IBM Offers Free COBOL Training to Address Shortage

IBM is stepping up to help address a problem that probably shouldn’t exist.

We previously mentioned New Jersey’s desperate plea for coders who understood COBOL, a 60-year-old, largely obsolete computer language. The “Garden State” hasn’t exactly kept with the times, and their 362,000 unemployment filings are straining NJ’s 40-year-old mainframes.

Instead of, you know, paying to update their PCs over the last four decades, NJ is now asking for volunteers to help deal with the aftermath of COVID-19.

And naturally, one of the few tech companies that predates even COBOL is spreading a little old-school knowledge.

“Our clients are facing unprecedented circumstances … in particular, we know that for some states this is manifesting in processing a record number of unemployment claims … there are also some states that are in need of additional programming skills to make changes to COBOL,” claimed IBM.

In response, IBM is taking a three-tiered approach -- maintaining a COBOL technical forum, opening a COBOL Programmers Forum where employers can connect with available and experienced COBOL programmers (hopefully at a fair market rate), and for those state and federal agencies that don’t feel like paying folks with a rare skillset, there’s also free, open-source COBOL training.

You can read more about IBM’s COBOL initiative here: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2020-04-09-IBM-and-Open-Mainframe-Project-Mobilize-to-Connect-States-with-COBOL-Skills