Most people are likely to associate COBOL with older generations of developers. But is that association fair, or even accurate? We decided to ask one of our young colleagues to tell us her view of COBOL.
Think of generation Z and what comes to mind might be things like TikTok, start-ups, sustainability, flexible work arrangements, and programming languages liks Python or JavaScript. COBOL is probably far from the top of this list of things. After all, COBOL is a language developed in 1950s and many consider it a digital fossil rather than a tool fit for the future.
And yet, I, born in 2002, write programmes in COBOL. It’s a language older than my parents, and one which for the most part I knew from Reddit memes and ironic Tweets. For me, COBOL stood for “Legacy” in a nagtive sense – old, unwieldy, out-of-date. But, my views have fundamentally changed.
Why? Because I came to learn that COBOL is anything but dead. Quite the opposite: COBOL systems continue to form the backbone of business critical logic across banks, insurance providers, public sector bodies, and many other large organisations. These systems are reliable and run well, but most importantly, they function effectively. They have survived for decades because they do their job well. As a young woman from Generation Z I particularly appreciate the potential inherent in this quality. We understand modern technologies – Cloud, APIs, DevOps – and we’re able to use them to make apparently antiquated systems such as applications written in COBOL ready for the future.
In doing so, I have learned a few lessons:
- Legacy is not antiquated or out-of-date – instead, it’s stood the test of time.
- Modernisation is more than simply replacing code. It encompasses processes, business culture, and the ability to combine old with new.
- COBOL is readable. It is clear. It is logical. You just have to give it a go.
- Knowledge transfer is the key. The experience of mainframe experts is just as important as the fresh perspectives of us younger developers.
- You can only have sustainable change if you respect what is already there. And there is no future if you don’t dare to change.
As a young woman in an environment dominated by baby-boomer mainframe experts I initially felt unsure whether I belonged. But I very quickly realised that my perspective is particularly valuable. We are the generation that grew up used to technological changes that were taking place faster than ever before. To us, smartphone apps and cloud infrastructure are just as much part of normal daily lives as the frustration experienced when completing tax returns or when using slow IT systems.
The double perspective of old and new worlds ideally places us to build bridges. For me, COBOL is not the end of IT. It is part of the beginning of a new form of cross-generational collaboration. We speak the language of the future and learn that of the past to connect them with each other.
I firmly believe that we need both tried and tested systems and the courage to dare to innovate. And us, the younger generation, can help to link up the two worlds. Not in spite of COBOL but with COBOL.
