Updated for 2025.

Working in the tech world can be strange. Not many other fields move as quickly with hot new languages to conquer and explore. The culture of new, innovative and sexy can be intoxicating. As a result, it’s easy for young developers to get more caught up in what is going to be cool to work with rather than what will be in high demand, secure, and financially viable for the long term.   

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) might not be considered sexy and cool, but it is still in high demand. Although it’s a legacy system, it has (and experts say it will continue to) remained secure and financially viable.    

“COBOL and mainframe codes are definitely in demand,” says Imogen Hough , Senior Consultant at Launch Recruitment Sydney. “Especially for banking and insurance clients, it’s unlikely a lot of them can change their systems, or at least they can’t do it anytime soon. And a lot of devs are retiring!”   

Old languages like COBOL don’t tend to give off the same level of excitement as the new ones. Yet, they’re used by some of the largest companies in the world. Jobs for them are in extremely high demand. Then there’s this:  

“Last year, I worked on a Pascal Developer role. It’s a language that was developed in the 70s. The modern version of Pascal is now Delphi. This language is so niche, but our client really needed help with it,” says Hans Zimnoch , Consultant at Launch Recruitment Melbourne. “They weren’t able to live without the system. As a result, they paid well for that role.”  

For COBOL programmers, we have seen contractors with large financial services organisations charging $1,000 per day, and they are in huge demand. What’s their advice to young developers? Learn these skills.   

Legacy systems aren’t going anywhere. COBOL remains the language of choice for the majority of major banks and insurance companies, and these businesses will pay a premium to keep their technology working and competitive.   

Developers who are enticed by these prospects could learn COBOL now and, within ten years, progress much faster through banks and insurance companies than their peers would in other sectors.  

Because it’s not a trendy new language, experienced COBOL programmers are gradually thinning out in the market. All of the developers who learned this language in the 90s are heading toward retirement, and a shortage of talent has long been an issue in the industries that rely on it. This is only going to increase once all of these senior positions exit the market.  

Not enough young developers are coming into this space. That means that anyone who invests in learning these skills has a clear path for their career progression, with security that demand will stay high and certainty that the financial benefits are there.  

Since the majority of computer science degrees today don’t include COBOL, getting certified will give you a skill that is in high demand in many financial institutions and legacy systems.  

Developers who go for the new languages today are going to go through stages in their career when they are one among thousands with the same skills. Standing out will be tough. Those who invest their time in learning legacy systems place a secure bet to avoid that struggle.   

While Mainframes may not be enticing, they are absolutely crucial. Most of the major banks globally are using them. Without these skills, our financial institutions can’t function effectively, and without that, our economy and daily interactions with banks are drastically interrupted.   

COBOL programmers keep our systems functioning. In return, they get to earn the big bucks and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with job security and fruitful career progression.   

70% of Fortune 500 businesses run on COBOL. COBOL systems handle $3 trillion in commerce each day, 95% of all ATM card swipes and 80% of in-person credit card transactions.  

It’s not going anywhere.   

“Modern ways of programming are still built on these legacy systems,” says Hans Zimnoch . “Some of the more modern ways of coding involve frameworks that are already built, but there are more shortcuts now. These older ways are almost a purer way of doing things.”   

While shortcuts and optimisations are exactly what you want as tech develops, the question is what skill lies underneath if the shortcuts fail or aren’t available.   

Even the best recruitment consultants, like Hans, have had experience with savvy developers leaning heavily on shortcuts, like AI.   

“I placed someone in a business, and it turned out they were using ChatGPT for a lot of their coding. The business wasn’t upset about this, in principle, but the code was messing up their code base, and when they stripped it back further, they found that the employee’s coding skills, without ChatGPT, were really junior. Not the level we thought we had hired.”  

With shortcuts and AI today, understanding legacy code arguably enhances your overall skills. If Picasso were alive today and worked with AI, it is fair to imagine that he would produce far superior results than an artist with less experience, despite having access to the same tools. Picasso would know what prompts to give it – the right language to use – and how to challenge it and direct it in ways others would not.  

If you’re a young developer considering where to invest your time, it’s worth considering older languages like COBOL. It’s not super exciting, but it’s crucial, it pays well, and it is one way to control career prospects in an otherwise unsure future.   

What do you think? We’d love to hear from you.  Get in touch with Launch or chat directly with our dev recruitment consultants, Hans at Launch Melbourne or Imogen at Launch Sydney , to discuss.