If programming languages were like women…

Posted by Mike on Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 59 Views

There are so many programming languages available that it can be very difficult to get to know them all well enough to pick the right one for you. On the other hand most men know what kind of woman appeals to them. So here is a handy guide for many of the popular programming languages that describes what kind of women they would be if programming languages were women.

COBOL A plump secretary.

She talks far too much, and most of what she says can be ignored. She works hard and long hours, but can’t handle really complicated jobs. She has a short and unpredictable temper, so no one really likes working with her. She can cook meals for a huge family, but only knows bland recipes.

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Much Work to be Done Before the Boomers Bolt

Posted by Mike on Friday, March 5, 2010 - 1 Views

Though more marathon than sprint, insurers are indeed in a race to glean as much as they can from a graying IT workforce possessing increasingly rare skill sets and a vast amount of institutional and system-specific knowledge.

Considering the stakes, carriers need to make tactical considerations, including shifting internal staff and outsourcing certain functions, in order to maximize the effectiveness of these workers. READ MORE

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The party isn’t over for IT

Posted by Mike on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 99 Views

Think of it this way: Even COBOL, that old mainframe language, still needs to be maintained now and then. And where are the IT workers who know how to do … READ MORE

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IBM Enterprise CloneDR Helps Enterprises Transform Bloated COBOL into Clean, Tight, and Maintainable Code

Posted by Mike on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 76 Views

Large software systems typically contain 10-25% cloned code and Semantic Designs has seen as much as 58% redundancy in COBOL software. Gartner estimates over 200 billion lines of COBOL code in use today. Given a typical yearly software maintenance costs of one dollar per line of code the value of tightening working software is dramatic for virtually any COBOL system. READ MORE

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Is Microsoft a four-letter word?

Posted by Mike on Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 140 Views

Seriously, until the current generation of IT guys goes the way of the COBOL and PASCAL programmers of the past, Microsoft will remain the 800 pound gorilla … READ MORE

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The painful truth about age discrimination in tech

Posted by Mike on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 171 Views

There are bold programmers, but no old programmers — the reasons for this reality aren’t simple age discrimination

The Net is rife with mainframe operators and Cobol pros who will tell you that they got into IT for love of the challenge or subject. It was passion-driven. … READ MORE

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Is there a way to become a programmer without going to college?

Posted by Mike on Saturday, February 13, 2010 - 223 Views

But when I started, all one needed was the ability to write a little COBOL. Everything else, such as personality defects & poor social skills were overlooked. Certification has helped me – by backing up limited experience (SOA & MQ). … READ MORE

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Advice to mainframe programmers: stick with it, and specialize within mainframe

Posted by Mike on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - 141 Views

The scuttlebutt on the job market related to mainframe now comes across to me as this:

Ten years ago, if you have worked mainly as a mainframe programmer, particularly in the old-fashioned world of nightly cycles, JCL, on-call support, COBOL, CICS, S0C7’s, AbendAid, etc (don’t we remember this), it was more prudent to grow your background in the mainframe area where you had focused expertise, than to move into client-server, where it’s hard to pick things up in non-linear learning curve mode. Why?

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Sometimes It’s Good To Fail an Interview

Posted by Mike on Monday, February 8, 2010 - 64 Views

Then came the bad news…. the interviewer smiled as he mulled over my resume, and he said he noticed that I didn’t have any COBOL experience. He asked me if I had ever taken any COBOL classes at the college, and I told him no… as far as .. MORE

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What is the difference between “technology” and “engineering” majors?

Posted by Mike on Saturday, February 6, 2010 - 181 Views

What the difference between:

Computer networking technology
Computer programming technology
Computer science
Computer Engineering Technology

Cobol is mainly for business and FORTRAN is usually for engineering programs. As a programmer your outlook isn’t looking to great in my opinion. MORE

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