4 ms·

Any COBOL contractors that can tell what the pay/hour is? First hand experience please, rumors I've read them all already.

boredatworkme 6y ago
My firm pays a contractor for supporting our mainframe systems. His company charges us ~$900 a day for his services.
- bingojess 6y ago
  Your firm pays his company $216k a year. He probably sees 1/3 to 1/2 of that, maybe less. I'm not in software but that seems low doesn't it
- blackrock 6y ago
  $900/day is $225,000/year. Or about $112.50/hour. But this is what your company pays as Corp-to-Corp, to his company. His gross pay is significantly less. Maybe at $65/hour. So his annual pay might only be $130,000/year. And while this is decent pay, for middle class wages, it is not really very impressive.
rantwasp 6y ago
also, how does one learn COBOL nowaday? it’s mostly a curiosity buy would be interesting to see what people that use it recommend
- lstamour 6y ago
  https://www.coursera.org/learn/cobol-programming-vscode https://www.coursera.org/learn/cobol-programming-vscode is one place to start. :) If you're done that, I presume there's also https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-z-mainframe https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-z-mai... though it's starting to feel even more like marketing after seeing all that.
- beny23 6y ago
  There’s also https://github.com/openmainframeproject/cobol-programming-course https://github.com/openmainframeproject/cobol-programming-co... which IIRC is an IBM backed open source course.
- thequux 6y ago
  I'm working on learning COBOL for IBM i, and to do so, I picked up a server that runs it on eBay (€500), learned to install it, then started reading the IBM documentation[1] You can skip the hardware purchase by joining the IBM i Hobbyists discord[2]; there are a decent number of people with machines who are happy to give out accounts (myself included) IBM i is a lesser used platform for COBOL, though; the main one is IBM mainframes (aka MVS and z/OS). To get started there, you could try Master the Mainframe (I don't have a link handy, sorry) or tk4[3], and get support from the Mainframe discord[4]. I'm focusing on IBM i because I found it significantly easier to get started, and the platform itself has a really unique design that I was interested in learning about. [1] https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzahg/rzahgcobol.htm https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rza... [2] https://discord.gg/s5xs5ceW26 https://discord.gg/s5xs5ceW26 [3] http://wotho.ethz.ch/tk4-/ http://wotho.ethz.ch/tk4-/ [4] https://discord.gg/XFrzjs2ydP https://discord.gg/XFrzjs2ydP
- bregma 6y ago
  Download and install the GnuCOBOL compiler. Go through some of the many tutorials on the web. ????. Profit. Next up: learning Ada.
eb0la 6y ago
Good estimate for the UK: https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/cobol.do https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/cobol.do

boredatworkme 6y ago

My firm pays a contractor for supporting our mainframe systems. His company charges us ~$900 a day for his services.

bingojess 6y ago
Your firm pays his company $216k a year. He probably sees 1/3 to 1/2 of that, maybe less. I'm not in software but that seems low doesn't it
blackrock 6y ago
$900/day is $225,000/year. Or about $112.50/hour. But this is what your company pays as Corp-to-Corp, to his company. His gross pay is significantly less. Maybe at $65/hour. So his annual pay might only be $130,000/year. And while this is decent pay, for middle class wages, it is not really very impressive.

rantwasp 6y ago

also, how does one learn COBOL nowaday? it’s mostly a curiosity buy would be interesting to see what people that use it recommend

lstamour 6y ago
https://www.coursera.org/learn/cobol-programming-vscode https://www.coursera.org/learn/cobol-programming-vscode is one place to start. :) If you're done that, I presume there's also https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-z-mainframe https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-z-mai... though it's starting to feel even more like marketing after seeing all that.
beny23 6y ago
There’s also https://github.com/openmainframeproject/cobol-programming-course https://github.com/openmainframeproject/cobol-programming-co... which IIRC is an IBM backed open source course.
thequux 6y ago
I'm working on learning COBOL for IBM i, and to do so, I picked up a server that runs it on eBay (€500), learned to install it, then started reading the IBM documentation[1] You can skip the hardware purchase by joining the IBM i Hobbyists discord[2]; there are a decent number of people with machines who are happy to give out accounts (myself included) IBM i is a lesser used platform for COBOL, though; the main one is IBM mainframes (aka MVS and z/OS). To get started there, you could try Master the Mainframe (I don't have a link handy, sorry) or tk4[3], and get support from the Mainframe discord[4]. I'm focusing on IBM i because I found it significantly easier to get started, and the platform itself has a really unique design that I was interested in learning about. [1] https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzahg/rzahgcobol.htm https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rza... [2] https://discord.gg/s5xs5ceW26 https://discord.gg/s5xs5ceW26 [3] http://wotho.ethz.ch/tk4-/ http://wotho.ethz.ch/tk4-/ [4] https://discord.gg/XFrzjs2ydP https://discord.gg/XFrzjs2ydP
bregma 6y ago
Download and install the GnuCOBOL compiler. Go through some of the many tutorials on the web. ????. Profit. Next up: learning Ada.

eb0la 6y ago

Good estimate for the UK: https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/cobol.do https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/cobol.do