COBOL- The 66-year-old program that's running world’s biggest banks

Have you ever considered what drives the banking infrastructure behind your ATM transactions and credit card swipes? It’s likely that a 66-year-old programming language known as COBOL is performing essential functions in the background. While tech giants worldwide are investing heavily in artificial intelligence talent, major financial institutions are in urgent need of COBOL programmers to support their legacy systems that are vital for processing critical financial transactions. There has been a noticeable surge in demand for COBOL specialists across banks, insurance companies, government sectors, and large corporations, with many organizations offering competitive salaries to attract and retain these skilled developers. So, what is COBOL? The acronym stands for Common Business-Oriented Language, and it was developed in 1959 by a consortium of computer scientists collaborating with the U.S. Department of Defense. The language gained widespread adoption in business due to its efficiency in managing substantial volumes of structured data and bulk record processing. Its syntax resembles plain English, making it accessible for both business professionals and programmers. For example, a COBOL instruction might simply state, "Take the account balance and display it." COBOL has proven invaluable for tasks such as payroll processing, banking transactions, customer record management, inventory tracking, and handling large sets of structured data. Consequently, it became a staple for banks, insurance providers, and government agencies. According to various reports, approximately 800 billion lines of COBOL code remain in active use globally, processing around $3 trillion in transactions daily. These transactions encompass credit card payments, ATM withdrawals, mortgage payments, insurance claims, payroll processes, and government welfare disbursements. Thus, despite its age, COBOL remains a cornerstone of the global financial infrastructure, facilitating numerous everyday transactions. Major financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank, along with U.S. government entities such as the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, continue to rely on COBOL for their critical systems. However, the demand for COBOL expertise has led to a talent crisis, as firms struggle to find qualified individuals familiar with this aging technology. Many of the original COBOL developers have retired, creating a knowledge gap that poses risks for system failures, security vulnerabilities, costly outages, and delays in modernization efforts. Some companies have even begun re-hiring retired employees to maintain these systems. Unfortunately, most educational programs now prioritize modern programming languages like Python, Java, JavaScript, and C++, resulting in a diminished pool of new talent skilled in COBOL. Nonetheless, some programmers are starting to learn COBOL, drawn by the relatively lower competition compared to fields like AI, web development, or app creation. Furthermore, banks are beginning to explore modernization strategies for these legacy systems, with many looking into AI tools to update COBOL code. This shift aims to empower contemporary programmers to effectively operate these systems while addressing potential risks.