familiar with these new technologies but also understand how that critical underlying infrastructure works."

The NextGen Academy curriculum blends essential technical foundations with practical experience across the enterprise software ecosystem and places a strong focus on how to apply AI to accelerate learning, problem‑solving, and day‑to‑day development workflows - reflecting how modern engineering happens inside Rocket. Learning is delivered by a mix of industry‑recognised instructors and Rocket Software's most experienced engineers, ensuring each graduate is equipped with the skills and mindset to contribute to innovation on the modern mainframe. 

"The NextGen Academy program and instructors were incredible, and it has opened my eyes to how critical mainframes are in running banking and government systems. It's given me hands-on experience in the technology and exposed me to languages and concepts we never touched at university," said software engineering graduate Akhil Gorasia. "I'm looking forward to playing a role in modernising mainframe development at Rocket using AI and other newer coding tools."

"Before the NextGen Academy I didn't even know the mainframe world existed. Now I'm hands-on with Assembly coding every day, working alongside the product team and seeing how real mainframe software is built and modernised," said software engineering graduate Ben Conetta.

About Rocket Software 

Rocket Software is a global technology leader in modernisation and a partner of choice that empowers the world's leading businesses on their IT and mainframe modernisation journeys, spanning core systems to the cloud. Trusted by more than 13,500 customers and 850 partners, and with more than 3,000 global employees, Rocket Software enables customers to maximise their data, applications, and infrastructure to deliver critical services that power our modern world. Rocket Software is a privately held U.S. corporation headquartered in the Boston area with centres of excellence strategically located throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Rocket Software is a portfolio company of Bain Capital Private Equity.

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