[elad]

A co-worker, who worked with COBOL years ago, keeps getting phone calls offering him COBOL jobs. Very highly paying COBOL jobs. He laughs at them.

In other words, a dead programming language doesn't mean that there's no demand for it anymore. What it means is that good programmers won't touch it with a stick.

So indeed, java developers shouldn't worry - they'll have plenty of jobs well into the future - the platform is just too prevalent, and especially in financial institutions that only recently moved over from java to COBOL, and will take another 30 years to make the next move. On the other hand, if you like programming and it's more than just a way to make a living, then java isn't where you want to be.