Demand for mainframe language skills remains strong

DEMAND for 50-year-old mainframe language skills is likely to stay high for meanwhile this decade because the computing research remains ubiquitous in large organisations.

Peoplebank chief executive Peter Acheson said demand for mainframe roles, particularly COBOL, had kept up in spite of it being a decades-old research.

"COBOL has been so critical to banks, airlines, utilities and telecommunications companies in terms of their core transactional processing engines it is hard to see it being replaced quickly."

He said the younger generation often found an older skill set unattractive. "It is the reason why lots of companies will defer transitioning off COBOL because there is not the skills available and it is a big investment as time goes by, effort and money," he said. "They will continue to run their business really on COBOL in terms of core transactional applications."

Number of alternate

"There are now a number of alternate, newer innovation stacks that are capable of doing the same job, nevertheless organisations are happy to continue running their legacy platforms as the cost of redeveloping the systems running on them can, in part, run into the tens of millions," he said.

Mr Bettin said there was strong demand for Java skills however other skills like Ajax and related technologies were emerging with the advent of cloud computing.

Seminars, conferences and moreAustralia's premier calendar for IT managers, chief information officers and technologists featuring product launches, research clinics and management sessions. Updated each Tuesday.

MacBook Air

IF you have been thinking about purchasing a MacBook Air, Apple's super-svelte and ultralight notebook PC, now might not be the time.

A CHINESE manufacturer for Apple, Sony and HP will keep shut its polishing workshops pending a probe into a deadly plant explosion last week