ehsnils Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 That’s what the State’s Governor, Phil Murphy, apparently meant today, when he said at a press conference that the State needed volunteers who with “Cobalt” computer skills to help fix 40-year-old-plus unemployment insurance systems that are currently overwhelmed as a result of COVID-19-related job losses. COBOL, for those who are unfamiliar, is a computer language that is over 60 years old, and was once the staple of software development across industry and government. By the late 1980s, however, it had become sufficiently obsolete that many universities did not even include it in their computer science curricula. In fact, while there are certainly are COBOL systems still in use today, relatively few software developers under the age of 50 have ever seen, never mind written, even one line of COBOL. It is not surprising that even New Jersey’s 62-year old governor, who was an executive at Goldman Sachs for decades, had apparently not heard its name recently enough to remember it correctly. https://josephsteinberg.com/covid-19-response-new-jersey-urgently-needs-cobol-programmers-yes-you-read-that-correctly/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infosecdad Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 I’ve written COBOL, they are gonna have a challenge to get some devs that can still program. It’s silly good money if you know the language and can put up with programming in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 Even if I were a programmer and knew COBOL, I’d rather punch myself in the dick every morning for 5 minutes than move to shit ass New Jersey for anything short of $10M per year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 As a COBOL programmer in the y2k mess, offers of $100/hr plus were mot uncommon. In today's highly connected world, moving to NJ shouldn't be a requirement as everyone connects via terminal. Volunteers to fix 40yo programs that have been patched and with no docs? Sorry, it's going to take real money to fix that. Its not like the department didn't have 20years to replace it after y2k Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxkita Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 Just for giggles, I should paste up my late 80's resume on linkedin. cobol, jcl, cics, rpg. all dead languages. Then again, my phone would be ringing off the hook with contractor agencies offering crap wages Build my car Boxkita Track days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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