Hire Cobol Developer for Your Business

Although choosing Cobol programming as a career may not be considered attractive compared to slinging Ruby or Java programming, more and more companies are looking to hire C developer or C++ developer. This is because it’s one of the widely used programming languages that has numerous features to add to the software. Developers who buckle down and immerse themselves in the hoary old Cobol can and will attest it’s one of the most secure careers in IT.

In this article, we will help you out with understanding the pros and cons of Cobol development, the current situation in the market, and the benefits that you can get from this technology.

What Is Cobol Programming?

Cobol, or general business-oriented language, will soon become a pivotal skill for the selection of future software developers. It may sound insane, as Cobol is considered to be an old and rigid language, and its rank is rather low in the Tiobe index. Cobol is not even one of the top 10 popular programming languages of the 21st century. However, even though the Cobol is often not included in the computer science curriculum, most of the business systems are still working in this language.

To support this argument, market indicators show that there is an increased demand for Cobol skills which has led to an upswing of Cobol developer salary – plus, the language is simple to learn and promises longevity. The rumors about mainframes facing imminent extinction have subsided, and businesses devoted to the big iron will continue embracing Cobol pros.

Cobol is an English-like programming language specifically designed for business enterprise applications. This object-oriented language is primarily used in finance, business, corporate, and government administrative systems. Since making a debut in 1959, Cobol has been widely utilized in legacy applications that are deployed on mainframe computers such as transaction processing jobs and large-scale batch.

Comparing to all the languages used for programming, Cobol was designed specifically for business use. While such languages as C++ or Java are actively used as the main language for developing most web applications and mobile devices, Cobol is actively used as a language for processing numbers and data about users and customers in manufacturing, banking operations, or insurance companies. A Cobol developer is necessary for many enterprises, where the main task is data processing, gathering information about customers. The demand for Cobol application developers is high in areas where such structures and data types are needed. Most of the CICS transactions in the bank and ATM occur in the COBOL format, which means that the demand and the need for this language are not reduced, despite relatively small popularity compared to the programming languages C ++ or Java.

Why Team Cobol Programmers Are Still Valuable Assets?

For all three parameters of a successful software system such as efficiency, ability to the adaptivity to code, the Cobol is an effective language for business processing. The Cobol DB2 developer is able to do not only general error handling but also works with additions in the form of error handling for each operator, which helps to check the numeric data, XML documents, and JSON texts.

Cobol company provides services for optimizing and verifying work because often Cobol developer tools perform those operations that others cannot perform as efficiently. This is not a very strong demand for mobile applications, that is why a team of Cobol developers is always in a high demand where the processing of large amounts of data, transactions, and online operations is necessary.

The disadvantages of the Cobol language include the fact that there has recently been a tendency in the gap in skills between old and new specialists. There are less and less experienced team Cobol programmers, whereas, due to the growing popularity of new languages, there is a fewer and fewer amount of young Cobol developer who is familiar with this language. It also makes difficult for Cobol staffing company to recruit young professionals for this job. On the other hand, it is a strong incentive to learn this language due to its low competitiveness compared to more popular languages. At the same time, the developers’ team Cobol language can be confident in the strength and consistency of this system.

For decades, Cobol has evolved and adapted to systems in the field of entrepreneurship and business, transferred to new platforms and devices, passed many checks. At the same time, this language is completely integrable with modern C #, Java, and VB.NET languages. As an intuitively simple language, Cobol is quite simple to learn and work as a remote Cobol developer, since it is built on logical English structural elements and has been adapted for almost all types of hardware platforms. It is also convenient for the last team of Cobol developers to use on modern development programs such as Eclipse or Visual Studio, which simplifies its study.

According to Arunn Ramadoss, approximately 75% of the global business data still rely on Cobol, with financial transactions relying on the language totaling 90%. Despite the emergence of other programming languages, Cobol still holds a massive base. This is because it’s compatible with modern technologies plus migrating this widely used code would be too expensive to overhaul or cripple almost every business. Instead, companies are choosing to integrate Cobol into their modern applications and look for Cobol programmers for hire.

Technologies That Easily Merge With Cobol

In a world where Hybrid IT is demanding, projects are relying on quick access to the back-office data. Companies need to embrace modern business infrastructure, applications, and delivery requirements.

According to a survey conducted by a research firm Harris Interactive in 2017, approximately 55% of respondents indicated the intention of modernizing their Cobol apps by the year 2019.

Although the Cobol concept traces root in the late 50’s, today’s incarnation of the language is far from what most people consider legendary. It features the same contemporary attributes of other languages, easily works with standardized IDEs such as Eclipse and Visual Studio, supports latest versions of enterprise technology like Mobile, Cloud, Managed Code, supports web services, works within Virtualized environment, an API model, and object-oriented. In short, it can support almost every project.

Moreover, it loyally does all the things it was intended for, rapid and precise calculations, managing big data, accuracy, and reliability that enterprise systems need.

Why Companies Are Searching for Cobol Programmers for Hire?

A decade ago, a survey projected that the number of Cobol programmers would continue declining due to the retirement of the experts who play vital Cobol developer roles and a very small number of new entrants. As the forces of markets dictate, when demand outstrips supply the prices are bound to go up. This has seen the average salary of a remote Cobol developer increase significantly.

To solve this problem of limited skills, major tech universities like the University of Wisconsin- Platteville among others increase the number of Cobol Programming slots in their intakes to bridge the gap.

There are multiple mainframe installations globally with Cobol as the mainstay language. Here are some of the reasons why it’s important to use Cobol today.

Why Is Cobol Developer Still in Demand in the Market?

