Vasanthi Govindaraj
Chino Hills,CA
Summary
Dynamic Senior COBOL Mainframe Application Developer with over 18 years of experience supporting and enhancing mission-critical IBM z/OS systems in large enterprise environments. Expertise in COBOL, JCL, CICS, IMS, DB2, DATACOM, ADABAS, and VSAM, along with extensive experience in large-scale batch processing using CA-7, CA-11, and CA-Jobtrac. Proven track record in analyzing user requirements, designing and implementing high-quality solutions, resolving complex production issues, and providing 24/7 on-call support. Strong technical leader recognized for stabilizing legacy systems, mentoring junior developers, and delivering reliable, well-documented software solutions.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Technical Lead
National General (An Allstate Company)
Chino Hills, CA
08.2019 - Current
- Analyzed user requirements and developed technical specifications for enhancements and defect fixes in COBOL, JCL, CICS, DB2, and IDMS on IBM z/OS platforms.
- Designed, developed, tested, and implemented batch and online programs supporting financial and insurance systems, ensuring high reliability and compliance with enterprise standards.
- Provided pre-production and post-production support, including abend analysis, root cause investigation, and resolution of critical incidents in 24×7 on-call rotation.
- Led a team of 18 developers and analysts, coordinating daily activities, code reviews, and production support to ensure timely delivery and system stability.
- Proactively reviewed batch jobs and online transactions to improve system stability, reduce recurring issues, and enhance overall production reliability.
- Created and maintained comprehensive technical documentation, including program specifications, design documents, runbooks, and operational procedures.
- Coordinated with business users, QA teams, and operations to ensure controlled change management for all releases, fixes, and enhancements.
- Mentored junior developers on COBOL best practices, debugging techniques, and mainframe utilities, improving team productivity and code quality.
- Supported enterprise batch scheduling and recovery using CA-7, CA-11, and CA-Jobtrac, ensuring timely execution and restartability of critical jobs.
- Worked extensively with VSAM files, DB2 tables, SPUFI, DCLGEN, File Manager, Fault Analyzer, SORT/SEARCH utilities, and BMC tools for performance tuning and troubleshooting.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams on modernization initiatives, including selective integration with Azure and AI-based reporting, while preserving core mainframe processing integrity.
Technical Lead
Mazda [Info Services]
Irvine, CA
11.2014 - 07.2019
- Analyzed business requirements and developed technical solutions using COBOL, JCL, CICS, DB2, and VSAM to support critical mainframe applications.
- Designed, developed, and maintained batch and online COBOL programs for core business processes, ensuring high availability and system reliability.
- Provided production support and defect resolution, including abend analysis, data correction, and performance tuning in z/OS environments.
- Led modernization initiatives by selectively integrating mainframe systems with Java and cloud-based applications, while preserving core mainframe processing logic.
- Utilized CICS and MQ Series to enable secure and reliable data exchange with external systems and third-party applications.
- Collaborated closely with business analysts, QA teams, and infrastructure groups to deliver enhancements through controlled change management processes.
- Led a team of 15 engineers, coordinating development activities, code reviews, testing, and production deployments.
- Created and maintained technical documentation, including design specifications, interface documents, and operational guides.
Sr Mainframe Developer
BNSF Railways [Infosys]
Fort Worth, TX
08.2014 - 10.2014
- Elicited and clearly documented business and system requirements from Stakeholders pertaining to BNSF railways processes.
- Developed flowcharts and diagrams to describe and lay out logical operational steps.
- Executed full life cycle systems development including gathering requirements, analysis, design, coding, testing, implementation and production support.
- Troubleshoot and resolve issues in production environments, ensuring minimal downtime for mission-critical applications.
Lead Mainframe Developer
Guardian [Cognizant]
Pittsfield, MA
08.2012 - 11.2013
- Gathered business requirements and performed coding, testing, and deployment of enterprise logistics applications on IBM z/OS platforms.
- Developed and enhanced COBOL and IDEAL programs to improve application functionality, performance, and maintainability.
- Worked extensively with DATACOM as the primary mainframe database to support transactional processing and data retrieval.
- Continuously improved application performance by optimizing batch and online programs and reducing overall processing times.
- Debugged and analyzed Assembler-based modules to resolve low-level processing and performance issues.
Mainframe Application Developer
Schneider [Cognizant]
Green Bay, WI
12.2009 - 07.2012
- Analyzed the current mainframe environment, including COBOL applications, ADABAS databases, and infrastructure to determine the scope of migration initiatives.
- Worked closely with business and technical stakeholders to understand system requirements and define objectives for modernization projects.
- Reviewed existing ADABAS data models and structures and mapped them to Oracle databases on distributed platforms, ensuring data integrity and consistency.
- Re-engineered mainframe batch jobs for Oracle-based systems to ensure seamless automation, scheduling, and operational continuity.
Mainframe Programmer
WellPoint [UST Global]
Los Angeles, CA
07.2006 - 11.2009
- Analysis and design of the STAR/WGS systems and documenting it based on the requirement.
- Worked on EDI 837 transactions for claims processing as per HIPAA compliance.
- Developed test scripts, conducted unit tests, documented and resolved discrepancies resulting in zero defects in production.
- Supported COBOL – Assembler integration for system modernization.
- Work with end-users to ensure the system meets their needs and works as expected after migration.
- Prepared documents and conducted walk-through that support development, implementation and turnover.
Education
Bachelor of Engineering - Computer Science
Anna University
06-2006
Post Graduate program - Artificial Intelligence
University of Texas At Austin
01.2024
Skills
- Languages: COBOL, Assembler, IDEAL
- Transaction Processing: CICS
- Batch & Scheduling: JCL, CA-7, CA-11, CA-Jobtrac
- Databases: DB2, IMS, IDMS, DATACOM, ADABAS
- Data & Utilities: VSAM, SPUFI, DCLGEN, SORT/SEARCH Utilities
- Tools & Interfaces: TSO/ISPF, BMC Tools, File Manager, Fault Analyzer
- Debugging & Analysis: Abend analysis, production troubleshooting, performance tuning
- Programming: Python
- Machine Learning: Supervised & Unsupervised Learning, Model Training & Evaluation
- Deep Learning: Neural Networks, TensorFlow / PyTorch (if applicable)
- Computer Vision: Image Classification, Object Detection
- Generative AI: LLMs, Prompt Engineering, AI Integration Use Cases
- Cloud & Data: Microsoft Azure, Azure SQL
WORK STATUS
GREEN CARD
Certification
- IBM Certified Application Developer - DB2 11 for z/OS
- Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals
- Brain Bench: COBOL, VSAM, Life Insurance (LOMA) and ManLog
Timeline
Senior Technical Lead
National General (An Allstate Company)
08.2019 - Current
Technical Lead
Mazda [Info Services]
11.2014 - 07.2019
Sr Mainframe Developer
BNSF Railways [Infosys]
08.2014 - 10.2014
Lead Mainframe Developer
Guardian [Cognizant]
08.2012 - 11.2013
Mainframe Application Developer
Schneider [Cognizant]
12.2009 - 07.2012
Mainframe Programmer
WellPoint [UST Global]
07.2006 - 11.2009
Bachelor of Engineering - Computer Science
Anna University
Post Graduate program - Artificial Intelligence
University of Texas At Austin