Drawing on her journey from full-stack web app developer to z/OS Db2 specialist, Elitsa Popova reflects on why the mainframe continues to matter — and how AI, hybrid technologies, and changing skills are shaping its future.
I started my career as a mainframer in training five years ago. Before that, I had completed an internship as a software product developer and an apprenticeship as a full-stack web application developer.
Moving into the mainframe ecosystem was a significant change for me.
My early training had provided me with a solid technical foundation in a fairly supportive environment, where I could learn the basics and build confidence. Moving to work for Vertali in the United Kingdom marked another big step forward. The work here is far more varied, with different clients, environments and challenges, and higher expectations. That has pushed me to develop faster; dealing with bigger challenges and gaining a much wider perspective.
I’m originally from Bulgaria, where mentoring and professional development tend to be quite structured, with a strong focus on building technical foundations. My U.K. experiences have placed more emphasis on adaptability, communication, and learning through real-world experience. There is also a contrast with academia. I studied computer science and software engineering at the University of Bedfordshire, where the focus was naturally more academic and theory based. In business, of course, it’s about hands-on experience, and development is far more practical.
Your day-to-day work encourages independence, problem-solving, and learning by doing. Which I love.
A Change in Mindset
Moving from full-stack development into the mainframe world also required a change in mindset. In web development, you can become used to rapid change and short development cycles. Mainframe environments are often more controlled and deliberate, because the systems involved are supporting critical business processes.
That was one of the things that surprised me most. The mainframe is sometimes perceived as old technology, but once you work with it, you see the scale, complexity, and level of reliability involved. Even a relatively small change can have an impact across several systems, so understanding dependencies and managing risk become essential.
Today, as a specialist in z/OS Db2 DBA, I focus on keeping customer database environments stable, secure, and running efficiently for business-critical systems. I work on schema changes and migrations, using tools such as BMC AMI Change and Catalog Manager, making sure everything remains consistent across environments while keeping risk low.
My work also involves impact analysis, performance tuning, and making sure infrastructure changes are managed securely. Because I have a background in full-stack development, I can understand both the application and the database sides, which helps me to deliver more reliable solutions.
My experiences have also shown me why the mainframe continues to matter.
1. Reliability Still Counts
Mainframes process vast numbers of transactions reliably and securely. They are designed for environments where downtime and errors can have serious consequences. Working with Db2 has given me a much stronger appreciation of what reliability actually means. It is not simply whether an application works. You also have to consider data integrity, performance, availability, and the impact of changes elsewhere.
For organizations running business-critical systems, those qualities remain extremely valuable.
2. Established Systems Still Have Value
Many organizations rely on systems that have been built and refined over decades. Moving everything to the cloud is not necessarily simple, cheap, or risk-free. Those systems also contain years of business knowledge, processes and rules. Modernisation therefore does not always mean replacing what already exists. It can mean identifying what works, deciding what genuinely needs to change, and finding better ways to connect established systems with newer technologies.
That is one reason why people who understand both traditional and modern development environments are increasingly valuable.
3. Mainframes Continue to Evolve
One misconception is that mainframe technology has stood still. In reality, mainframes are increasingly integrated with cloud platforms through hybrid models, combining core mainframe systems with cloud-based applications and services. Tools such as Visual Studio Code and GitHub are also making development more familiar to people entering the industry from other areas of technology. Security continues to evolve too, including new approaches such as quantum-safe encryption.
For someone coming from a development background, this is important. The mainframe increasingly sits within a much wider technology ecosystem rather than operating as an isolated platform.
4. AI Means New Possibilities
AI is one of the developments I find most interesting because I have already seen it move from something largely experimental into technology that is influencing everyday IT. The same evolution is happening on the mainframe.
AI is being built directly into processors, such as the IBM Telum II, allowing organisations to make real-time decisions during transactions. Generative AI is also opening up new possibilities for understanding and modernising older systems, including helping developers work with long-established code.
I am particularly interested in how AI could support areas such as impact analysis, performance monitoring, and understanding complex systems. Could it help identify potential issues more quickly? Could it help people understand dependencies before making a change? Some of that is still developing, and it’s an exciting area to watch.
AI will not remove the need for technical knowledge. People will still need to understand the systems underneath it, and judge whether the recommendations being made are appropriate. But it could change how quickly we can analyse information and solve problems.
5. Mainframe Careers Are Changing
The technology is evolving, and so are the skills required to work with it. Technical knowledge remains essential, but adaptability, communication, and the ability to understand different technologies are becoming increasingly important.
That reflects my own career journey. I have moved from full-stack development into Db2, from structured training into a more varied consultancy environment, and from working in Bulgaria to developing my career in the United Kingdom. Each stage has required a slightly different way of learning.
The mainframe professionals of the future may therefore be people who combine deep specialist knowledge with a broader understanding of cloud, application development, automation, and AI.
What Lies Ahead?
Over the next few years, AI will become a far bigger part of how mainframes operate. That seems certain. In the wider world, with concerns escalating rapidly around AI over-use, data centre developments, energy requirements, and sustainability, one would be foolish to make any concrete predictions.
But in my world, AIOps could greatly automate more routine operational work. AI-assisted tools will make it easier to analyse systems, modernize applications, and identify potential problems early. That will allow people like me to spend more time on strategic work and higher-level activity rather than tasks that may be mundane and repetitive but are nonetheless essential.
This is what makes working with the mainframe interesting right now. I began by learning a technology with a long history. I’m now seeing that technology grow, evolve, and diversify alongside my own career.
Mainframes still matter not because they have remained unchanged, but because they continue to adapt.
Elitsa Popova is a technical consultant with Vertali, specialising in z/OS Db2 DBA. Co-chair of GSE UK’s WAVEZ 101 working group and a Mainframe Society ambassador, she was named an IBM Champion in 2025 and 2026.