The Latin of software code is booming
Next time you're scoffing at moldy old tech, remember that new tech is often built on it.
CreditCredit...By James Kerr / Scorpion Dagger< /figure>Caitlin Mooney is 24 years old and has a passion for technology dating back to the Sputnik era.
Mooney , a recent New Jersey Institute of Technology graduate in computer science, is a fan of the technologies that were in vogue half a century ago, including mainframe computers and the software called COBOL that powers them. This stuff won't win any sweet spots in Silicon Valley, but it's essential technology in big banks, insurance companies, government agencies, and other big institutions.
While Mooney's job search, potential employers saw her expertise and wanted to talk about positions bigger than what she was looking for. “They would be really excited,” Mooney told me. She is now trying to decide between several job offers.
The resilience of decades-old computer technologies and the people who have specialized in them shows that new technologies often rely on many old technologies.
When you deposit money using your bank's iPhone app, it probably involves computers behind the scenes that are the offspring of those used in the Apollo lunar missions. (In addition, half-century-old computer code is built into the iPhone software.)
It is often considered a problem or conclusion that so much moldy technology is still around. But that's not necessarily a problem.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," engineering manager Ellora Praharaj joked. reliability at Stack Overflow, an online forum popular with tech workers. “Unschooled students these days don't necessarily want to work in older, uncool languages. But the reality of the world is that's what powers many of our existing systems.”
Praharaj said she learned COBOL in college in the mid-2000s and “hated it.” But until about five years ago, she used regularly a 1950s computer programming technology called Fortran in an old job in the financial services industry. The old stuff is everywhere.
Latin is dead, but the old computer programming languages like COBOL are still alive.
The typical salary for a COBOL programmer has jumped 44% over the past year to nearly $76,000, according to a salary survey by Stack Overflow. The payoff is lower than people using trendy software languages like Rust at $87,000, but this was the largest dollar increase in the survey.
(For the data fans among us: Stack Overflow said the survey had a large sample size but was not necessarily representative.)
All of this also goes to show that computer nerds are subject to the basic dynamics of supply and demand. There aren't many people like Mooney who want to work on mainframes and COBOL; the continued need for their skills empowers them. A job seeker wanting "real-world" COBOL experience recently wrote on the tech bulletin board Hacker News: "COBOL developers are a niche niche these days and they get paid accordingly."
Next time you're scoffing at moldy old tech, remember that new tech is often built on it.
CreditCredit...By James Kerr / Scorpion Dagger< /figure>Caitlin Mooney is 24 years old and has a passion for technology dating back to the Sputnik era.
Mooney , a recent New Jersey Institute of Technology graduate in computer science, is a fan of the technologies that were in vogue half a century ago, including mainframe computers and the software called COBOL that powers them. This stuff won't win any sweet spots in Silicon Valley, but it's essential technology in big banks, insurance companies, government agencies, and other big institutions.
While Mooney's job search, potential employers saw her expertise and wanted to talk about positions bigger than what she was looking for. “They would be really excited,” Mooney told me. She is now trying to decide between several job offers.
The resilience of decades-old computer technologies and the people who have specialized in them shows that new technologies often rely on many old technologies.
When you deposit money using your bank's iPhone app, it probably involves computers behind the scenes that are the offspring of those used in the Apollo lunar missions. (In addition, half-century-old computer code is built into the iPhone software.)
It is often considered a problem or conclusion that so much moldy technology is still around. But that's not necessarily a problem.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," engineering manager Ellora Praharaj joked. reliability at Stack Overflow, an online forum popular with tech workers. “Unschooled students these days don't necessarily want to work in older, uncool languages. But the reality of the world is that's what powers many of our existing systems.”
Praharaj said she learned COBOL in college in the mid-2000s and “hated it.” But until about five years ago, she used regularly a 1950s computer programming technology called Fortran in an old job in the financial services industry. The old stuff is everywhere.
Latin is dead, but the old computer programming languages like COBOL are still alive.
The typical salary for a COBOL programmer has jumped 44% over the past year to nearly $76,000, according to a salary survey by Stack Overflow. The payoff is lower than people using trendy software languages like Rust at $87,000, but this was the largest dollar increase in the survey.
(For the data fans among us: Stack Overflow said the survey had a large sample size but was not necessarily representative.)
All of this also goes to show that computer nerds are subject to the basic dynamics of supply and demand. There aren't many people like Mooney who want to work on mainframes and COBOL; the continued need for their skills empowers them. A job seeker wanting "real-world" COBOL experience recently wrote on the tech bulletin board Hacker News: "COBOL developers are a niche niche these days and they get paid accordingly."
What's Your Reaction?
![Three of ID's top PR executives quit ad firm Powerhouse [EXCLUSIVE]](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ID-PR-Logo.jpg?#){kind=logo}
