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No. Learn something decent. > they will probably hire any young person who has learned a minimum of COBOL This makes no sense

user32489318 2y ago
His argument makes sense. This of someone who is exclusively working with cobol and a specific version of a very specific mainframe. If he is staying there for 5-10 years, where would he go? Are these skills transferable? Would he become a data engineer maintaining Spark, no one would hire someone with a senior salary with no experience with a bit more modern stack. In reverse, company is unlikely to let him go, sourcing a replacement would be a nightmare. This is a gold cage opportunity
- dagw 2y ago
  This is a gold cage opportunity I've known a couple of people who worked as COBOL/mainframe developers in Europe at huge companies and their pay was definitely worse than what they could have gotten as a "a data engineer maintaining Spark" or anything else even similarly modern. The cage works both ways, on the one hand they might be hard to replace, but equally they'll have at least as hard a time finding a new job if they quit. Depending on where you live, the company you're working at might literally be the only company in that city using that particular tech stack.
  - spratzt 2y ago
    Even as an entry level business analyst you’re probably make more than a COBOL programmer. Don’t touch it.
borgdefenser 2y ago
It is also a problem that the projects are not realistic. What are you going to rebuild a banking mainframe system from the 1970s at home in your bedroom for fun? I don't think it matters anyway. A 14yo thinking strategically like this will figure things out soon enough. Being that young it would probably be best to not listen to what anyone else tells you though. Follow what you think is right and if it doesn't work out, learn from it. The whole idea could be explored and still not be old enough to drive.

user32489318 2y ago

His argument makes sense. This of someone who is exclusively working with cobol and a specific version of a very specific mainframe. If he is staying there for 5-10 years, where would he go? Are these skills transferable? Would he become a data engineer maintaining Spark, no one would hire someone with a senior salary with no experience with a bit more modern stack. In reverse, company is unlikely to let him go, sourcing a replacement would be a nightmare. This is a gold cage opportunity

dagw 2y ago
This is a gold cage opportunity I've known a couple of people who worked as COBOL/mainframe developers in Europe at huge companies and their pay was definitely worse than what they could have gotten as a "a data engineer maintaining Spark" or anything else even similarly modern. The cage works both ways, on the one hand they might be hard to replace, but equally they'll have at least as hard a time finding a new job if they quit. Depending on where you live, the company you're working at might literally be the only company in that city using that particular tech stack.
- spratzt 2y ago
  Even as an entry level business analyst you’re probably make more than a COBOL programmer. Don’t touch it.

borgdefenser 2y ago

It is also a problem that the projects are not realistic. What are you going to rebuild a banking mainframe system from the 1970s at home in your bedroom for fun? I don't think it matters anyway. A 14yo thinking strategically like this will figure things out soon enough. Being that young it would probably be best to not listen to what anyone else tells you though. Follow what you think is right and if it doesn't work out, learn from it. The whole idea could be explored and still not be old enough to drive.