IMHO they don't teach theory, they teach language du jour. We'd all be better off if they exposed students to a variety of radically different languages instead of just what's popular.
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Steve Thompson [ste...@copper.net] Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2020 4:06 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: New Jersey Pleas for COBOL Coders for Mainframes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic I have asked and been told that various universities do not teach languages, they teach theory. So the students learn an object oriented language such as C++ or Java online(?). The statements made and questions asked of/by contract programmers (off shore) relative to COBOL — I believe it. Sent from my iPhone — small keyboarf, fat fungrs, stupd spell manglr. Expct mistaks > On Apr 5, 2020, at 3:09 PM, Bob Bridges <robhbrid...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Says here "COBOL is a dead language that hasn't been taught in most > universities for decades, and the rare COBOL coders command anywhere from > $55 to $85 an hour". > > I'm reminded that five or ten years ago one of my sons heard my standard > rant #37 about mainframes, and thought maybe he should learn to work with > them (thinking it might lead to job security, in which I imagine he was not > entirely wrong). For a few weeks I called around trying to find out what it > would cost me to rent space for two accounts on an IBM mainframe somewhere. > My questions must have been repeated here and there, for eventually an IBM > guy called me and said if I could get the local university to teach a few > courses on mainframes, they'd have to rent space on a mainframe for the > students and IBM would ~give~ me two accounts so I could teach my son. I > did call one of the local universities, one I'd worked at for two years, but > couldn't drum up any interest. > > The IBM guy also said that companies were getting so desperate for mainframe > trainees that they were sponsoring college courses their own selves, just so > they'd have someone they could hire later. > > COBOL is by no means a "dead language", in any practical sense, but > apparently the writer got it right that it isn't being taught in schools. > > Dunno about 55 to 85 $/hr, though, unless things have gotten a lot worse > since I got into the security side. > > --- > Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 > > /* D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've > had our struggles, we've always been poor, but it's been worth it, ay, worth > it a hundred times I say when I look 'round at my children. -from _Of Human > Bondage_ by W Somerset Maugham */ > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On > Behalf Of Phil Smith III > Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2020 10:23 > > https://secure-web.cisco.com/1XBIGE5nZo-z8xX0htDr6UoKYQJpu3Ft_lejshGGbWoYmhFCUILU5g_liTKCTKs4XRgdStpOZuNfYTPKRD3gILqKpVurDQ6KGvLyo5grrC16nTmswwOok8Aq1weHJKYmh-IrSB1-psT6uxy_rJhUtvSUAPUjJylTzWTgNuJGQ_pULu39rFnm_CSxaEHtzHr2e5khasS3M3PB2GVMJ01jeEBwzDKG2qO452JhMPnDp2YiJIjCHHI82EEjsNMMGXxvku_AolOv5Og85TksKce4kiaE12X-5Ws1wavLw8elDVUKEct3rt-xqSugLsZheR-iqVufM701vFdY2LzfoDeHN5OPNyt4wVR8ukW_1eLIJVIrQn8SzYkmzFjU1MuW7jz8Se3ImNPOZPMF2DjGYwiQ-I4ExM4IKsfAtX7RjArX4zBXzRXfmLDK6GIVGSz3pUlCA9tl0CvTZ6iFM1XYm66Zzsw/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fnews%2Fnew-jersey-cobol-coders-mainframes-coronav ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
