Why are there so few programmers who know IBM Job Control Language?

Question

There are two versions of JCL, and most professional JCL guys seem to know both. But why is knowledge of JCL so uncommon? It seems like you can make a lot of money in programming if you can code in JCL and service legacy systems (especially banking systems) that use JCL. Those jobs seem to pay well, due to the shortage of JCL programmers.

If you can combine JCL with a strong background in SQL and dabatase administration generally, then you're set. You can get work around the world. One dude I know with those skills basically just gets paid to hop around Europe and Asia updating legacy DBs using JCL and SQL.

I'd learn it myself if I needed work. To be fair, the only programming language I know well is Haskell, and that's because I took a college course in non-strict programming languages, and Haskell was the basis for the whole thing. I wrote a couple programs in Miranda, but I've forgotten that stuff.

But it seems like JCL is ripe for dudes who want to make some cash. Am I wrong? Am I missing something here?

Answer 1

It's true, legacy coders are rare, so even though the demand for them is not impressive, they carry an important role. Your question is not so different from another related one tossed around, "Why don't I learn COBOL and get paid a ton of money to do what no one else wants to do?"



The answers are easy. Most people don't want to hire legacy newbies (notice the oxymoron?). Also, from a programming perspective, the pain is not worth the dough. You work with outdated programming paradigms that are often inconsistent and lack coherency, and guess what? They can be mission critical! More often than not, the problem sends you swimming the Atlantic with clubbed feet in order to build them a sail boat.



I've seen corporations revamp their entire ERP systems in a few months _without_ following old code, but rather starting fresh. This methodology allows the business to flush their procedures and restructure for efficiency anyway; clean house, as it were. As of late, it seems tightly bound legacy apps have an inverse half-life. Their utility and presence degrades faster over time, not slower, and the pool of experts dealing with them remains relatively constant. You do the math.

Answer 2

Today, there aren't many jobs that use that language. I'll try to find a book on JCL tomorrow.

Answer 3

yeah, JCL and Fortran are close to being DEAD

most servers are running UNIX or LINUX these days, no JCL there

Answer 4

...we kind of have lives.... just kidding, I don't know, but then again I don't know python or why it's just a flesh wound when clearly he has no limbs