Mainframe Applications Programmer Analyst with 30+ Years Experience
Resume:
Gary E. Duck
Chapel Hill, NC 27514 E-mail: *******@*****.***
Professional Summary
Mainframe Applications Programmer Analyst with over 30 years of experience in developing, maintaining, and enhancing mainframe applications. Proven proficiency in COBOL, HLASM, VSAM, and JCL in the insurance and financial services domains. Knowledgeable in structured programming best practices using Waterfall and Agile SDLC methodologies. Skilled in troubleshooting and debugging with intuitive knowledge of errors from years of experience. I am able to communicate technical elements to a technical team and functional business concepts to the business stakeholders.
TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT
HARDWARE: IBM z-Series Architecture Mainframe Technologies
SOFTWARE: Operating Systems/Languages
z/OS, VSE/ESA, VM/CMS, COBOL, HLASM (assembly language), SQL, CLIST, REXX, Edit Macros, JCL (MVS & ESA), Easytrieve
SOFTWARE: Vendor Products
CICS, IBM utilities, DB2, Xpediter, DFSort, GitHub, ENDEAVOR SCM, ChangeMan, ISPF/PDF, SDSF, ZEKE Scheduling, Panvalet, FileAid, STROBE, AbendAid, IMS DB/DC, MS Office
EMPLOYMENT
IBM, Inc. Research Triangle Park, North Carolina June, 2021 to May, 2025
Sr Programmer/Analyst
Assisted in the creation of the COBOL code modernization assistant by providing COBOL source which was paired with modern code and fed to the process that created the COBOL code assistant.
Found/fixed memory leaks in the APM Connect assembler product while working on a team using Agile Methodology
Kept the HLASM product (the assembler itself) current with fixes to reported bugs as well as supporting new hardware
Assurant Ins. (Through Apex Systems) Miami, Florida June, 2019 to April,2021
Apex Systems Contractor, Mainframe Programmer
Simplified future maintenance by converting four CICS assembler programs into COBOL CICS.
Maintain general infrastructure COBOL and assembler CICS programs and make requested modifications.
Added paging capability to COBOL CICS display program. Previously, the program displayed all data once in a series of screens. With my change, it is now possible to scroll back and forth.
Eliminated batch production stoppages by converting a SPIE program to execute in 31-bit mode..
Reduced CICS overhead by bypassing abend/dump logic in COBOL general dump program for known, identified error conditions
National Western Life Ins. Co., Austin, Texas January, 2016 to June, 2019
Independent Contractor, Mainframe Programmer
Provided production support for issues reported by business users in Life/70 assembler admin system. Used dump reading skills and Abend-Aid among other tools to resolve these issues.
Created design documents for conversion team by reading existing HLASM and COBOL programs.
Increased competitiveness by adding new products with programming changes.
Railroad Commission of Texas, Austin, Texas January, 2014 to Dec, 2015
Programmer V
Wrote COBOL programs to do data correction in an IMS database using file input.
Corrected errors in COBOL/IMS programs.
Systems Source, Inc., Dallas, Texas Sept, 2012 to Oct, 2013
Life/70 Programmer Analyst (Contractor to Sammons Group)
Wrote programs to synchronize agent info in segmented record KSDS VSAM master file with data from an outside vendor database.
Wrote additional programs to verify and validate the data correction transactions being generated.
Wrote programs to extract desired data from KSDS VSAM master file, transform it to an SQL friendly format, and pass the data to a “wrapper” program for sending via MQ to a database load routine.
Created JCL to execute all the above newly written programs.
National Western Life, Austin, Texas March, 2008 to Sept, 2012
Senior Systems Analyst
Provided production support for the Life/70 assembler insurance administration system on VSE/ESA. This included resolving dumps and program errors.
Increased available products by implementing program modifications per specifications from the actuaries.
Conseco, Carmel, Indiana Oct, 1997 to Mar, 2008
Senior Application Developer
Lead programmer for the application support team coordinating onshore/offshore staff
Kept money coming in by making program updates (twice) to support changes to the lockbox vendor. I changed the application program interface for the changed incoming file format from the bank.
Saved employee time and recovered money from agents by following business rules to create an extract program for getting information from a KSDS VSAM file and transform it into the database load format. This program replaced a manual process that previously took a full day to perform and was subject to human errors.
American National Insurance Company, Galveston, Texas Sept, 1991 to Oct, 1997
Senior Programmer Analyst, Life/70
Integrated an acquired company by converting CAPSIL COBOL files into the company’s assembler format . This involved writing COBOL programs using a VSAM alternate index.
Cut costs by eliminating programmer involvement in interest rate updates by writing programs that allow business users to update new DB2 interest rate tables. Wrote interface program to present DB2 data in same format as old load module format to reduce changes to main application code.
Fixed a problem with an ever-growing master record by moving a routinely added segment into a DB2 database. Designed and coded an interface program to access the DB2 database in order to minimize changes to other application programs. Modified the application programs to call the interface program to access the data required.
The Continuum Company (Now DXC Technology), Austin, Texas Sept, 1978 to Aug, 1991
Senior Programmer
Enhanced the company’s Life/70 product by implementing new features. I did the analysis, created the High Level design, coded the feature, tested it, and delivered it.
Maintained the product by working customer problem reports using batch dumps and CICS dumps. Determined the problem, wrote the code to correct the bug, tested the fix, and delivered it.
I increased programmer productivity by writing two macros to replace a lot of inline coding. Each macro used conditional assembly to work in an MVS, DOS, or CICS environment. I designed the macros, coded them, and tested them. In addition I wrote the documentation to go into the product’s documentation suite.
Significantly increased SDLC productivity by writing a mainframe “IDE.” This was done in VM/CMS using EXEC2, REXX, assembler programs, Panvalet/CMS, MVS JCL, and edit macros. In MVS, I coded Panvalet exits to support the updating of control information in Panvalet libraries. I also wrote multiple COBOL programs and execution JCL to build supporting files.
Helped modernize the product by converting the company’s ISAM based file access to VSAM
Significantly reduced real I/O in an application by conceiving/designing/coding an in-memory copybook “caching” program in assembler using Panvalet interface calls.
Resolved reported problems during visits to customer sites.
EDUCATION
University of Texas at Austin
Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film; Dean’s List, 3.03/4.0 overall GPA
Business: Graduate Business School
Computer Science: Course work to improve computer science knowledge and skills
At Work Training
Themis Inc: DB2 UDB z/OS & OS/390 SQL and Application Programming
Personal Training
The Great Courses: Computer Science Concepts with Python Examples
PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Fellow, Life Management Institute of the Life Office Management Association - September, 1980
ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management – February, 2014
E-mail: *******@*****.***
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