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I interviewed as a COBOL programmmer. The place had given up hiring actual COBOL programmers, and instead hired pure computer science folks and Java programmer

I interviewed as a COBOL programmmer. The place had given up hiring actual COBOL programmers, and instead hired pure computer science folks and Java programmers. That combo seemed to work fine.

xigoi 5y ago
Interesting. I'd expect Java programmers to be the least likely to be willing to learn a different language:
- the_af 5y ago
  Why? Java is a starting point for many programmers, especially because there was a time were every "coding school" was a Java shop. But programmers naturally migrate from that to other waters: some to Scala or Kotlin, others shift gears and go to Python, others choose Golang. Java has a special affinity to COBOL, if only because Java is/was widespread in "enterprise" systems. A common joke was that Java was the successor of COBOL!
- pyuser583 5y ago
  There was a local culture of assuming Java programmers could learn any language. Lots of positions would say “seeking Java programmers” but not involve actual Java. I think this was because there was a surplus of Java people.
- rahen 5y ago
  Java and COBOL share some common principles. The languages aren't the point, the platform are. They both run on high performance / reliable virtual machines, allowing a superior scalability, reliability and long term compatibility to what could be achieved with more coupled approaches. Likewise, running COBOL tied to an x86 instance could be feasible but would be missing the point entirely. You could more or less consider a JEE application server as a software implementation of a mainframe. Java AS (Websphere, Weblogic, JBoss...) are essentially what killed the mainframe and midrange (IBM i / AS/400) in the enterprise. So yeah, Java/JEE, COBOL, RPG: different languages, same goals under the hood.
  - pyuser583 5y ago
    The COBOL/Java jobs would often ask for JEE experience.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

I interviewed as a COBOL programmmer. The place had given up hiring actual COBOL programmers, and instead hired pure computer science folks and Java programmers. That combo seemed to work fine.

xigoi 5y ago

Interesting. I'd expect Java programmers to be the least likely to be willing to learn a different language:

the_af 5y ago
Why? Java is a starting point for many programmers, especially because there was a time were every "coding school" was a Java shop. But programmers naturally migrate from that to other waters: some to Scala or Kotlin, others shift gears and go to Python, others choose Golang. Java has a special affinity to COBOL, if only because Java is/was widespread in "enterprise" systems. A common joke was that Java was the successor of COBOL!
pyuser583 5y ago
There was a local culture of assuming Java programmers could learn any language. Lots of positions would say “seeking Java programmers” but not involve actual Java. I think this was because there was a surplus of Java people.
rahen 5y ago
Java and COBOL share some common principles. The languages aren't the point, the platform are. They both run on high performance / reliable virtual machines, allowing a superior scalability, reliability and long term compatibility to what could be achieved with more coupled approaches. Likewise, running COBOL tied to an x86 instance could be feasible but would be missing the point entirely. You could more or less consider a JEE application server as a software implementation of a mainframe. Java AS (Websphere, Weblogic, JBoss...) are essentially what killed the mainframe and midrange (IBM i / AS/400) in the enterprise. So yeah, Java/JEE, COBOL, RPG: different languages, same goals under the hood.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  The COBOL/Java jobs would often ask for JEE experience.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]