Staffing the millennium - year 2000 transition - includes related article on senior Cobol programmers - Industry Trend or Event

Software Magazine, Oct 15, 1997 by Mathew Schwartz

Before all hell breaks loose with last-minute code fixes and triage operations, programmers and project managers of all ages should negotiate their place in fix effortsFor IT executives who haven't prepared their legacy systems for the new millennium, January 1, 2000 won't be much of a celebration. Yet, what will be a day of reckoning for many in the IT community is turning out to be a real opportunity for others. Cobol programmers and project managers, in particular, are finding their stock rising as a result of the impending century change.

The industry-wide refocus to Year 2000 projects may be hard news for programmers just out of college who are eager to put their Visual Basic skills to use, or mid-career workers looking to learn object-oriented programming. But all is not lost: Many firms are allowing workers to continue with their current projects, then paying bonuses for those who work on Year 2000 efforts on their own time. Other workers are making this the time to renegotiate their contracts.

What should IT professionals look for when evaluating a Year 2000 assignment? "First thing I'd say is, 'What kind of support will I get?' If it's good, I'd jump on the bus," says Ian Hayes, principal of Clarity Consulting Inc. in Marblehead, Mass. Besides the incentive packages, says Hayes, there's a good chance that resources and attitudes will be in place to get the job done. But if the company seems utterly uninformed or unreasonable, then do yourself a favor: Avoid the stress.

Still, for those evaluating how the Year 2000 problem will affect their job descriptions, be aware that as the millennium approaches, and even beyond, those who are not nailed down to a particular project are likely to end up working on the Year 2000 date problem. In the end, says Hayes, "it will be the difference between volunteering and being drafted." Volunteer now, and negotiate a good package; wait, and risk being roped in with no enticing incentives.

Money is not the only card on the table: Other perks to negotiate could include working at home, contemporaneous training (for example, Year 2000 work three days a week, Visual Basic the other two), retraining when the project ends, bonus packages at the completion of every stage, or maybe even an all- expenses-paid dream vacation when the project's done.

"There's a list of things people should be asking for. Those include pad-ded walls and prepaid mental health," jokes Lauris Ann Nance, because, she notes, "as we come closer to the Year 2000, we will become more obsessed with it." Nance, a writer specializing in Year 2000 staffing issues, is also vice president and Year 2000 project executive with Equifax Inc., a financial and insurance information provider in Atlanta. "For years we've complained about working on projects that don't have an ending," says Nance. Not this time -- in spite of the impending headaches, this is one project that people will have to finish. Far from being a bitter pill for programmers to swallow -- the Year 2000 provides a great opportunity to come to the bargaining table and not walk away empty-handed. Furthermore, there are the incentives of working in a group organized and focused on the same result and the promise of resources. And since fixing the Year 2000 date problem could continue well into the second decade of the next millennium, programmers who pay their dues now have a better chance of exempting themselves from such work in the future.

These projects are also a great way to increase your visibility inside a company -- everyone has at least heard of the project you're working on. So says Irene Dec, vice president and head of the Year 2000 project at Prudential, the largest insurance company in North America and one of the largest financial services institutions in the world. She joined Prudential 15 years ago as a Cobol programmer, eventually working her way up to project manager of their Year 2000 effort. Even though Prudential began its fix project back in August 1995 and outsourced about 70% of their code conversion, she's still responsible for monitoring and tracking the fix of some 110 million lines of code.

"Should a Cobol programmer take on a Year 2000 project? Yes," says Dec. She commends the nature and type of project for the skillset that it imparts, and loves the excitement, since "never before has IT been faced with a problem that is effecting IT globally."

The Dinosaurs are Mad

Despite the demand for programmers for the Big Fix, the real hot ticket right now is project management -- if you can get it. The offer of such a position "is a compliment that you must be pretty good at project management," Dec says. Organizations like Prudential are making big investments in project managers now, knowing that anyone who can successfully run a Year 2000 project will have the skills to lead even bigger assignments. Add to that the fact that in many firms, Year 2000 project managers report directly to top executives, giving them much-desired visibility that can put them on the fast track.