Meet Srinivasan JV, a Senior Software Engineer at Wells Fargo with over a decade of experience in mainframes. Srinivasan graduated from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in 2013. He started his career at Cognizant and has focused on COBOL and mainframes.
COBOL is one of the most important programming languages. It has been used for over half a century in financial and business data processing. Today, over 800 billion lines of COBOL code are still in use. Each time you make a transaction, you are touching not one but several COBOL systems.
Throughout his career, Srinivasan has used COBOL for business tasks and managing jobs on mainframes. This shows COBOL’s reliability and ability to handle vast transaction volumes. Despite the complexity of mainframes, Srinivasan loves the challenge. He appreciates their zero downtime and robust performance.
Learning never stops
Srinivasan has worked with mainframes for over 10 years. He didn’t know much about them when he started his career, so he took six months of training before starting his projects.
“Even after 10 years, I’m still learning about mainframes. Technology always evolves, offering something new to discover and master.”
Srinivasan’s learning simply doesn’t stop at mainframes. He is currently brushing up on Java and has explored Python through hobby projects. He is keen to learn assembler because many of the mainframe utilities he admires are written in it. As he puts it “Learning never stops.”
Srinivasan constantly thirsts for knowledge and believes in sharing it through his blog. He discusses COBOL and his experiences in the field. His blog includes valuable resources, such as links to JDoodle’s online COBOL compiler. This allows readers to execute COBOL code directly from the blog.
Try out this fun project from Srinivasan on the COBOL IDE.
“I found JDoodle while looking for an online COBOL compiler. “It’s been a game-changer for me and my readers because we can run code without a mainframe. JDoodle lets me add executable examples to my blog, which makes learning much easier for my audience.”
Srinivasan’s Journey with JDoodle
In 2017, Srinivasan searched for an online COBOL compiler to write and test COBOL code outside of work. When he found JDoodle, it changed everything.
JDoodle became an important tool for him. It lets him write and run COBOL code anywhere, helping him grow his blog. He shares practical code examples that readers can run directly on JDoodle.
“JDoodle has been a lifesaver, it lets me quickly test and share COBOL code, making my blog more interactive and helpful.”
JDoodle has helped Srinivasan code, share, and teach COBOL well. It connects his work and personal projects, making it easier for him to teach and learn about mainframes.
A positive look at AI
In our talks with Srinivasan, our topics inevitably switched to AI as most tech talks usually do. We expected disagreement about AI, but surprisingly, Srinivasan said he supports it. He finds it incredibly useful for learning complex concepts and generating code quickly.
While AI-generated code isn’t always perfect, he sees AI as a valuable tool. It can speed up the coding process and serve as a helpful reference for developers.
“AI is a game-changer. It’s like having an assistant that can create code snippets or explain tough ideas. Of course, you still need to review and refine the output, but it saves a lot of time.”
This was a refreshing take on the AI debate, and we agree with Srinivasan. AI is the new normal in today’s digital world, and there is no escaping it. Like most tools, AI can help you, but you must still improve and polish the work to meet your standards.
“AI is accurate 70-80% of the time so a developer is needed to review it. AI can aid developers, helping to generate code faster, but it’s not a complete replacement.”
He also told us how to use generative AI to learn new things, in addition to code generation.
“For complex concepts, I can simply converse with the AI and understand it very easily. From a learning perspective, it’s a boon.”
His advice for future developers
Srinivasan advises aspiring developers to embrace lifelong learning. He believes that continuous learning and sharing experiences are key to professional growth.
“As developers, we should learn something new daily and share what we know. Blogging and using other platforms help us grow and help the community.”
Do you have a similar story?
If Srinivasan’s story inspires you and want to share yours, contact us at hello@jdoodle.com or zahwah@jdoodle.com. Also, fill up our contact form if you have anything you would like to tell JDoodle.