The missing link here is that COBOL is being used as shorthand for experience with mainframe programming, which of course you can’t really get unless you’ve bee

The missing link here is that COBOL is being used as shorthand for experience with mainframe programming, which of course you can’t really get unless you’ve been employed programming mainframes before. Anyone complaining about a lack of COBOL programmers is essentially complaining that nobody else is picking up on the training costs for their non-standard, incredibly expensive infrastructure, and that they don’t want to train people themselves.