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Cashing in on COBOL

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    Cashing in on COBOL

    So every so often this crazy I keep getting this crazy idea of cross training as a COBOL/Mainframe developer. This article has set me off again:

    https://www.infoq.com/articles/retir...me-programmers

    I keep on hearing about this massive demand for COBOL devs but I'm not seeing it anywhere on Jobserve and the like? What is the reality? And what is the likelihood of crossing over without having to go back to perm for a bit?

    #2
    Cashing in on COBOL

    Not much hope really. The jobs aren’t advertised as there is little demand.

    There is demand for the people who setup the systems 20 years ago. No amount of training will make you that person.

    Or 30 years ago. 20 years ago everybody though VB was the future......
    See You Next Tuesday

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Lance View Post
      Not much hope really. The jobs aren’t advertised as there is little demand.

      There is demand for the people who setup the systems 20 years ago. No amount of training will make you that person.

      Or 30 years ago. 20 years ago everybody though VB was the future......
      Absolutely this. I actually moved out of coding 20 years ago because I wasn’t interested in learning VB and PCs.

      There’s a particular mindset required to get into the non-conforming spaghetti that is 30 year old COBOL.

      One programmer I knew used to write his variable names depending on what he’d had for tea the night before. I would have fired him even then but things were different in those days...
      "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
      - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

      Comment


        #4
        So what's the future of all these mainframe systems then? Do they just turn into black boxes, and the business goes to the wall because the code can't be maintained and therefore the business can't adapt?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by cojak View Post
          Absolutely this. I actually moved out of coding 20 years ago because I wasn’t interested in learning VB and PCs.

          There’s a particular mindset required to get into the non-conforming spaghetti that is 30 year old COBOL.

          One programmer I knew used to write his variable names depending on what he’d had for tea the night before. I would have fired him even then but things were different in those days...
          Variables were always named for what they were - PAYROLL-NUMBER rather than SUB-1 - and paragraph names were usually descriptive. I was trained to make code readable by someone a long way down the line and your code would not be released if it didn't. You could trace the procedure through the code very easily.

          Macros and the like though - they were much more fun...
          Blog? What blog...?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by pauldee View Post
            So what's the future of all these mainframe systems then? Do they just turn into black boxes, and the business goes to the wall because the code can't be maintained and therefore the business can't adapt?
            Most places have plans to migrate from them. If you knew that then you’d stand a chance in this market.

            Why not learn how to migrate data from DB2 databases?
            See You Next Tuesday

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by malvolio View Post
              Variables were always named for what they were - PAYROLL-NUMBER rather than SUB-1 - and paragraph names were usually descriptive. I was trained to make code readable by someone a long way down the line and your code would not be released if it didn't. You could trace the procedure through the code very easily.

              Macros and the like though - they were much more fun...
              My experience mirrors this. I started my life IT as a Cobol/CICS/DB2 analyst programmer and it was actually quite enjoyable. 3GL code, when annotated and written well, is far more readable and maintainable than today's modern equivalents.

              Ultimately I think most of these ancient systems will be 'blackboxed' and replaced, rather than being migrated or upgraded. It's often easier to recreate through new requirements than by reworking dated tech.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by ChimpMaster View Post
                My experience mirrors this. I started my life IT as a Cobol/CICS/DB2 analyst programmer and it was actually quite enjoyable. 3GL code, when annotated and written well, is far more readable and maintainable than today's modern equivalents.

                Ultimately I think most of these ancient systems will be 'blackboxed' and replaced, rather than being migrated or upgraded. It's often easier to recreate through new requirements than by reworking dated tech.
                I quite agree with both points. I really enjoyed my time (I was a Cobol/CICS/DB2 analyst programmer as well), but the time has come to replace old COBOL designs and code.
                "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
                - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by cojak View Post
                  I quite agree with both points. I really enjoyed my time (I was a Cobol/CICS/DB2 analyst programmer as well), but the time has come to replace old COBOL designs and code.
                  COBOL DMIV/CICS/DB2 AP back in the day, new job code needed to be QA,d and signed off which was a new and unwelcome experience for me. Snr ball buster QA’d my first program and failed it as I’d only used 3 asterisks to precede all the comments, so being an arse I deleted all the comments...
                  "why ride a vespa when you can push a lambretta?"

                  As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I embedded my comments well, but as per my first post, the organisations I worked with in the 80s and early 90s didn’t make good coding practices mandatory, in fact it wasn’t until 2002 I’d even heard about this ITIL thing.
                    "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
                    - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

                    Comment

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