I work at a small rural Insurance company and our whole backend is COBOL.
I am the youngest(by quite a few years :)) on our small team and been
doing this for 6-7 years. They have no intentions in the near future to
go away from COBOL, nor having to go through a whole re-write of the
backend system. The front end is GUI etc... but still all connects to
COBOL in the back. Figure it is a case by case basis on what the
companies intentions and willing to get rid(re-write) the whole system. I
will say I have harder time finding COBOL coding examples than RPG, but
doesn't seem to bother us. I started at the helpdesk and then moved into
the COBOL area, which I have a feeling that is the approach companies with
COBOL are doing.
If anything having some exposure to it might help get into some company,
even if in the future they go away from it.
Is it dead, I guess it depends where you work. 8 inch floppies are still
the greatest thing for our Nuclear sites :).
Jeff Buening
Sr. Developer
P: 419.586.8599
| F: 419.586.6224
Celina Insurance Group
800.552.5181 | 1 Insurance Square, Celina, Ohio 45822
www.celinainsurance.com
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From: Jorge Colon <jorge@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: cobol400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx, midrange-nontech@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: 04/29/2014 05:08 PM
Subject: [COBOL400-L] Is COBOL still "dead"? Thoughts?
Sent by: "COBOL400-L" <cobol400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
I work with a COBOL developer and I've been interested in the industry.
Read some articles and found a lot of "COBOL is dead" articles and how
developers with 2 to 3 decades of experience are not able to find a COBOL
job without having to relocate (perhaps even several times). They seldom
have an option for telecommuting, COBOL jobs are being shipped to India,
and some learn newer programming languages, but don't get enough
experience to get hired. Some even temporarily relocate away from the
family just to survive. It's almost like starting your whole career again
from scratch.
Here's an article on dice:
http://news.dice.com/2012/08/28/mainframe-talent-shortage and this forum
with developers venting
http://www.indeed.com/forum/job/Cobol-Developer/other-non-computer-career-changes-can-go-into-since/t66746
How true does this ring? Do you have personal stories or friends with a
similar situation that you could share?
P.S. Hey Jim Oberholtzer! Caught you on this mailing list. :)
P.S.S. I posted in the cobol400-l mailing list since my question is around
COBOL, but I also posted to the midrange-nontech mailing list just in case
this is considered off-topic and the conversation can continue there.
Regards,
Jorge
Director of Web Development/Owner
2UP Media
c: 407.489.2677
info@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.2upmedia.com
LinkedIn
PHP Zend Certified Engineer
midrange.com