First of all, because most organizations still prefer to use Cobol instead of rewriting all systems and applications into new languages. Of course, the popularity of new languages is gradually replacing old systems. But due to such factors as the length of downtime during the changes and the number of resources required for learning, changing and restructuring the system, the demand for Cobol programmers for hire does not disappear. So far, Cobol is one of the few languages that has been tested for reliability by time, while the fact of whether young languages are reliable has not yet been verified and the demand for freelance developer Cobol specialists is unlikely to disappear in a few decades.

You may not be aware of this but Cobol touches almost every aspect of your life. A Cobol company looking to start working on a new project should set aside space to accommodate this language and it’s too deeply woven into the business fabric that it would be impossible not to interact with it.

• Has reusable code (patterns)

Since inception, Cobol has been robust enough to accommodate and adapt to business changes. Throughout its life, the language has faced many different obstacles including new devices and platforms. Interestingly enough, it knows which strings to tug to get going. It can easily integrate with modern languages such as Java, C#, and VB.NET. That notwithstanding, it’s compatible with modern IDEs which means it can handle almost everything you are doing.

Needless to say, it features a Natural Language Syntax which makes it easier for a Cobol application developer to execute his tasks plus makes it easier for employers to understand what’s going on.

• Supports DRY

It’s a well-known fact that a programming language can only be useful if it supports DRY. DRY simply means Don’t Repeat Yourself. It would be a waste of time to keep on repeating the same code over and over. Developers will appreciate that Cobol supports program calling between programs and linkages which allows for code reuse and segmentation.

• Supports Hierarchical Data

Another unique selling point of Cobol is the flexibility it affords developers in grouping similar data similar to what C struct does. In a historical sense, C programming language borrowed a leaf from Cobol as it had this feature way before. This way, developers can name their data groups or records without breaking a sweat.

Cobol Developer Skills, Tasks, and Responsibilities

The numbers surrounding Cobol programmers for hire are a true testament that it has a huge influence in the business world. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that there are 200 times more Cobol transactions daily than Google searches.

So, what does it take to join this industry for Cobol company? You don’t require a crew cut. In fact, most Cobol developers are required to posse similar skills as those of any other IT professionals. However, prospective companies are looking for Cobol developers who easily understand the business, armed with diverse skills, and capable of learning new technologies.

Here are some of the typical tasks of a Cobol Developer:

• Gathering and documenting system requirements.
• Coding Cobol programs.
• To maintain and develop Cobol.
• To develop, Design, Code, and Test changes to enterprise software applications.
• Implementing changes to Cobol Programs.
• To define code standards to ensure coding integrity.

Cobol Developer Resume Specifics

Cobol Developer Salaries in Various Countries

Due to the shortage of software engineers, and Cobol developers in particular, globally, the industry has seen a monumental increase in the average salary of developers. According to PayScale, a Senior Cobol Developer in the US earns an average annual salary of $83,694. In the UK, the same position commands $74,294. On the other hand, a senior C++ Developer in Canada earns $50,852. Cobol developer in Switzerland earns $105,601.

In Europe, the rates are ordinarily lower with France and Ukraine being the cheapest with an average rate of $45,146 and $27,600* respectively. Therefore, many companies are interested in nearshoring with Ukrainian specialists.

*Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.

The Demand in Cobol Programmers in Ukraine

The experienced professional with strong Cobol developer skills can earn approximately $96,761 per year, as the cost of replacing the whole system is too pricey for the company. The Cobol developers for hire are very valuable because the systems operating with Cobol are very diverse, and the experienced specialists in this language are in small quantity. However, there is a rather small amount of application developer Cobol in the Ukrainian market.

Speaking of Ukraine, it is not easy to find an expert Cobol developer shortly; however, there is a small number of reliable specialists with Cobol knowledge in the market.

Looking at Ukrainian companies interested in hiring Cobol experts, we have to say that it is almost impossible to find a job locally:

But for comparison, take a look at the number of job offers for Cobol developer remote working:

No wonder that a lot of Ukrainian programmers are ready to contribute to international projects and a lot of companies outsource Cobal development to Ukrainian specialists or Ukrainian Cobol company.

Find out more about:

• How to choose the best software developer Philippines?

Cobol Experts at Mobilunity

With the ever-changing digital ecosystem, Cobol developer for hire has been in the spotlight as to whether such programmers are specialized in modern-day technology. However, with the influence and irreplaceability of Cobol programming, this spotlight isn’t going away anytime soon. The demand for Cobol programmer for hire and Ionic developer will continue being high as businesses will always look to maintain their mainframes even when the old cadre retires. Additionally, team Cobol will still be demanded to reverse-engineer crucial mainframes within the business world. As time goes on, the forces of demand and supply for a credible Cobol staffing agency will find equilibrium and the skills gap will be corrected. But before then, companies will have to compete for a limited number of developers. Programming outsourcing is the use of a third party to grow or improve the programming activities of a firm. Instead of using an internal team entirely, outsourcing enables business owners to delegate the management of specific duties to an external organization with specialized knowledge in the field.

Mobilunity helps you eliminate this unnecessary competition by helping you hire dedicated Cobol developers. Are you ready to work with coders who will take over the most complicated development tasks? Hire Ruby developer or HRIS consultant in Mobilunity to have your work done. Our developers have worked with multiple companies around the world and based on their past experience, they are ready to share with you what they have seen work and what haven’t. As a result, your Cobol projects with be full of fresh and innovative ideas that remind your customers why they chose you in the first place.

Contact us with your project details to see how we can help you with Cobol developers for hire! Mobilunity can’t wait to cooperate with you!

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Market Researcher

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.