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9One other thing you should certainly consider: will an employer than needs a COBOL (or other archaic language) developer want to hire a self-taught one? Will they even give your resume a second glance without solid commercial experience in that language? I'm not sure that I would.Carson63000– Carson630002011-12-15 02:29:21 +00:00Commented Dec 15, 2011 at 2:29
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The only problem with this answer (which is very good!) is that it looks at job opportunities today. Taking a few months to struggle with a language now for fun might translate into lots of opportunities in the future by getting a leg up on everyone else.joshin4colours– joshin4colours2011-12-15 14:25:25 +00:00Commented Dec 15, 2011 at 14:25
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@Carson63000 - maybe true, but what's the alternative? If the experienced COBOL programmers start retiring, you have to hire someone. Self-taught is better than "knows nothing". You'll have to train them either way, but maybe you don't have to start from scratch.Nathan Long– Nathan Long2011-12-15 15:20:24 +00:00Commented Dec 15, 2011 at 15:20
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@joshin4colours - The question isn't whether to learn something for fun with the hopes of more future opportunities; the question is what to learn. Also, job opportunities today are the only information we have. If you're trying to speculate about what will be in demand in the future, a new technology is at least as good a bet as the resurgence of an old one. Either way, you're making a bet. You could learn COBOL or Go, for instance. Either could pay off big or be a bust. The odds are anyone's guess.Nathan Long– Nathan Long2011-12-15 15:25:30 +00:00Commented Dec 15, 2011 at 15:25
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@Carson63000: Moreover, last I looked, COBOL jobs usually had other requirements, typically old IBM products. You can get a free COBOL compiler and learn COBOL with it (not that I'd allow such a thing in my house - personal reasons), but CICS is something that is normally learned on the job, because you can't get a low-priced version to practice on. (Note: Information supplied may be out of date.)David Thornley– David Thornley2011-12-15 19:59:21 +00:00Commented Dec 15, 2011 at 19:59
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