Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 Hey there, all you COBOL programmers!! Phil Murphy wants YOU to volunteer to help fix NJ’s unemployment insurance system! https://josephsteinberg.com/covid-19-response-new-jersey-urgently-needs-cobol-programmers-yes-you-read-that-correctly/ That language was outdated when I took it in college in 1985!! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handyman 5,682 Posted April 6, 2020 Holy crap, cobol is still around? NJ must be running things on a Commodore 64 with a cassette drive. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 I’d re-learn COBOL real quick for the right price!! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Oakridgefirearms 224 Posted April 6, 2020 I joke that NJ's computer system is from 1985...........apparently I might have overstated how new it is..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danno 127 Posted April 6, 2020 I think the DMV runs on BASIC. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
njJoniGuy 2,131 Posted April 6, 2020 17 minutes ago, Danno said: I think the DMV runs on BASIC. and Hollerith punch cards! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CAL. .30 M1 2,101 Posted April 6, 2020 6 hours ago, Displaced Texan said: Hey there, all you COBOL programmers!! Phil Murphy wants YOU to volunteer to help fix NJ’s unemployment insurance system! https://josephsteinberg.com/covid-19-response-new-jersey-urgently-needs-cobol-programmers-yes-you-read-that-correctly/ That language was outdated when I took it in college in 1985!! Basic cobol pascal...1983/84 high school...anyone recall the game b1 bomber on tape? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
father-of-three 242 Posted April 6, 2020 13 minutes ago, USRifle30Cal said: Basic cobol pascal...1983/84 high school...anyone recall the game b1 bomber on tape? Yes. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sota 1,191 Posted April 6, 2020 Y2K was a great time to be a COBOL programmer. There's still a SHITTON of legacy systems out there that Just Fucking Work that run on it, and won't be replaced any time soon. I should have deep dived into it when I had the chance as a young man. As for bucktoothed beaver face wanting people to "volunteer" to fix their broke ass shit... how about a 55gallon drum full of No Fuck You. 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 I’ll take the time to re-learn it...for $500/hour programming time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
45Doll 5,873 Posted April 6, 2020 Probably running on an IBM mainframe or AS400. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10X 3,296 Posted April 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Sota said: Y2K was a great time to be a COBOL programmer. My company also had a lot of trouble finding COBOL programmers in 1999, to comb through tons of legacy code in advance of Y2K. Pulled a lot out of retirement even then. I think some of the code was so old that dates were stored as Roman numerals using the Julian calendar... Of course, we paid our programmers. I doubt NJ will have a lot of luck getting volunteers--that's a bizarre approach to even suggest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
45Doll 5,873 Posted April 6, 2020 I believe the core of our air traffic control system is still running on 1960's IBM mainframes. There was a project in place to rewrite and replace it, but they couldn't get it to work as well as the old one. Looked around a bit, but couldn't find current information. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DirtyDigz 1,811 Posted April 6, 2020 11 hours ago, Displaced Texan said: I’d re-learn COBOL real quick for the right price!! Me too. Had a COBOL course in college, enjoyed it. I’d brush up on it again if they were paying...or if I could earn a credit against my property taxes! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MartyZ 692 Posted April 6, 2020 F-Murphy, I want $300 an hour, I aint volunteering. And yes I am/was a cobol programmer, but I am managing now. But I can still code with the best of them. Oh, and for those who think cobol is dead, it's more persistent then RBG. 1 1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 31 minutes ago, MartyZ said: F-Murphy, I want $300 an hour, I aint volunteering. And yes I am/was a cobol programmer, but I am managing now. But I can still code with the best of them. Oh, and for those who think cobol is dead, it's more persistent then RBG. What, are we getting into a bidding war?! $500/hour....hold fast and steady! SOLIDARITY!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MartyZ 692 Posted April 6, 2020 1 minute ago, Displaced Texan said: What, are we getting into a bidding war?! $500/hour....hold fast and steady! SOLIDARITY!!! i'll take $500/hour, I think there is plenty of work to go around. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
