Not mocking cobol devs but yall are severely underpaid for keeping fintech alive

Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world to Programmer Humor@programming.dev – 786 points –
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Something that maybe a software engineer union could solve.

Something that a union would definitely solve. What are the banks gonna do? Fire every veteran and hire a team of underpaid newbs to manage their critical systems? If they were dumb enough to do that, let them save themselves millions a year by facing billions in losses... I'm sure that'll work out well.

Banks: Hold my beer!

And later blame it on the workers that unionized.

It only needs to work long enough for the current management to cash in on their savings. Then it's their successors problem.

If only there was one, I wish I had one just so I wouldn't have to do all the fucking social hoops just to get my resume noticed by an actual human before the HR's "I don't want to do my job!" machines filter me out for not going to an Ivy League School like apparently everyone else did.

The thing is, this type of job never needed a union previously. It was niche enough for a long time, that you were sought out and rewarded well. But yes, I think we're moving into an era where we do need union representation.

Oddly enough, with my experience I am sought out still. Just for bizarre startups who clearly never checked my previous work history. Some of the messages I get on Linkedin for example are just weird requests.

Nah, they’re going to “solve” it by paying web developers less, not paying cobol developers more

Yes, workers unions are famous for fighting to lower the wages of the workers they represent. Very much. Indeed.

I think the problem is that unions are famous for fighting for equal pay across the board for the workers they represent regardless of individual competency or market demand. For this example they'll give COBOL developers a raise to 120K and give web developers a pay cut to 120K.

Or best case scenario they give the COBOL developers a short-term raise to 150, then raises across the industry stagnate in coming years to offset the fact that employers feel like they're overpaying for some people. But sure, a few years later the union can come in to look like a hero arguing for a fraction of the raise the web devs could have already gotten.