Who cares whether the universities are requiring COBOL or not? There are plenty of places and ways to learn it, and any Programmer worth employing should be able to pick it up relatively easy. They may not be as good as a seasoned programmer, but you can't expect a college graduate to perform at the same level as someone with work experience, no matter the language.
Universities are for teaching conceptual processes, how to learn and grasp the fundamentals of how programming works, not how to use a specific language, that's what a trade school, or specific class is for. If a recent (or future) grad only finds jobs advertising for COBOL programmers, they need to learn it to compete, the same goes for other languages. If a company (or government) needs applications supported using a *relatively* less used language that they have trouble finding proper skills for, they increase the pay offered, and the people (and skills) will come. It might be painful, but it is not impossible by any stretch of the imagination. Frank Finley -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Bob goolsby Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 9:50 AM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: COBOL - no longer being taught - is a problem Mornin' -- Well the first thing I found on a search for 'COBOL School' was http://www.askedu.net/training_topic/k_COBOL_1.htm which asked me to further clarify my self (and incidentally open me up to being spammed by the loverly children, I expect). But, scroll down to the bottom of the page and there is a block of links under the heading "Find COBOL courses and training in countries:", and both Canada and the USA are included. A bit of exploration shows a lot of XXX (Javva and .Net, mostly) for the COBOL programmer, no surprise; but I also see Intro and Advanced COBOL courses advertised along with a couple of DB2 Using COBOL classes. Most of these are online education, but hey. As to what you can do to improve the situation, wander off to your local Higher Education Venue and your local community college and/or trade school. Fund a scholarship or two; endow a Chair in the CS department (Associate Professor of Dead Computer Linguistics); get involved now. It is already later than you think. By the way, how old is your Systems Programming team....? On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 6:25 AM, Mike Baldwin <m...@cartagena.com> wrote: > Hi IBM-MAIN, > > Yesterday Canada's well-respected auditor-general released a report > complaining that aging government computer systems could halt delivery of > basic services. So we're bracing for the usual criticism of 'old mainframe' > systems. Today there are some specifics, including COBOL: > > "Auditor-General reports that updating systems could cost billions > ... > Ms. Fraser said the problem is so bad that some key programs may shut down. > ... > Meanwhile, Canada's National Immigration Program runs on a programming > language - COBOL - that is no longer being taught and the staff that > understand it are retiring. The program also uses a database system called > DMSII that dates back to the 1970s...." > > http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/government-wont-let-aging-computers-halt-basic-services-day-says/article1540750/ > > Maybe you guys and girls have some ideas that would save us taxpayers from > paying rising interest on more billions borrowed. > > Regards, > Mike Baldwin > Cartagena Software Limited > Markham, Ontario, Canada > http://www.cartagena.com > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > -- Bob Goolsby bob.gool...@gmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
