It's pretty tough to get a programming job in any language if you don't understand the underlying environment. You're not going to be particularly attractive a

It's pretty tough to get a programming job in any language if you don't understand the underlying environment. You're not going to be particularly attractive as a C/Unix programmer if you don't know 'make', the shell, IPC, etc. That said, getting COBOL talent is hard enough that there are shops that will train you up on it which might make more sense than trying to self-teach.