How can we help solve the COBOL programmer shortage?

A shortage of COBOL developers is causing delays in processing unemployment benefits and small business loans, highlighting the ongoing reliance on this aging programming language despite the rapid advancement of technology. While COBOL is primarily used in government and financial sectors, its presence is significant, with IBM reporting 240 billion lines still active and 5 billion more written annually. However, interest in learning COBOL is low compared to modern languages like Ruby, Go, and Java, as evidenced by job market trends. Educational resources such as courses from Udemy, LinkedIn, and GitHub's openmainframeproject are available, but the community is seeking additional solutions to bridge the skills gap, with suggestions like integrating COBOL knowledge into university curricula for Java programmers.

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