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Strategies & Market Trends : Bob Brinker: Market Savant & Radio Host -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg Luke who wrote (2159)	11/20/1997 9:54:00 AM
From: Bob Brinker, Jr.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42834

Greg, I read this and could not resist responding. I have to say I disagree with your statements. Yes, private industry has been updating their software continuously for many years, but that does not mean Y2K problems are not going to be a real problem for many companies. There are millions of lines of code in use today written in COBOL programs more than a decade ago. Some of the first applications to be written were accounting systems because this was the first clear use of computer technology in business. Most of this code was created using COBOL. I have friends today that graduated from college in the early 1990's that are still writing COBOL code. Of course today it is Y2K compliant, back than it was not. I think most people would be very shocked if they saw how much code in the private sector is susceptable to Y2K problems. I am. In addition, many companies today are scamming people by claiming to be Y2K solution providers. Many of them have zero experience dealing with the problem but see an opportunity to captitalize on the demand for skills. They hire college kids straight out of school, send them to in-house training to aquire testing skills, and bill them out at exorbitant billing rates as Y2K experts. These type of computer 'experts' are the same inexperienced developers that created the problem. Many companies think their Y2K problems have been fixed but will be sorry to find out their 'upgrades' didn't work. Also remember the Y2K is not just in the software, many hardware products were manufactured for years assuming a 2 digit year. All of this hardware need to be identified and upgraded. In summary, the Y2K problem is real and is already having a huge impact on the private sector. The mad scramble is well under way. If you want to see it for yourself, try to find a COBOL developer in any major city across the country. They are all busy at work with more to do than they can ever get done. Billing rates are going up and up for these people and there still are not enough to be found. -bb