Mark Grimes

Senior IBM i Systems Engineer with 30+ years of hands-on experience across Free-Format RPG, RPGLE, CL, and DB2i, with a strong focus on legacy modernization, system health monitoring, and integrating IBM i platforms with modern web and cloud technologies. Built an automated IBM i telemetry and health-monitoring system tracking storage thresholds, job locks, and message queues, and led adoption of 100+ Python/Django dashboards that surface real-time DB2i data across the organization. Experienced with Aldon LMI for release and change management, and with mentoring development teams through technology transitions.

Seeking a senior IBMi engineering role focused on platform modernization and system integrity.

Enterprise Application Lead at HLNA (2016-01 – Present)

• Developed an automated IBM i system telemetry and health monitor that tracks live OS and DB2i metrics — SYS/IASP storage thresholds, message wait states, active job locks, and file member capacity — using optimized SQL interrogation profiles to maintain platform integrity.
• Led team-wide adoption of Python/Django by designing reusable dashboard templates and mentoring legacy RPG developers on modern web development, raising department-wide engineering velocity.
• Architected and built 100+ operational, KPI, and infrastructure dashboards in Python/Django, pulling real-time datasets from core DB2i databases via the native ibm_db connector — a key step in modernizing legacy IBM i reporting.
• Used AI-assisted tools (Windows Copilot) to accelerate Django and SQL troubleshooting and review legacy logic paths, without exposing sensitive data.
• Built real-time supply chain data pipelines streaming ASNs, trailer manifests, and production sequencing queues from DB2i into web dashboards, with automated alerts flagging operational anomalies.
• Maintained and extended core MAPICS application logic through hook programming, integrating data flows with Manhattan Associates WMS, using Aldon LMI for release and change management.
• Built automated Python batch processes that call cloud APIs to ingest and parse real-time JSON workforce data, keeping internal manpower databases synced with active clock-ins — extending IBM i integration to cloud services.

IT Manager / Network Administrator at Optical Disc Solutions, Inc. (1988-04 – 2015-09)

• Programmed production, inventory, and quality-control systems from scratch using custom RPG/ILE, integrating directly with core MAPICS order data.
• Designed custom middleware to fetch and validate external logistics data from Excel via ODBC, automating bulk shipping order processing.
• Administered the full IBM iSeries environment, including user security profiles, material request routing, and internal network infrastructure.

Computer Science Studies in Computer Science – Indiana University East (1982 – 1984)

Sergeant, Systems Control Monitor – United States Air Force (1984 – 1988)