That's probably not the answer you want, but do not hesitate to apply to jobs that ask for 0-5 years of experience, it's very often a nice to have and not a req

That's probably not the answer you want, but do not hesitate to apply to jobs that ask for 0-5 years of experience, it's very often a nice to have and not a requirement. Worst case scenario is, they don't contact you (which will not happen either if you don't contact them ;) ) Your choice of COBOL is both strange (it's an old language that's not used for any new stuff) and potentially playing against you. Company looking for COBOL devs are often banks or big companies having huge critical systems that they're afraid to update to a more recent language. Thus, they may be looking for someone with some experience, considering how critical those softwares are. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't apply, I may totally be wrong or you may find something anyway!