What prevents future employees from learning this language? Its development might have stalled, but as long there is documentation, whenever COBOL code breaks, there is are humans who can learn to fix the issue. Even when all "COBOL cowboys" have died out.
Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
31–40 of 186 posts
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#32Classic misunderstanding of programming languages. The only thing stopping cobol from being "known" is these companies paying for it.
Pretty much exactly. There are wizards at Project Zero doing reverse engineering of systems at the hardware microcode level. Our own kens shows up every few weeks with transistor level explanations of devices whose designers are long since retired.
And we're supposed to believe that no one in the world can figure out a batch-processed COBOL accounting system? Please. The talent is there, it's just that no one responsible for these systems wants to hire at that level. But in extremis they will, and the world will survive.
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#33The flawed "economic analysis" in this article is so commonly brought out, but at this point we should just call it what it is: lying. There is no "shortage of COBOL programmers." Businesses are simply choosing what they will pay, and the market is responding appropriately. And this is also not just a case of naively shouting "duh, just pay them more" for a market that can't bear the increase in costs (i.e. some indu…
I agree with you on the myth of "a shortage", and respect your
strongly pro-market argument. Therefore "some industries can only
survive if there are available low cost workers" suggests to me that
those industries should simply die. Let more efficient industries that
return more value to people thrive in their place?
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#34I feel like this solution was written by someone who hasn’t built software before. Doing a rewrite for the sake of a rewrite is not a good idea.
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#35Plenty of folks know COBOL - the problem is you need to entice someone YOUNG to learn it, which basically means overpaying them. If I'm an 18-year-old why would I focus on learning a programming language that puts me in a job with 0 chance of advancement? Sure I'm irreplaceable to the company, but I've also only got a handful of other places I could go if they treat me poorly or sunset their mainframe.
How do you decide which language has better chances for advancement anyway? Pick some hot bleeding edge Microsoft tech instead and learn it only to get obsolete in few years.
You will have to eventually relearn regardless what you pick. And I can't believe having some COBOL in the CV will be an issue for anybody.
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#36The flawed "economic analysis" in this article is so commonly brought out, but at this point we should just call it what it is: lying. There is no "shortage of COBOL programmers." Businesses are simply choosing what they will pay, and the market is responding appropriately. And this is also not just a case of naively shouting "duh, just pay them more" for a market that can't bear the increase in costs (i.e. some indu…
It makes more sense to invest 100m $ in AI assistant for a year and then pay the CEO 120m/year the next one after firing the rest of the COBOL devs.
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#37Plenty of folks know COBOL - the problem is you need to entice someone YOUNG to learn it, which basically means overpaying them. If I'm an 18-year-old why would I focus on learning a programming language that puts me in a job with 0 chance of advancement? Sure I'm irreplaceable to the company, but I've also only got a handful of other places I could go if they treat me poorly or sunset their mainframe.
I’d be curious to know how we’re defining “overpaying” here. These companies have effectively accrued 50+ years of technical debt (they could have migrated off COBOL decades ago). Meanwhile, based on my limited experience with these industries, I’d be surprised if they even offer market rates to new hires.
So let the market decide their fate, as their outdated crap comes to a halt with no one to maintain it.
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#38I feel like this solution was written by someone who hasn’t built software before. Doing a rewrite for the sake of a rewrite is not a good idea.
So... Having no COBOL devs left is a better one? What's the alternative then?
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#39This is a management problem. Lack of long-term planning. People knew COBOL was "feature complete" DECADES ago. "If it ain't broke - don't fix it." does not mean "don't maintain the things you own - just let them run until they break - then fix them."
I hate to break this to you (large financial here, large COBOL installed base) but we're not just sitting around watching it run. We have hundreds of COBOL programmers, and they actually touch the code. I bet every day even. Crazy, right? Just because some low-knowledge 'journalist' in a low-content rag decorates their ad-delivery with a low-effort 'you should have outrage about something' articles doesn't mean you s…
Curious if you happen to have a ball-park figure on what 2023 compensation looks like for a COBOL programmer
Re: Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java
#40I work for a company that develops and maintains code that "no one knows anymore" which helps run the US banking system. This article is ill informed fear mongering and the proposed "solution" is a joke.
Care to elaborate on this a bit? Some details would've been useful rather than just a "no u" comment.