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IBM Rallies COBOL Engineers to Save Overloaded Unemployment Systems
The company is offering free COBOL training and a forum for COBOL engineers
As millions file for unemployment benefits in the United States every week, states’ aging computer systems simply cannot keep up.
States like New Jersey and Connecticut have said they are desperate for programmers who are still familiar with COBOL, a programming language that debuted in 1960 and is still used in critical computer systems like unemployment databases and banks. It’s estimated that COBOL is currently used in 95% of ATMs around the world.
Despite its wide usage, most programmers today are taught newer languages, like C (which is only a few years newer but has had more staying power) or Python, since they are more immediately applicable to tech jobs.
IBM, the leading provider of mainframes typically used to compile and run COBOL code, is trying to help bridge that gap.
