FWIW, I grew up as a COBOLer, but mad a conscious effort to move away in the early to mid-nineties. However, almost everyone I have known that was COBOLing with me is still doing so (assuming they have a job!). So, again, how much need is there for this? I expect it must be there because so many of the COBOL jobs were/are being moved off-shore. However, isn't the same true for others? Surely, this must be a disincentive for the COBOLer, thus is only likely to be re-trained by his company. And, the company's incentive is to replace the aging and expensive COBOL ranch-hand with a hot-shot Java (or whatever language of the day) gunslinger.