About the Podcast
The road from junior professional to Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a long but rewarding journey, paved with learning, mentorship, and strategic career moves. This podcast serves as a guidepost for early-career professionals, tackling key challenges such as finding mentors, gaining visibility, and building expertise. Through engaging discussions and actionable strategies, we aim to help individuals stay on course and accelerate their journey on the road to becoming SMEs.

Join us on our first episode of the New to Z: Road to SME Podcast, where Joe shares his insights and expertise on the latest developments in mainframe innovation.
Joe Winchester is a Senior Technical Staff Manager and Master Inventor at IBM, known for his leadership in open-source mainframe innovation. A core contributor to Zowe since 2019, he serves on its Technical Steering Committee and helps guide the project’s evolution and community engagement. In 2024, he helped launch Zowe 3.0 and the IBMz AIOps Corner podcast, spotlighting voices across the mainframe industry. As an Open Mainframe Project Ambassador, Joe brings topics like quantum-safe encryption and resilience to global open-source and academic forums.