Mainframes are the shit. They run almost all the financial transactions in the world using old reliable code such as Cobol, Algol, and JCL. They are also extremely hard to hack in comparison to things like servers.
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2026
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I always read this, but if you look at jobs it doesn't seem like they actually pay a premium? I don't give a fuck what I work on and would do COBOL for a premium but I think these articles are more marketing than reality.
They just want to fire the expensive and experienced COBOL consultants. But they need scabs first.
yeah I agree here. they did in the 90's when a lot had to deal with y2k but I don't think they do much beyond that.
I have seen this same "COBOL programmer shortage" story for over a decade now. The alleged shortage is just companies wanting 10+ years of COBOL experience, but almost no hiring of developers switching to COBOL or new graduates. Also, they are not paying a premium.
It's the same "airline pilot shortage" story, when they really just mean a shortage of senior pilots with all commercial ratings and certified on a specific aircraft. Meanwhile the flight schools are packed full of pilots fighting for low paying regional routes.
"As experienced COBOL programmers retire, companies are scrambling to find people who can maintain the software, creating a surprising opportunity for a new generation of developers."
What companies are these? I'd love to see the source this article used. Opportunity for a new generation of developers my foot.
Also applies to the medical field. We have a long queue of new graduates from medical field having trouble getting hired and at the same time existing doctors overworked to the bone.
I did some COBOL work in the 80s and 90s and could have pumped it up a little on my resume to become a highly-paid COBOL contractor. But the downsides would have been working on financial sofware, in a bank, wearing a suit, using COBOL. So instead I finished out my career doing web dev in shorts and aloha shirts. No regrets at all.
I went through boot camp, one of my cohort friends was offered a COBOL job straight out, but he would be on call 24/7. Not sure about the pay but he declined
It's COBOL isn't it?
After reading the first sentence... Yes it is. It's not like this is a surprise. Banks are some of the worst when it comes to actually replacing outdated shit. Until it fails, and takes their entire business with it of course.
These articles have been written for at least two decades now. This isn't a new issue. The banks just refuse to do what's necessary because it is expensive and they want to keep kicking the can down the road. Eventually that can is gonna fall apart, and the millions to upgrade... Will be a nothing compared to the billions they lose daily after.
Lol i can't even code and i knew it was cobol when i read the headline
the idea that new = better is very wrong. look around, enshittification all around us.
I don't think the money is the problem. Because one can always do a shadow or A/B deployment.
I bet it is to do with unreliability of migrations and the general fact that new tech is a bit jank.
Also: The newer, the more complex, the more complex the more open to attacks, the more open to attacks the more vulnerable. I'd choose this approach too. Basically unhackable with totally no backdoors. If it works, don't fix it.
My Aunt and Uncle are both retired COBOL programmers who tried to persuade me to pick up the language as they said those mainframes cost a lot and are still running and are not going anywhere for a while.
I had a teacher talk about learning cobol for this reason - 40 years ago.
There's a chance even for you grandchildren to still find employment in COBOL, imo
A woman friend dropped out of IT, to be a full time mom for 14 years. When she was about to start job hunting she told me that Se thought she had become unemployable. She was working at a bank within a week, making mint.
She told me that the primary reason they kept those systems working was that banks and insurance companies could not afford to do a migration where a small mistake could cost billions.
Also, I've done cobol in my day, and it's really good for these kinds of applications.