[ornornor]

> - dregs tech - it's no longer the new shiny thing, but there's still a lot of demand to keep systems running. So a COBOL master or an enterprise Java guy (especially someone with the ability to come in and fix large systems without taking them offline).

I’ve read and heard this over and over. So much so that I actually looked into it before committing to learning COBOL.

I have never found any actual evidence of this. It seemed like there were very few COBOL roles, they didn’t pay that much more or less than any other language, and a lot of it was outsourced to Indian sweatshops with which we can’t really compete in the west because it’s a race to the bottom where only price matters.

That is to say, be wary of what you read on the internet. A lot of it is apocryphal rather than actual. Some of it (like this blog post) is good for getting your imagination running and thinking out of the box but don’t take it as gospel.

[dbrueck]

Haha, yes, I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone make life choices based on what some random person posted on HN! :)

I have first-hand knowledge that these jobs do exist (and can pay anywhere from well to obscenely well), but I have absolutely no idea how many of them there are.

Regardless, the idea is that a good consulting/contractor opportunity can be carved out at various points along the tech age spectrum, and that the demand probably follows a bell curve.