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California Can't Perform Pay Cut Because of COBOL
beezzie writes "Last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered a pay cut, to minimum wage of $6.55/hr, for 200,000 state workers — because a state budget hadn't been approved yet. The state controller, who has opposed the pay cut on principle and legal grounds, now says the pay cut isn't even feasible because the state's payroll systems are so antiquated. He says it would take six months to go to minimum wage, and nine months more to restore salaries once a budget is passed. The system is based on COBOL, according to the Sacramento Bee, and the state hasn't yet found the funds or resources, in ten years of trying, to upgrade it." The article quotes a consultant on how hard it is to find COBOL programmers; he says you usually have to draw them out of retirement. Problem is, if there were any such folks on the employment rolls in California, Gov. Schwarzenegger fired them all last week, too.
This brings back memories of when we picketed our COBOL professor christmas party with signs of:
"COBOL raises taxes"
we couldn't have been more right
The programmers of California have created the greatest payroll application of all time. You can only raise salaries, not lower them. Ingenious!
I need a COBOL programmer, who is your daddy and what does he do?
How amazed would you be to suddenly find that you just forgot what I wrote and you needed to reread my post.... again.
We have about 20 Cobol programmers. We still run CISC and what have you. You can have them. Cheap.
In a world of acronyms, the words are the real victims.
They created the worst payroll application of all time... it takes 50% longer to raise them back!
Stupid sexy Flanders.
"Forrer said the system has tens of thousands of lines of code, so it is time-consuming to find and replace salaries for each job classification on an individual basis." Ummm...... they should have a look at the 30million line codebase I support. I'd love to give _that_ excuse.
I work with a COBOL system
How soon can you get on a plane to California?
Don't forget, the good governator is probably payed by that system too and you know HIS pay ain't going down.
The Governator is getting paid an annual salary of $1 a year. If his pay went down any further you'd probably end up with a divide by zero error somewhere.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
Hell, where I work now we're having problems because a particular CBT REQUIRES a floppy disk. Nobody can get the money to have the CBT code changed. The new computers don't come with floppy drives and the old computers are required to be taken out of service. Emulation software can't be used because it won't pass the "approval process" and putting a floppy drive into a new system voids the maintenance agreement.
No, the problem is that someone put a T-800 series Terminator in charge of California!
All the state's COBOL programmers have to work around the clock just to keep that early-80's piece of shit working.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
It was the Complete Idiot's Guide, thank you very much.
You made that post that from work, didn't you?
A COBOL-savvy man suffers from a deadly disease and decides to go for cryonics, hoping they will find a cure in the future. A hundred years from now they wake him up. He's relieved and asks: "Thank god, you've found a cure." - "No", they tell him, "we're short of COBOL programmers."
from the to-stupid-for-words dept.
More accurately, to program in cobol, you wouldn't have to pay me a salary, you'd have to pay compensation for mental pain and anguish.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If I was in charge of programming the new pay system, I wouldn't be too worried about me making minimum wage...
So... Listen.
I have a job for you in California I need to take care of. Come with me if you want to live.
Wonder why they can't find any Cobol programmer? There are probably Cobol programmers on the state payroll maintaining this system, but do you want to modify a computer program, so your employer can cut your pay by 75%? Didn't think so.