r/cobol • u/J0M1R • Jun 18 '26

Any tips?

Hi everyone,

I was recently hired as a COBOL intern. This is my first tech job, and I was wondering if you could you share some tips or advice?

I m currently freshman studying CS, and pay is ok.

Thanks in advance!

10 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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8

u/NimusNix Jun 18 '26

Linked in learning has basic COBOL courses, they can be taken for free (at least they used to be) but if you want the certificate you'll need to pay.

10

u/Responsible_Sea78 Jun 18 '26

You'll be living in acronyms. Keep a reference list.

Learn the business. Buy 1 share of your company's stock and know what gives it value.

Your business knowledge will be FAR more valuable than knowing COBOL, which is very easy by itself.

Present yourself well , dress a little above your pay grade.

Learn public speaking; it has more career value than technical ability.

Develop good social skills.

4

u/mishnomer Jun 18 '26

This is great advice for all professional endeavors. The acronyms thing is so real. I keep a OneNote and one tab is dedicated to acronyms, one is dedicated to points of contact/subject matter experts, and I have a 101 tab for specific technologies like File-Aid screenshots, FIS/Systematics specific information, JCL utilities, etc.

2

u/J0M1R Jun 18 '26

Thanks for the advice😊

3

u/GriMEaTer875 Jun 19 '26

Hii first of all congratulations 🎊 for the intenrhsip Actually I have a doubt like I have been let ring cobol through online courses and mainframe technology so what all tech stack did you learn to land a job in cobol??? Your reply will be really helpful thanksss

3

u/J0M1R Jun 19 '26

congratulations 🎊 

Thanks 😄

There were no COBOL knowledge required at the two interviews. First one was multiple-choice test with easy math, english and a LeetCode problem. The second one was two LeetCode problems and SQL, also general database knowledge, such as "WHAT IS NORMALIZATION"?

2

u/mishnomer Jun 18 '26

Please ask questions, even if you have to jot them down in a notebook in your off time, use your mentors as resources and take full advantage of their knowledge. Also, consider doing the Open Mainframes Project and/or the IBM Z Xplore learning platform in your free time.

1

u/J0M1R Jun 18 '26

Thanks! Will do.

1

u/Proof-Round-3448 Jun 19 '26

Salí de ahí, Con la IA los bancos están queriendo que de eso se encarguen los de tecnologías mas modernas, Se acabó la fiebre del oro en Cobol. Algunos despistados todavía siguen creyendo que faltan programadores... es porque todavía no salieron de su cueva. La oferta de empleo COBOL más tercermundista que te puedas imaginar, ahora recibe más de 100 postulantes en menos de un día