COBOL quote in the news

[Jeff Walther]

> Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:19:33 -0700
> From: Eric Smith <eric at brouhaha.com>

> Chuck Guzis wrote:
>> "COBOL programmers are hard to come by these days," said Fred Forrer,
>> the Sacramento-based CEO of MGT of America, a public-sector
>> consulting firm. "It's certainly not a language that is taught.
>> Oftentimes, you have to rely on retired annuitants to come back and
>> help maintain the system until you're able to find a replacement."
>
> It's not at all hard to find COBOL programmers, and they are NOT all
> retired.  Offer a decent salary, and you'll get them.  What the state is
> specifically trying to do, though is to cut everyone's salaries, so how
> likely is it that they'll offer a good salary to a COBOL programmer.
>
> The real story is that it's a bunch of political posturing.

When anyone with a tech company says "We can't find anyone to do X" what
they really mean is "We can't find any new graduates to do X" because
heaven forbid they should hire an older (like over 35) worker.   There are
plenty of older tech experienced folks working at hardware stores, who
would jump at an entry level tech salary, but for some reason, human
resource drones in tech companies are universally convinced that they
would be too expensive or otherwise a poor choice.  Sigh.  <happy I have a
good job finally>

It's the same story as a few months back when B. Gates went before
congress and asked for more H1Bs claiming he couldn't find any
programmers.

Jeff Walther