Great article. But the shocking part isn’t that COBOL programmers are still needed, it’s that these states and corporations let them all go, when they still had a huge investment in systems that ran COBOL programs. https://twitter.com/davegershgorn/status/1247889200893968387

“One COBOL programmer, now in his 60s, said his bank laid him off in mid-2012 as it turned to younger, less expensive employees trained in new languages. In 2014, he was brought back in as a contractor to fix issues management had not anticipated.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol-idUSKBN17C0D8

“The stakes are especially high for the financial industry, where an estimated $3 trillion in daily commerce flows through COBOL systems. The language underpins deposit accounts, check-clearing services, card networks, ATMs, mortgage servicing, & more.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-cobol-idUSKBN17C0D8