The governor of New Jersey just put out the call on live TV that he is desperate for Cobol programmers right now.

This tweet went viral. I feel like Madonna.

My most lit tweet ever which went viral on Twitter Reddit and several other platforms, was about fucking COBOL which makes me 😭 and 😂

If you’re curious...

@manicode *texts my 76 year old retired programmer Dad that his time to save the world has finally come*

@manicode @codinghorror Number of comments talking about COBOL-literate moms (mine is, btw) makes me wonder if this will be the main motif of a "Hidden Figures"-like biographical drama about how NJ was saved by them.

@manicode @cirrius_tech COBOL is the answer. No one remembers the question, though.

@manicode @JoeTall A couple of my patients were laid off early from IBM in their 50s. A decade later no one remembered IBM’s old coding languages. One of them told me he set his hourly so he’d double the pension money he’d lost. Aim high Cobolds

@manicode Omg. My dad. He’s retired and sitting around in rural Pennsylvania with little to do. COBOL Fortran...he could even send it on a jaz drive. Call him, please! linkedin.com/in/jim-randeck…

@manicode @manicode would you please let everyone know we offer free #cobol education? IBM.biz/masterthemainf… Includes free, online, self-paced tutorials in lots of subjects including cobol. And if your audience wants it, I could 💯 schedule an online live cobol tutorial.

@manicode Big bet gimme a week and easily drop JavaScript for COBOL for a check

@manicode God save us all! First the Y2K Cobol-renaissance, now the Coronapocalypse brings our brave Cobol fighters back. I hope the punch card machines hold up! p.s. New Jersey -- it might be time for a system upgrade!

@manicode What simulation are we even living in at this point.

@manicode

Sridhar Ramesh @RadishHarmers

6 years ago

@manicode

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@manicode COBOL programmers age group are in the same COVID-19 high risk group. Government, Insurance, Banks and many others essential organizations are still running on Mainframe and there always shortage for COBOL programmers

@manicode Do you know Cobol people to help NJ? See previous tweet. @traktrgrl @chelloway @Grace @blaine @editingemily @noidd @jessfraz @SwiftOnSecurity @hypatiadotca @cyd @amac

@manicode I learned COBOL in high school in the ‘80s. When we used punch cards.

@manicode @Grady_Booch you called it

@manicode @hodgesmr Normally I would laugh.

@manicode All we need to do is finish this project: github.com/ajlopez/CobolS… then compile all the COBOL code into #JavaScript and all our problems will be over ...

@manicode Wait, is this still 2020 or 1982?

@manicode What about perl?

@manicode Is this a joke? The unemployment systems are run on Cobol? JESUS CHRIST

@manicode COBOL...!! 😬

@manicode @dengtimmy @k_boh @SagnewShreds @sw1tch LFG

@manicode stop - for real? i know PL/1

@manicode cc: @kelseyhightower

@manicode @story645 I'm having a vague memory. Does anyone in your family know Cobol or other people who would know it? To help out NJ. See previous tweet.

@manicode Wow!

@manicode Gimme Fortran next. Then Gimme Shelter.

@manicode FFS Find an old COBOL book and put it in the hands of a Northeast Asian or Eastern European 15-year-old. They’ll be ready to save NJ in 48 hours.

@manicode Anyone on insight why they would choose too stick with Cobol ? Lets remove completely rewrite is time consuming this is a system for receiving information adding too db essentially *i presume*

@manicode I am ok boomer: I learned COBOL in the late 70’s. If Icansave the world with this competence, let’s do it!

@manicode My first job out of college was with what is now known as Accenture and my first client was the NJ Dept of Labor programming in Cobol.

@manicode @GGTaTaN