Three weeks to better Cobol - University of California Extension at Santa Cruz's Year 2000 Orientation for Experienced Programmers class - Company Business and Marketing - Brief Article

Software Magazine, Oct 15, 1997

The University of California Extension at Santa Cruz (UCSC) is offering a course designed to infuse the IT work- force with retirees. The "Year 2000 Orientation for Experienced Programmers" is designed to retrain or refresh the Cobol skills of people who once made programming their career.

The course is the brainchild of Bill Payson of The Senior Staff Inc. and Patrick McDermott, a freelance consultant and part-time instructor who began professional life as an economist, but later became a Cobol programmer for CalState, before moving to other languages and becoming a consultant.

The course presumes knowledge of programming, how loops work, input/output, and computer storage. Students are also required to have a 386-or-better PC at home, CD-ROM, and color monitor.

The course was slated at press time to start on Saturday, September 6, and go for two additional Saturdays and include 20 hours of homework per week. Successful students will be able to show employers that they completed "the kind of projects that they're going to be out on," says McDermott. "Employers will be expecting them to put their nose to the grindstone and work it out. It will separate people who don't want to go on the death march." For Payson, the goal of the course is also "to prove to these employers that it's not necessary to have these people onsite -- they can do it at home."

If the UCSC course is successful, UCSC can sponsor it through extension programs across the United States. Future courses might include an additional week or two to even train people in Cobol from scratch -- the organizers especially want to target the younger market, "just out of school and looking for something to do for another couple years," says McDermott.

McDermott also teaches courses at UC for middle managers. Although "I think large projects are going along pretty well," he says, "it's small and medium people who are being overlooked." His courses combine management, business perspective, and lots of motivation. "I try to say there's a sense of urgency, but also to impart some confidence -- it's not going to be easy, but if we gird our loins, it will get done."