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Blog | COBOL | COBOL Programming Course | Open Mainframe Summit

Meet the Future of COBOL (Video)

By | January 18, 2023

Launched in April 2020, Open Mainframe Project’s COBOL Programming Course has become one of its most popular projects focused on engaging the next generation of COBOLers – students, developers, lifelong learners and just about anyone who is curious & ready to learn. The course leverages tooling such as Visual Studio Code, Z Open Editor, Code4z and Zowe with a goal to have content that ensured learners stayed focused on learning COBOL.

The mission of the course includes:

  • Attract next generation of learners to add COBOL to their tech toolkit
  • Improve the learning experience with the modern tool interface
  • Create and engage with an enthusiastic community of learners

One of the best parts about the course is the hands-on training it provides, which makes it easy for developers to gain real-world experience. In fact, this is one of the reasons why Rune Christensen, Lead Software Developer at Bankdata, has all new employees and developers take the COBOL Programming Course to familiarize themselves with the language and hands-on training. Read what else he had to say or watch the video here.

At Open Mainframe Summit, which took place on September 21-22 virtually and in-person in Philadelphia, PA, Hartanto Ario Widjaya, Singapore Management University; Caitlin Mooney, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Jade Walker, M&T Bank; Angie Rositilia Mejia, East Carolina University gave a presentation titled, “Meet the Future of COBOL.”

In this panel discussion, moderator Hartanto Widjaya, a student and COBOL Programming Course TSC member will talk to the next generation of COBOLers. All three panelists, Caitlin Mooney, Jade Walker and Angie Mejia have taken the COBOL Programming Course and explored the language. They will share highlights about the learning points they have obtained from this critical business application programming language, discuss the pros and cons of the language as they see it and showcase their newly earned skills. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to meet this next generation on COBOLers – who will be driving the world’s economy with their code!