45Doll 5,873 Posted April 6, 2020 I'll trade a week's worth of COBOL programming for a permanent NJ license to carry a handgun. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 31 minutes ago, MartyZ said: F-Murphy, I want $300 an hour, I aint volunteering. And yes I am/was a cobol programmer, but I am managing now. But I can still code with the best of them. Oh, and for those who think cobol is dead, it's more persistent then RBG. What, are we getting into a bidding war?! $500/hour....hold fast and steady! SOLIDARITY!!! Those liberal bastards like unions...let’s give em a Union. International brotherhood of COBOL programmers union!! Solidarity, brothers!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MartyZ 692 Posted April 6, 2020 6 minutes ago, Displaced Texan said: What, are we getting into a bidding war?! $500/hour....hold fast and steady! SOLIDARITY!!! Those liberal bastards like unions...let’s give em a Union. International brotherhood of COBOL programmers union!! Solidarity, brothers!! i'm in Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10X 3,296 Posted April 6, 2020 11 minutes ago, Displaced Texan said: What, are we getting into a bidding war?! $500/hour....hold fast and steady! SOLIDARITY!!! Those liberal bastards like unions...let’s give em a Union. International brotherhood of COBOL programmers union!! Solidarity, brothers!! I can't write a line of code, but I helped manage Y2K remediation efforts the last time we had to drag COBOL programmers out of retirement. So put me down for one of those no-show NJ Government management jobs. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sota 1,191 Posted April 6, 2020 I've joked with the kid I've forgotten more "languages" than he'll learn in his lifetime. In reality, it isn't a joke. Funny part is, I have an aptitude with languages, and if I deep dived into COBOL for a bit I could probably come out competent enough to be a junior programmer, and graduate to senior or head in short order. I mean shit... I was a master ADA programmer for a short time! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeke 5,504 Posted April 6, 2020 13 minutes ago, Sota said: I've joked with the kid I've forgotten more "languages" than he'll learn in his lifetime. In reality, it isn't a joke. Funny part is, I have an aptitude with languages, and if I deep dived into COBOL for a bit I could probably come out competent enough to be a junior programmer, and graduate to senior or head in short order. I mean shit... I was a master ADA programmer for a short time! Make sure you where a cobal t shirt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handyman 5,682 Posted April 6, 2020 After the COBOL stations are all manned, they will be calling up the fax machine operators. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
njJoniGuy 2,131 Posted April 6, 2020 13 minutes ago, Handyman said: After the COBOL stations are all manned, they will be calling up the fax machine operators. And then the teletype and keypunch operators. Does anyone here remember how to send a TWX? (and we're not talking about UPS'ing those chocolate candies!) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeke 5,504 Posted April 6, 2020 I still have a fax machine. I have/ had one client that was problematic Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Displaced Texan 11,731 Posted April 6, 2020 My Morse code is rusty...but I can polish that up if there’s good $$ in it!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mustang69 505 Posted April 7, 2020 Does anyone else see the irony in asking for "volunteers" to help with the unemployment system? As an ex-programmer who learned COBOL using punch cards, just what does Murphy think can be accomplished by people unfamiliar with the system in a short enough time frame to help the current situation? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin125 4,772 Posted April 7, 2020 12 hours ago, 45Doll said: Probably running on an IBM mainframe or AS400. System 34 maybe. They were old when the place I worked in the late 80’s used one for accounting functions. We may have used COBOL but I thought it ran some other arcane language. Also...there must be a Battlestar Galactica joke in here somewhere... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
W2MC 1,699 Posted April 7, 2020 16 hours ago, Displaced Texan said: My Morse code is rusty...but I can polish that up if there’s good $$ in it!! .... .. .... .. .... .. .... .. -.. . .- - ..- - - - - -.-. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites