COVID-19 VS COBOL
Let me introduce you Mr COBOL, a 62 year old programming language who got the Coronavirus. What are the consequences?
It’s already been a year since the global crisis. It will have impacted a lot of sectors, including the IT area. The most striking phenomenon revealed in this field is the lack of developers in the mainframe world.
The shortage of Cobol programmers has been highlighted since the first evolutions of the environment of the old systems were necessary due to the Covid-19. One of the countries that suffered the most from this is none other than the United States. The obstacles encountered reflect the state of mind and the way Cobol is perceived in 2020/2021.
Indeed, the lack of Cobol programmers has been very marked and even mediatized. The immediate effect of the crisis is the loss of jobs which will cause a considerable increase in the unemployment rate in the whole country (and in the whole world by the way). The problem is that the unemployment management system is managed by …. the Cobol! Such changes require updates to the computer system.
It is at this precise moment that a series of bad surprises begins. First observation, a big wave of developers had already retired. Second, there was no replacement planned due to this wave. Third observation, there are very few Cobol programmers available and practically no young ones. This phenomenon is due to the fact that a large number of universities no longer teach this language because they believe it has become obsolete.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy looking for COBOL programmer for the state grandpa system
This bad series has pushed the concerned States to publicize this difficulty in order to have reinforcements as soon as possible. The express solution of the moment is to call back volunteers and retirees to unblock the situation. It is a nice option but only temporary!
“Not only do we need health care workers, but given the legacy systems, we should add a page for COBOL computer skills because that’s what we’re dealing with in these legacies.” -The New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy
This health crisis has the unfortunate reputation of impacting the elderly (over 60). It is estimated that the average age of Cobol experts is between 55 and 60. This means that the mainframe domain is directly affected by this pandemic. Some of the older developers have contracted the virus, which makes the workforce even smaller. As a result, Covid-19 will have pointed out the lack of Cobol experts and even weakened the teams already in place.
The only real solution is to train as many developers as possible on the language in order to ensure a succession and to transmit the knowledge and skills that will allow to manage future projects. Whether it is to update current systems or to make a potential migration to another more modern language, the number of developments will not be empty.
Could we eradicate all symptoms in the mainframe world? Will we be able to rectify and learn from our mistakes? Will we be able to attract more young people to this language that has long been considered old and outdated? One thing is sure, Cobol remains an essential element in our systems and will have a bright future ahead of it. The Covid-19 may have won this little battle but certainly not the war. Let’s hope that the devices put in place will bear fruit and will allow us not to reproduce the same situation that we went through.
Sharif HAMED
I hope this article has helped you to better understand how COBOL is perceived and the consequences of this perception. Feel free to share if you like and give your opinion on the subject. This will encourage me to write more articles about the mainframe world.
