The pandemic of COVID 19 is upon the world, surpassing the mark of over a million cases. At this point, strict plan of action is needed to control the spread and deal with the rising number of cases. While talking about the COVID 19 response in New Jersey, the State Governor, Phil Murphy said they are in desperate needs of COBOL system programmers. While talking at a press conference, he said the state needs volunteers with "Cobalt" (sic) computer skills to help fix 40-year-old-plus unemployment insurance systems that are currently overwhelmed as a result of COVID-19-related job losses.
For those who do not know much of computer programming, COBOL is a computer language that was developed over 60 years ago. It became obsolete by the year of 1980s. While the systems are still in use today in some software, it is highly unlikely that anyone in the younger age group would have even used the system today or even wrote a line of it. It essentially means, that the majority of experts of this tech would be over 60 years of age, which makes them at a high risk of contracting the COVID 19. People on Twitter are thus making fun and trolling the Governor for relying on outdated software in time of a severe medical crisis. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut May be Quarantined to Contain Coronavirus Pandemic in US: Donald Trump.
Watch Video of Governor Demanding COBOL Programmers in COVID 19 Response Conference:
Check Some Tweets on COBOL Programmers in Demand:
What Year is It?
#COBOL was the third programming language I learned many many moons ago and now is trending #1 on Twitter?? pic.twitter.com/DFM2gtIQ7F
— ✪ 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐓𝐔𝐒 ✪ (@Taytus) April 4, 2020
How the Fight Will Look Against Coronavirus
Live look in on a government computer room on the front lines of the fight against Coronavirus #COBOL pic.twitter.com/G5Yefkazxm
— Don Hamaker (@kmfdm_don) April 4, 2020
The COBOL Programmers Right Now
COBOL programmers right now: pic.twitter.com/8dz1eWTTXg
— kleptolian industries (@kleptolian) April 4, 2020
Oops!
I know some #COBOL Programmers live here- pic.twitter.com/otLixsc3IT
— Shopboxdeals (@shopboxdeals) April 5, 2020
Not a Good Sign
Wow. These really are crazy times when #COBOL is trending! pic.twitter.com/Ql3TRsbOUA
— Matt Kimberley (@mkimberley7) April 5, 2020
COBOL is trending? That's never a good sign, what poor old computer system is being overwhelmed this time...
— LGR (@lazygamereviews) April 5, 2020
How the Programmers Would Report
COBOL programmer reporting for duty$TSLA $TSLAQ $SPY pic.twitter.com/S1mIuZBNAS
— KingKublai5 (#FreeZerohedge) (@KKublai5) April 5, 2020
The state of New Jersey needs COBOL coders because its benefits system has is unable to deal with the surge of requests for unemployment payments. However, people familiar with the redundancy of the program are not impressed with the demand and have taken to the internet to joke about it.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2020 02:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).