The Enterprises Project writes about how the demand for several very specific, established skills, including COBOL, is increasing as boomers retire, taking their knowledge with them. Part of the skill gap between the old and the new is familiarity with the work flow and business processes.
Baby Boomers are retiring and taking with them the skills to run legacy technologies upon which organizations still (amazingly) rely – from AS/400 wrangling to COBOL development. That leaves many CIOs in a tight spot, trying to fill roles that not only require specialized knowledge no longer being taught but that most IT professionals agree also have limited long-term prospects. "Specific skill sets associated with mainframes, DB2 and Oracle, for example, are complex and require years of training, and can be challenging to find in young talent," says Graig Paglieri, president of Randstad Technologies.
Apparently, COBOL is still in use in 9 percent of businesses, mainly in finance and government. And so the demand for COBOL is gradually growing. If one has interest to pick up that plus one or more of the other legacy technologies, on top of something newer and trendier, there should be a possibility to clean up before the last of these jobs moves to India.
Earlier on SN:
Jean Sammet, Co-Designer of a Pioneering Computer Language, Dies at 89 (2017)
Banks Should Let Ancient Programming Language COBOL Die (2017)
Honesty in Employment Ads (2016)
3 Open Source Projects for Modern COBOL Development
(2015)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Tuesday December 04 2018, @03:34PM (11 children)
So I see that project to rewrite the entire thing in Java, or whatever the language-buzzword-of-the-day-will-magically-solve-all-problems is, with no documented business requirements, no one left who actually understands the business, and only shreds of inconsistent code comments, that has been ongoing since the late 90s has failed. Or will the project be restarted for the 90th time using XML, HTML5, blockchain, AI, IoT, cell phones, HTTPS, quantum computing, or whatever other over-hyped bullshit is in that management pamphlet?
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:20PM (4 children)
You're treating Java like a trendy new language? You know there are programmers in my company younger than Java, right?
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:59PM (3 children)
I did say ongoing since the late 90s, Mr ikanreed :)
That is exactly what happened with a huge enterprise application, written entirely in a higher level business database language, that I had been responsible for. Upper management was constantly dancing around saying that any day now they would officially launch a project to rewrite the entire thing in damn Java. And they were always sure the project would never take more than one year. That was the buzzword, and every manager wanted to be on top of it. They didn't even have the first clue what the application was or why it was written the way it was. Using any kind of C style programming language would have increased the complexity at least 100 fold. When I left there in 2008 they were still planning to re-write it "any day now", although by then the winds had shifted towards Microsoft's Dot Nut. Given the size and lack of documented requirements, if they had really started back in 2000 they might just be finishing it up about now. Just in time to be re-written in something else!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @05:06PM
The rewrite per se is not the problem.
The problem is management not committing up front to a couple or few years of expensive work.
Project management failure, not tech failure, from the sound of it.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday December 04 2018, @05:37PM
*is the sole dev in obscure language that no one knows for an extensive project*
*there's no documentation which explains the functions of the application*
"This is company's fault"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 04 2018, @07:32PM
I would dare say those winds have shifted back again.
Of course, I'm biased. But looking at just about any measure of programming language questions, activity, jobs sites, etc would give you the impression of which way the winds are blowing today.
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @04:45PM
You're right! The old systems can NEVER be replaced!
Think how ridiculous that idea is. Look, the new systems might not be perfect, but I guarantee you the old ones aren't either.
Replacement can and will occur: it's just a matter of when.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 04 2018, @06:42PM (4 children)
So I see that project to rewrite the entire thing in Java, or whatever the language-buzzword-of-the-day-will-magically-solve-all-problems is
Nobody said it would solve all problems. It will solve the problem we are discussing, though: lack of a workforce that knows the programming language the program is written in.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday December 04 2018, @10:02PM (3 children)
Fuck's sake... Am I really the only one here who sits down and learns languages just because I'm not yet proficient in them? Old or new doesn't matter. Is it the right tool for the job is what matters. Mechanics think finding an antique but functional tool is awesome but code monkeys seem to scoff at anything not brand new. I think it's because they're insecure in their lack of experience and want to force everyone into an environment where nobody has any experience.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @11:19PM
No,
I'm currently faffing around with Haskell, on my to-do list is Go, Rust and R, on my refresh list, Octave.
The thing is, I'm no longer in the IT/programming game, so I'm doing it purely for my own amusement, edification and occasional pet projects, when I was doing it for a living I had little free time on the job to try out any languages other than the ones in use at my places of employ, and back then, my free time was spent well away from computers (6 days a week @18 hours per day for 50 weeks a year for over a decade was enough time staring at screens).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 05 2018, @12:39PM (1 child)
After you have a few languages under your belt, ones in different categories, what's the point of learning more? You'll need X years of skill in them if you want to switch jobs into that language and you won't get that through personal projects. You shouldn't start using that language at your current job as then that forces everyone else to learn your current pet language. If your work culture allows that, then you'll also be learning everyone else's pet languages and you'll end up with a support nightmare and crappy code.
So where's the gain? If you want to spend time on self improvement, get better at the tools you already know and learn more concepts. You don't need to learn a full language to learn a new concept.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday December 06 2018, @12:13AM
Because it's interesting? Not everything needs to be about money. Money is just a means to an end and it's not even always the correct tool. I mean, I'm not going to catch more flatheads on a $50 lure than I am on a jug line with a live bluegill on it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.