On Jul 1, 2005, at 12:43 AM, Joe Zitzelberger wrote:
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Ideally you would find them working in the industry for at least 3-5
years after successfully completing formal training in computer
science at some university, technical school, military, et al.
Failing that, some partial completion of some of the listed conditions
might qualify them for an entry level gig.
Where do you get yours? I notice you call them "cobol programmers".
This always suggests a lack of any kind of training to me -- most
(all) formal training program at university or technical schools, or
even corporate internships, will include more than one programming
language, along with some theory. I've heard tale of shops where
after a few years of sweeping the computer room floor you are handed a
compiler manual and promoted to "programmer". One gets what one pays
for...
The last company I worked for had programmers on the east coast as well
as ones from the midwest.
As I was told this all you need is a warm body and some history of
programming. The job market (I was told) for cobol programmers is
pretty much first come first serve. At one place they almost SHANG-HI
you off the street. So companies get pretty much the left overs.
So if your Cobol programmers are so lazy and stupid, why do you keep
them? Why not send the lot packing and give their collective salaries
to a smaller number of hard-working and competent programmers that
will not need to be told where to insert code?
Trying to find replacements is extremely hard. Almost all the schools
are not teaching cobol anymore . The company just outsourced its entire
IT department to IBM. Maybe they can straighten the mess out. Its by
all means not *ALL* a programmer issue its management as well. To give
you a brief flavor there were two VP's screaming at each other in the
middle of a work area. Thats how bad it is.
Ed
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