Presentation
Stay Irreplaceable as AI Codes
Contributors
Event Type
Technical Session
Machine Learning/AI
Soft Skills
zNextGen
All Audiences
Troubleshoot and Resolve Complex Issues
TimeMonday, August 173:45pm - 4:45pm EDT
LocationRoom 305
DescriptionAI can write COBOL. It can generate JCL, flag anomalies in a job log, and explain what a legacy paragraph does in plain language. If your value rests primarily on producing code or memorizing syntax, you are competing with something that works around the clock and never needs a two-week handoff. This session does not sugarcoat that reality. It offers a concrete path through it. The mainframe professionals who will be most valuable in AI-assisted environments are not those who resist the tools — they are the ones who master what AI cannot access: the business logic embedded in four decades of COBOL, the cross-system reasoning required to diagnose a production failure that spans three platforms, the institutional knowledge of why a critical batch job was written the way it was. These are not soft advantages. They are the things AI gets wrong. We examine the skills that remain irreplaceable in the AI era: deep application context, risk communication with leadership, the ability to audit AI-generated code with enough expertise to catch what it missed, and the judgment to know when AI is confidently wrong. Attendees leave with a framework for identifying their own irreplaceable edge and a development plan for growing it — so that AI amplifies their value instead of threatening it.
Contributors
DevOps Architect & Evangelist