Former COBOL programmer here with about 5 years of experience. I got out of IT in 2012, staring at a green screen all day and having limited human interaction just wasn't for me.
COBOL Language
- Thread starter CloneFanInKC
- Start date
C++ still huge in embedded, mostly what Emerson and John Deere use. Amazon contacts me a few times a year trying to get me to take a C++ position.
John Deere has options to split work with someone for C++ so both people could do 20hr a week but currently in hiring freeze and not sure how long it will last.
I don’t know what you guys are talking about. But I’ve got my eyes on you.
Im sure she has stories about Fred Choobineh too. That guy was a legend. Every college of business student had to take his course whether you were a MIS major or not. I just wish I could have taken his course as a 21 year old instead of a 19 year old freshman as I hear he had some fun FACs on Welch
I always thought I'd like to learn to code, and then I had to debug one. No thanks.
Had a COBOL assignment that I had to take an input file through code and generate an output file with the results. It compiled without errors but when I ran it my PC locked up and after pulling the power cord to reboot found an output file that was several gig in size and it should have been less than 1 MB. Took it to my TA who couldn't find where my loop was either so I basically had to comment out the part of code that generated the output file when I turned in the assignment. Still got a passing grade as 50% was just having code that compiled and the logic looked right but it would not stop writing to the output file for some reason.
C++ opens up virtually any industry she’d be interested in.
One thing though, assuming she learned C++ before 2011 she may find idiomatic modern C++ a bit foreign.
I’d guess ‘C’ would feel more familiar in that case. It is still widely used in systems software (operating systems, embedded systems). If you’re in Kansas City I know Garmin is nearby and undoubtedly uses a lot of C (if interested I could check).
Honestly it may even be easier to jump into Python or Go than C++11 or later. If she is comfortable in C++ either would come quickly. Python in particular is used in some capacity virtually everywhere at this point.
The industry has kind of been dumbed-down and ****** up by the hiring practices of the big companies. She may have coding heavy interviews. There are a few platforms to prep for that, but Leetcode is the most popular.
Given the time off her COBOL background could be the best route though. To be honest I’m kind of shocked it was still being taught in schools in the 90s. It is definitely a niche skill. She’d undoubtedly be able to find some work and could parlay that into learning more modern languages/tools/skills on the job.
Funny…I always thought I’d like to do finish carpentry, and then I tried to cope an inside corner.
I remember both Tomlinsons. I TA'd for Mrs. T. I think that was an intro to computers class. Like comsci 103 or something. I had her for cobol also.
Mr. T mostly taught the MIS version of programming. I remember it being 207 and 208.
The comsci majors took 227 and 228 and taught by a variety of instructors. My favorite was Owen. I don't remember his last name. I TA'd for him. He would always have off the wall programming assignments. He once had students write a program to determine how much food someone should leave their pet turtle while they are away from the house. He was fun. And eccentric.
Mr. T mostly taught the MIS version of programming. I remember it being 207 and 208.
The comsci majors took 227 and 228 and taught by a variety of instructors. My favorite was Owen. I don't remember his last name. I TA'd for him. He would always have off the wall programming assignments. He once had students write a program to determine how much food someone should leave their pet turtle while they are away from the house. He was fun. And eccentric.
COBOL is still needed in plenty of places. Our company has a mainframe system that uses both assemble and cobol. And while that's antiquated stuff, it works really well because the code has been around for 40 years.
Why would we still use those old systems? Because when systems have been around for 40 years they have had a ton of code optimizations, bug fixes, and business logic added in there. And there is lots of sprinkled in dead code and other technical debt. This makes it very time consuming to convert off of. Especially for systems that do financial work and the importance of getting money right. Most companies have a hard time stomaching the cost/effort/time of converting.
Why would we still use those old systems? Because when systems have been around for 40 years they have had a ton of code optimizations, bug fixes, and business logic added in there. And there is lots of sprinkled in dead code and other technical debt. This makes it very time consuming to convert off of. Especially for systems that do financial work and the importance of getting money right. Most companies have a hard time stomaching the cost/effort/time of converting.
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Good COBOL programmers are getting harder to find. There are multiple online systems that will help her refresh her skills. I've had success with some of our programmers using pluralsight and udemy as two examples. If she enjoyed COBOL and wants to pursue that, she will be able to find a job.
Agree with the finance and insurance suggestion. I thought Fiserv in Des Moines was a cobol shop.
Also, there are small companies sprinkled around that thought it was wise to buy an on premise mainframe in the late 80s and are still dragging that technology around like a ball and chain. I believe Heartland co-op was an example (AS400 type of stuff).
As for C++, it has changed dramatically in the past 15 years. It would be best to do some serious catchup reading before your wife advertises that she knows c++ (if she hasn't stayed current). Musco lighting, John Deere ISG, Kinzie and I think vermeer are places in central that utilize C++.
Lastly, if she is adept at learning new things, then the path of least resistance might be to learn javascript, node, and react, and try to land something entry level in that arena. It only takes 18 months to become a javascript know-it-all with highly marketable skills.
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Oh this is not funny at all. I have 30 years of engineering and IT experience, and decided to install ship lap and trim in a sunroom addition by myself. Its going absolutely swimmingly.
me yesterday after walking back from the saw: 'it was 85 and 3/4" you idiot, not 58 and 3/4" '
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Converting is a long expensive process and the mainframe is your best bang for the buck. Servers are great for single object operations but they were never designed to handle large chunks of data. According to Broadcom technologies, about 72% of all computing is done on mainframes at about 8% of the cost. Item 3
Servers are expensive, Mainframes don't require the cooling that they needed many years ago greatly reducing the footprint.
