Join host Steven Dickens in this engaging episode of I am a Mainframer featuring Bruno Laurent, who shares how he first entered the mainframe world in 1998 after studying IT and training for six months before taking on the platform.
Bruno reflects on his early hesitation moving from Windows to mainframe, and how he eventually saw the long-term value of building deep skills in a technology that continues to evolve. He now works at Euroclear in France, where he focuses on mainframe modernization and helping the platform stay attractive to new talent.
This episode explores how Bruno and his team are using cloud development environments, Visual Studio Code, Zowe tools, and AI to make mainframe work more modern, secure, and accessible for developers.
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Transcript:
This is the Mainframe Connect Podcast, brought to you by the Linux Foundation’s Open Mainframe Project.
Sponsored by Phoenix Software International.
Mainframe Connect includes the I am a Mainframer series, the riveting Mainframe Voices series, and other content exploring relevant topics with mainframe professionals and offering insights into the industry and technology.
Today’s episode is another in the I am a Mainframer series, exploring the career journeys of mainframe professionals.
Steven:
“Hello and welcome, you’re joining us here on another episode of the I am a Mainframer Podcast. I’m your host as always, Steven Dickens, and I’m joined by Bruno. Hey Bruno, welcome to the show.”
Bruno Laurent:
“Hi, and nice to meet you. Thanks for asking me to come and join.”
Steven:
“So let’s dive straight in, Bruno, and tell the listeners and viewers a little bit about what you do and where you work.”
Bruno Laurent:
“Okay, nice. I’ll just read to you an introduction about that. I started in mainframe in 1998. I did it just after, because I went to the army, and during the army I worked for two years. I have wanted to work in IT since I was a child, so I did my best to work in IT, and that was before 2000. Many companies in France looked for people to work in IT, and they proposed that I work on mainframe. I had no idea what it was, so I signed the contract. But before that, I asked the company, ‘What is the mainframe?’ They said it was something like virtual memory or something like that. So I did the training for six months.”
Bruno Laurent:
“At the beginning, I was very frustrated because I worked with Windows, and I came to an older technology for me, and that wasn’t very easy for me at the beginning, to be honest with you. But at one moment I met someone who told me that if we stay on this technology and you have the good basis, you can grow it up. Because if you would like to improve your knowledge, but if you would like to go to open systems like Windows, each time you have a certification, you should do it again and again and again. I understood that the mainframe was a good place if you would like to continue to learn and have your knowledge continue to grow.”
Steven:
“Where are you now, Bruno? Which company?”
Bruno Laurent:
“Today I’m working for a financial company, Euroclear. I’m based in France, and that’s a very good company because today we are very interested in new technology and the cloud, and I’m working on mainframe modernization. For me, that’s a very good point to work this way because you know that many companies have developers in COBOL getting retired, and to find people to code in COBOL or other languages managed by the mainframe is not very easy. And if we propose an environment only with a 3270 environment, the young generation don’t want to work with it. So today I have the pleasure to work on this great project, the cloud development environment.”
Bruno Laurent:
“So we started this journey with VDIs, and we had problems with performance or onboarding people, because we work with people outside France or outside my company. So to onboard them, that was not very easy. And with the cloud development environment, we detected that it was better and easier to onboard people in and out of the company.”
Steven:
“So, Bruno, when you say mainframe modernization, that means a lot of different things to different people. What does it mean to you? Does it mean modernizing the applications on the mainframe? Is it moving those applications off the mainframe? What does it mean?”
Bruno Laurent:
“So, there are two aspects. The first: we put some applications in the cloud. And on the other side, we give the possibility to the developers to use Visual Studio Code. And because that’s easier for them now to read the code, to read the commands, because everything is managed by the IDE. So for me, that was the part that I managed today.”
Steven:
“So are you using Zowe as part of that?”
Bruno Laurent:
“Yes, Zowe, Zowe Explorer, Zowe CLI, the API Mediation Layer too. And for me, that’s a big jump to explain maybe at the beginning. When we started to use the Zowe API Mediation Layer, I didn’t understand it. I understand that we can use APIs, but today I can see that’s more because all the security can be managed by the Zowe API Mediation Layer. So to improve the security, that’s pretty good.”
