Gokul Gangadharan

• Participated in legacy modernization initiative at Santander Bank, which involves introducing open-source technology to the ONLINE system running on the traditional mainframe. Created APIs with a microservice architecture utilizing Spring Boot and hosted on cloud computing platforms, such as AWS and OpenShift.
• The business logic was initially moved to microservices, and data wrappers were developed on the mainframe. These data wrappers were also transformed into Spring Boot-based microservices following the conclusion of the database transfer to Oracle.
• For this project, I've worked with a range of tools and technologies apart from Mainframe, including the Spring Boot framework, GitLab, GitHub with Actions, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm charts, IBM API Connect, and cloud deployment on AWS and OpenShift, in addition to working on the mainframe. Additionally, I've used data repositories like JPA and Hibernate.
• Certified as a SAFe Agilist and managed a 7-member team with day-to-day activities such as Spring Planning, Daily Standup, Backlog Refinement, etc.

Involved in exposing the Mainframe BATCH system to open source by converting the components to Micro Focus and hosting them in Linux. The move proceeded in phases.

• Phase 1: All PL1 batch programs were rewritten in COBOL. This involved testing, development, fixing bugs, and deployment.
• Phase 2: This phase entailed recompiling the COBOL applications for Micro Focus compilers and transferring the data via MQ and FTP to Linux.
• Phase 3: Regression testing against Linux and Mainframe was conducted, and the findings were thoroughly compared.

As a result of this endeavor, I developed a great deal of expertise in the Linux environment and produced numerous REXX tools for automating the execution and comparison process.

• In Northwestern Mutual, an insurance company, the increase in customers led to a corresponding rise in Third Party Acquirers (TPAs). This overwhelmed the manual reporting processes that were previously in place, necessitating the creation of a new TPA reporting system.
• Developed the new TPA reporting system to replace the outdated manual reports.
• As the sole Mainframe resource on the team, you gathered the requirements and collaborated closely with business users to deliver a defect-free solution.
• Built an automated testing framework using REXX to improve the system's robustness and accelerate time to market.

• The project Motor Insurer's Bureau was recently acquired by our company, so I traveled to the previous vendor's site to successfully transition the end-to-end development and support of the application, ensuring a seamless handover with zero escalations.
• I built a strategy to clear a backlog of over 600 outstanding tickets that had been pending for up to 24 months. By grouping similar tickets and identifying solutions, I was able to distribute the work to the team and close all the tickets within 2 months.
• I received special recognition for my work on high-priority data analysis, using the available data sources to identify victims involved in crime cases.
• Documented all the tasks involved in the system as a comprehensive System Understanding document, from scratch, to help the team better understand and work with the application.
  

• In MasterCard, I worked on a critical development under GCMS (Global Clearing Management System), involving clearing transactions and issuing settlements between acquirers and issuers.
• Played a key role in building an on-soil transaction processing system in Russia to handle all domestic transactions within the country. Subsequently, I worked on a similar solution for Vietnam.
• Conducted rigorous analysis of customer transaction disputes and helped develop a solution to address the underlying issues.
• Proposed building a new decision matrix testing suite that incorporated probability-based test scenarios. This innovative approach provided valuable client feedback and resolved numerous unidentified issues from the past.