Where can i learn COBOL

f22raptor

f22raptor

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Are there any colleges in Gauteng where i can learn cobol from scratch part time ?

Please spare me the trouble of lecturing me on how on popular its becoming. Thanks
 
I kicked off my career in the 90's learning COBOL at Van Zyl and Pritchards. They were the go to folks back then. Not sure if they're still around and still offer COBOL training. Their entrance exam was a right old bitch to get through though.

That being said....

DON'T study COBOL :ROFL:

Went through course and all it did was successfully convince me COBOL is NOT the answer. In fact it completely deterred me from choosing programming as a career. Thankfully so.
 
Why do you want to learn COBOL? Seems a bit like an odd language to pick.

Is there a reason you are looking to go to a college? You'll save a ton of money if you self study. There are tons of resources out there like Udemy, Pluralsite, YouTube, and even books.
 
Why? Support.

I have an acquaintance who is very good with cobol, he was earning a lower mid range salary as a Java developer and stumbled across an ad for someone to support a legacy cobol mainframe for almost double what he was getting. Being in his mid 40's he applied but then chickened out at the last minute because he was worried about job security in the long term. The company then head hunted him, offered him almost double their initial offer and guaranteed him a job until retirement in the event that they retire their mainframe before he retires. They basically said there was no chance of that happening tho.

Now he's smiling. He said he's never made so much money in his life. I'm guessing he takes home in excess of R100k a month.

DISCLAIMER: I was about 8 beers down when this conversation happened so the details are not guaranteed.
 
Madman88 said:
Why? Support.

I have an acquaintance who is very good with cobol, he was earning a lower mid range salary as a Java developer and stumbled across an ad for someone to support a legacy cobol mainframe for almost double what he was getting. Being in his mid 40's he applied but then chickened out at the last minute because he was worried about job security in the long term. The company then head hunted him, offered him almost double their initial offer and guaranteed him a job until retirement in the event that they retire their mainframe before he retires. They basically said there was no chance of that happening tho.

Now he's smiling. He said he's never made so much money in his life. I'm guessing he takes home in excess of R100k a month.

DISCLAIMER: I was about 8 beers down when this conversation happened so the details are not guaranteed.
Click to expand...

I hope hes got all that retirement promises in writing. We dont need a new Nkosana Makate situation on our hands in the near future. :P
 
John Tempus said:
I hope hes got all that retirement promises in writing. We dont need a new Nkosana Makate situation on our hands in the near future. :p
Click to expand...

Yea, I think he said he got it all down in contract, but I dunno. I think I was solidly on my ear by that time.
 
MicroFocus has an ebook that teaches COBOL, you just need to sign up on their website. There are also a few Indian guys lecturing on it on YouTube, their classes are actually fairly decent. I looked into it a little while ago, got the eBook, but kind of lost interest.

Van Zyl and Pritchard still exists, but yes, AFAIK they're just doing Java these days because that's what all the cool kids are using.
 
Madman88 said:
Why? Support.

I have an acquaintance who is very good with cobol, he was earning a lower mid range salary as a Java developer and stumbled across an ad for someone to support a legacy cobol mainframe for almost double what he was getting. Being in his mid 40's he applied but then chickened out at the last minute because he was worried about job security in the long term. The company then head hunted him, offered him almost double their initial offer and guaranteed him a job until retirement in the event that they retire their mainframe before he retires. They basically said there was no chance of that happening tho.

Now he's smiling. He said he's never made so much money in his life. I'm guessing he takes home in excess of R100k a month.

DISCLAIMER: I was about 8 beers down when this conversation happened so the details are not guaranteed.
Click to expand...
I can actually believe that. Just a quick Google tells me you can get a fairly good rate, but need a lot of experience.
 
The 1st place to look for COBOL software would be Microfocus.com. If you are already working for a big company with COBOL, they will have compilers already available. Debuggings tool on te Mainframe will be somthing like Xpediter. I have used the Mainframe Express EE from Microfocus. very nice.
 
"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should therefore be regarded as a criminal offense."
E.W. Dijkstra in "How do we tell truths that might hurt?"
 
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