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I don't understand why there wouldn't be at least 2 or 3 students, in any graduation class, interested in learning some language (and everything around it, sinc

I don't understand why there wouldn't be at least 2 or 3 students, in any graduation class, interested in learning some language (and everything around it, since COBOL isn't just about the language but understanding business and computation in another paradigms). Do all students just care about learning the hype and creating the next flapping bird game?

cafard 10y ago
A sometime co-worker, probably in his late 20s, emailed me from the Data Science bootcamp he was attending to ask a question about COBOL. He is not interested himself, but somebody else in the class has heard that it pays well. I gave him what I thought was the email for our shop's last (now retired) COBOL guru, and recognized GNUCobol as a place to start.
lovich 10y ago
When I first started getting into development I took a look at it because I heard of the great money you could get if you were an expert in it. From what I could tell at the time, 5-6 years ago, it was both a lot harder work to even learn anything more modern just due to the lack of a community that had put all of their knowledge online and a risky proposition. The money looked good, but you severely limited the number of places you worked and if the industry ever decided to get off its ass and change over in even low double digit percentages you were likely to be out of work and with skills that didnt really transfer
jetti 10y ago
I was interested in COBOL while doing my MS in CS (coming from non-CS undergrad) but the problem was tooling and projects. I gave up after trying to track down z/OS, install hercules and get all that tooling set up. There is more to learning development on these old applications than just COBOL though, you need JCL and other applications/tools that go along with it. I ended up giving up because it just became too much of a hassle. Creating a new flapping bird game is exciting for students because it can give them an opportunity to create something from nothing. You aren't going to get that opportunity doing COBOL development. You will most likely spend the rest of your career doing maintenance work rather than any greenfield development. There is nothing wrong with that but not everybody likes the fact they can't create something new.

cafard 10y ago

A sometime co-worker, probably in his late 20s, emailed me from the Data Science bootcamp he was attending to ask a question about COBOL. He is not interested himself, but somebody else in the class has heard that it pays well. I gave him what I thought was the email for our shop's last (now retired) COBOL guru, and recognized GNUCobol as a place to start.

lovich 10y ago

When I first started getting into development I took a look at it because I heard of the great money you could get if you were an expert in it. From what I could tell at the time, 5-6 years ago, it was both a lot harder work to even learn anything more modern just due to the lack of a community that had put all of their knowledge online and a risky proposition. The money looked good, but you severely limited the number of places you worked and if the industry ever decided to get off its ass and change over in even low double digit percentages you were likely to be out of work and with skills that didnt really transfer

jetti 10y ago

I was interested in COBOL while doing my MS in CS (coming from non-CS undergrad) but the problem was tooling and projects. I gave up after trying to track down z/OS, install hercules and get all that tooling set up. There is more to learning development on these old applications than just COBOL though, you need JCL and other applications/tools that go along with it. I ended up giving up because it just became too much of a hassle. Creating a new flapping bird game is exciting for students because it can give them an opportunity to create something from nothing. You aren't going to get that opportunity doing COBOL development. You will most likely spend the rest of your career doing maintenance work rather than any greenfield development. There is nothing wrong with that but not everybody likes the fact they can't create something new.