Went to a coding meetup in Austin and noticed something weird

I went to this beginner coding meetup last month in Austin, and almost everyone there was learning Python or JavaScript. But one guy was trying to learn COBOL and everyone gave him this weird look. Is it just me or are people sleeping on old languages that still run a ton of stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganburns16d ago

but one guy was trying to learn COBOL and everyone gave him this weird look" - that's honestly not surprising because most people at a beginner meetup are trying to build stuff fast and get jobs right away. But here's what I want to know: did you ask that guy why he was learning COBOL? Was he working at a bank or insurance company? Because those old systems still handle trillions in transactions every day. I've heard of shops paying serious money for people who can fix COBOL code on mainframes since most of the old guys retired. It seems like a smart play if you don't mind working on ancient stuff that won't ever go away.

maxmurphy16d agoTop Commenter

Right, because nothing says "cutting edge career move" like learning a language older than most of the people in the room. I'd bet that guy makes more fixing a single bug than half the meetup does in a month.