xinarena

Looking at the last page of DL ( Digital Life section from Strait times), reminds me of my situation. Helen Tan reports that "Many corporations still use mainframe computers that use Cobol, an old programming language." In this fast moving I..T world, is there a place for legacy technologies? Given a chance would anyone wants to learn learn old stuff. Estimated salary of a Cobol engineer is about $15,000 to $20,000. I guess I would be tempted if someone offer me the job and train me to be a Cobol programmer. However, what is the career prospect after Cobol pragramming? You probably have to pick up another skill set. That's a bumper. Imagine you are age 55 and have to learn another skill set. That is like a career switch. That's the problem with I.T. Your skill set can never last long. Always chasing certifications and technologies, unlike other profession.

There are still some dinosaur equipment, I am supporting. The number is not many but these are the equipments that give me the most headaches. They are before the internet era and not much information can be retreived from  the internet about them. Some time when problem arises, we are just trying our luck. I survived so far but I wonder sometime why are still supporting them when the vendors have even closed down. True, the maintenance contract might be more profitable than the newer ones but the sale person is not the one cracking they head in the middle of the night. I believe if there are still companies out there who continue to support these equipment, legacy equipment will remain. Technologies cannot progress until it cannot replace the old equipment easily. It is the people who stood where they are until they miss out the chance to upgrade or it comes too troublesome to do so.