[mikestew]

And depending on when your brother-in-law made the statement, he stood just as much of a chance or greater of being right than you did. COBOL will always be around (those 80 billion lines of code don't maintain themselves), but microprocessor and PCs could have broken any number of ways. Granted, a good knowledge of C and Unix will go a long way and be applicable to whatever ends up "winning", but it was no guarantee to the exact language and OS that would keep one employed.

[t1m]

My interests in C, compilers, small computers and Unix at the time wasn't driven by career aspirations. I was just genuinely interested those things. Maybe I was "unemployable".

[mikestew]

* I was just genuinely interested those things.*

Meh, I'm down with that. I would be a much richer man today had I chosen more wisely. But I would not be a happier man.

Maybe I was "unemployable".

Despite my comment to the (somewhat) contrary, as long as you're not specialist in BeOS or the like, in software you'll almost always make money doing what you like to do. Again, whatever ends up winning, the abstractions and concepts you pick up will generally prove useful where ever you end up. You might not be raking in the Benjamins like your SAP buddy over there pulling down $350K/year, but you'll be relatively wealthy and happy.

[tambourine_man]

> those 80 billion lines of code don't maintain themselves

They kind of do sometimes. I know a guy who makes part of his living maintaining the emulation system that runs COBOL.