🚀 go-pugleaf

In <331CF7C8.21FB@erols.com>, Maria Zaldumbide <znzd@erols.com> writes:
>Dear Folks:
>
>We are seeking a bunch of  COBOL Developers with ADABASE and NATURAL 
>for a five year program with a government agency in Washington DC.  The
>program will start in September this year..  I will also need to find a
>other  Cobol User Groups appropriate to
>dverrtise in . I think this one is for technical discussions.  Any help
>will be greatly appreciated.   BTW..is there a COBOL marketgroup?
>
>Our company is DanSources Technical Services Corporation located in 
>Rockville, Maryland.    We have started from humble beginnings , in 
>1993, and have grown into a nice company.  Feel free to check out our 
>Web Page for  more details and other related poitions.  We have a bunch
>of other needs.  Please pass the word and thank you for your time.
>
>Our Web Page is http://www.dansources.com//  
>Our Phone Number is 301-217-0425.
>Our FAX number is 301-217-0508
>
>Best Regards
>
>Dan Fahey
>

Hah! Dan (or Maria), you're local to me.  I know the market you're
working in very well.  First, it's ADABAS.  Yes, this group is for
technical discussions; here, I'll insert a question that's been burning
at me. (I don't do COBOL.... yet.)

---begin question---

If I have a packed decimal number, 0099 365F; four bytes.  In assembler 
I'd code it as:

DATE     DC   PL4'99365'

In PL/I it would be:

DCL      DATE  DEC FIXED(7,0) INIT(99365);

What is the COBOL for this?

----end question----

But back to you Dan (or Marie), I encourage you to read the article in 
Business Week of March 10th 1997 that discusses the programmer shortage
and cites a recent case where a programmer with 5 years experience was 
earning $80,000/year and was still recruited away;  that programmer now 
earns $300,000/year.  Yes, I am as shocked as you are and I wonder 
why the figure is so high but as a recruiter, you need to swat your
government contracting officer or private industry client on the nose.

Roll up the Business Week, -swat-, BAD BOY!, -swat-, SIT-TTTT, BAD!  NOW
BEG! BEG-GGGG! -swat-.  

Train -em up and come back when they have concrete, current market 
dollars in their budget.  They're going to have to pay programmers 
at least a hundred grand a year;  if they wait until this September, 
salaries may be over a hundred fifty grand by then.

Also dig last Sunday's Washington Post out of your recycling bin.  The 
HR VP at Computer Horizons is on record that Computer Horizons needs 
1,500 COBOL programmers and he will authorize over a hundred thousand
dollars per year for the right people.

Don't think you or they will find the one programmer in the DC area who
is so ignorant that he will work for $65,000/year.  

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Cory Hamasaki     http://www.kiyoinc.com
HHResearch Co.    OS/2 Webstore & Newsletter
REDWOOD