Mike Pavlak

Mike Pavlak has been working with IBM midrange solutions since 1992 and IBM Mainframes before that. After years of developing applications using RPG and CL, he managed IT development and IT for power protection manufacturer Tripp Lite.

Mike was instrumental in developing the adoption of PHP as the first open source language on IBM i and later joined Zend Technologies. Today, as a Solution Engineer with Perforce (Zend), Mike helps companies approach the challenges of modernization and open source technologies. In addition to several roles as a volunteer with COMMON, Mike also teaches PHP and Python classes part time at Moraine Valley Community College in suburban Chicago.

Mike lives in suburban Chicago with his wife, five kids, a dog, a cat, two tortoises, and a half dozen fish.