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A friend of mine just took a menial enterprise programming job (in Pittsburgh) that is paying 55k. And I mean menial, it's converting legacy systems from Cobol

by rms 19y ago

A friend of mine just took a menial enterprise programming job (in Pittsburgh) that is paying 55k. And I mean menial, it's converting legacy systems from Cobol to Java.

itay 19y ago
I've seen offers from 75k to 95k (though the 95k was an outlier). Most were in the 80-85k for first tier companies.
tomjen 19y ago
Just write a cobol to java compiler and be done with it.
- NonEUCitizen 19y ago
  he may not have to write one himself: http://www.jazillian.com/howCOBOL.html disclaimer: i don't know cobol and have never tried this.
  - rms 19y ago
    That is a consulting company, not a software product.
- rms 19y ago
  I talked to him, he said that there are a bunch out there already and they'll be using them to aid in the process. But there's still work to be done, there are a lot of legacy systems that need to have optimized/readable code.
Raphael 19y ago
But don't let on. Work on your startup with the new extra time.
- adammichaelc 19y ago
  I think you should let on... first of all, it's honest (I know if I were the founder I would really want to keep an honest problem-solver happy and well-paid) and second of all what goes around comes around.
  - mrtron 19y ago
    The menial job is likely NOT a startup, and is a huge corporation that will not likely recognize your massive contribution. I don't know that it is exactly good karma to not let on, but it would be something to consider. Would you really give the honest problem-solver what they deserve though? The last project I did at a large company that saved the company a lot of time and money netted me a 10% raise. Probably less than 1% what I saved them per year.
    - suboptimal 19y ago
      Yeah, legacy COBOL probably equals "huge corporation." I assume, then, that there's an employment agreement covering this scenario. It's an ethical dilemma, but in my opinion the fundamental right to earn a living (basic economic freedom) trumps the letter of an overly-restrictive contract, _if_ the employee's outside activities don't impact the employer in a material way. That's not law, that's just my opinion, and I realize it could be a bit of a slippery slope. However I just don't see how a company can own an employee's time away from work (again unless the employee is competing in the employer's direct line of business). See the work of Brandeis.

by rms 19y ago

A friend of mine just took a menial enterprise programming job (in Pittsburgh) that is paying 55k. And I mean menial, it's converting legacy systems from Cobol to Java.

itay 19y ago

I've seen offers from 75k to 95k (though the 95k was an outlier). Most were in the 80-85k for first tier companies.

tomjen 19y ago

Just write a cobol to java compiler and be done with it.

NonEUCitizen 19y ago
he may not have to write one himself: http://www.jazillian.com/howCOBOL.html disclaimer: i don't know cobol and have never tried this.
- rms 19y ago
  That is a consulting company, not a software product.
rms 19y ago
I talked to him, he said that there are a bunch out there already and they'll be using them to aid in the process. But there's still work to be done, there are a lot of legacy systems that need to have optimized/readable code.

Raphael 19y ago

But don't let on. Work on your startup with the new extra time.

adammichaelc 19y ago
I think you should let on... first of all, it's honest (I know if I were the founder I would really want to keep an honest problem-solver happy and well-paid) and second of all what goes around comes around.
- mrtron 19y ago
  The menial job is likely NOT a startup, and is a huge corporation that will not likely recognize your massive contribution. I don't know that it is exactly good karma to not let on, but it would be something to consider. Would you really give the honest problem-solver what they deserve though? The last project I did at a large company that saved the company a lot of time and money netted me a 10% raise. Probably less than 1% what I saved them per year.
  - suboptimal 19y ago
    Yeah, legacy COBOL probably equals "huge corporation." I assume, then, that there's an employment agreement covering this scenario. It's an ethical dilemma, but in my opinion the fundamental right to earn a living (basic economic freedom) trumps the letter of an overly-restrictive contract, _if_ the employee's outside activities don't impact the employer in a material way. That's not law, that's just my opinion, and I realize it could be a bit of a slippery slope. However I just don't see how a company can own an employee's time away from work (again unless the employee is competing in the employer's direct line of business). See the work of Brandeis.