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That language was outdated when I took it in college in 1985!! 

Holy crap, cobol is still around? NJ must be running things on a Commodore 64 with a cassette drive.

I’d re-learn COBOL real quick for the right price!!

I joke that NJ's computer system is from 1985...........apparently I might have overstated how new it is.....

I think the DMV runs on BASIC.

17 minutes ago, Danno said:

I think the DMV runs on BASIC.

and Hollerith punch cards!

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That language was outdated when I took it in college in 1985!!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?

 

 

13 minutes ago, USRifle30Cal said:

Basic cobol pascal...1983/84 high school...anyone recall the game  b1 bomber on tape?

 

 

Yes.

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.

I’ll take the time to re-learn it...for $500/hour programming time. 

Probably running on an IBM mainframe or AS400.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!!! 

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.

I'll trade a week's worth of COBOL programming for a permanent NJ license to carry a handgun.

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!! 

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

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.

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!

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 

After the COBOL stations are all manned, they will be calling up the fax machine operators. 

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!)

I still have a fax machine. I have/ had one client that was problematic 

My Morse code is rusty...but I can polish that up if there’s good $$ in it!! 

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?

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...

16 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

My Morse code is rusty...but I can polish that up if there’s good $$ in it!! 

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