Steven:
“Lots of people are talking about modernization of their mainframe. Sounds like you guys are actually doing it. How is that project going? What is the developer reaction when you usually present an IDE? I mean, 3270 green screen — what is the reaction?”
Bruno Laurent:
“At the beginning, it wasn’t very easy to onboard people from VDI, because each developer has his own VDI, so he should manage all the points, all the plugins, all the connections, all the everything. We can propose something, but to automate the environment. So the first experience was not very easy to onboard people, and they would like more plug-and-play . So that’s the reason why we go with something where we can customize everything in it, and with this technology to onboard people. And I realized that’s very easy because everything is already customized: the plugins, the connection, the developer has to put only his credentials, and everything is okay already.”
Steven:
“So Bruno, part of a modernization story for the platform now is AI. We’ve been talking for almost 11 minutes here and we haven’t mentioned AI. It’s 2026 — you’ve got to mention AI. Is AI part of the conversation for modernization, either for code explanation or documentation, or as part of that modernization journey itself?”
Bruno Laurent:
“Yes, today we are very focused on helping with AI. That means that directly via Visual Studio Code, we can put an AI, or you can choose a couple of tools. You can choose a code assistant or a ChatGPT. This helps because you have the possibility to create documentation, to explain the code, and for me that’s a very good plus value because the younger generation needs this help. And yesterday, for example, I had a conversation with someone from IBM to speak about unit tests, and I was very happy to see what we can do to test the code in COBOL. That was very nice.”
Steven:
“One of the questions I always ask, you’ve got, what is it, 28 years now on the platform. You have the chance to go back and chat to yourself at 21, 22. What would you say to younger Bruno?”
Bruno Laurent:
“Yeah, that’s definitely: Bruno, go there. And maybe you don’t see the potential now. But at one moment, what you will realize is that you can mix the old technology and the new one. Because with the visuals you could. And that’s a real pleasure for you. That would be a real pleasure for you to be onboard on this platform, instead of going to the open world, because there is more competition.”
Steven:
“Yeah, it’s a conversation I often have with people I come across who are doing it at college or starting that career. If you start in the mainframe, it’s just less competitive, and the opportunities in the organizations you’re going to work with — you’ll be the most interesting person in the room a lot of times. And that’s a good thing for your career.”
Bruno Laurent:
“And if I have to mention one thing, that’s on the mainframe: family. Because we are very little. So I remember that your co-presenter on this podcast with Sarah, I saw her and I met her three weeks ago. That was pretty, pretty, pretty fun, to see that we can meet other IBM champions or ambassadors of the mainframe in the same room. And that’s pretty good.”
Steven:
“So final question. I ask everybody this question. I’ve been asking for it for seven years now. It’s always a really good question, and I think you’ll have a really interesting answer to it. Crystal ball. You get to look ahead. You can’t pick stocks, you can’t look ahead to see what Nvidia is training out five years from now. All joking aside, you get to look ahead and see where the mainframe is five years from now. Where do you think the platform is going to be five years from now?”
Bruno Laurent:
“For me, the platform will continue to work because I remember in 2000 that wasn’t the case when I started. It was said, ‘Be careful because in 2000 there was no mainframe anymore.’ And today, what I believe is that more and more companies will continue to invest. We can see that, for example, there are two companies which invest a lot: IBM, for example. And because with the mainframe 17, we can see that the hardware is very awesome. And after that, they invest a lot. And the products are very good. There are many products around. And for me, when I saw this, I realized that the company will continue to work very hard on this. Rocket Software does the same, so that’s nice.”
Steven:
“Oh, Bruno, this has been a fantastic discussion. I wish I was in the south of France with you today and we were doing this rather than me having to dial in remotely. You’ve been listening to another episode of the I am a Mainframer Podcast. Please click like, subscribe, and do all those things, and we’ll see you in the next episode. Thank you very much for watching.”
Bruno Laurent:
“Yes, see you. Bye-bye.”
Narration:
“Thank you for tuning in to the Mainframe Connect Podcast and this episode in the I am a Mainframer series, sponsored by Phoenix Software International. Like what you heard, subscribe to get every episode or watch us online at openmainframeproject.org. Until next time, this is the Mainframe Connect Podcast.”
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