Hire Pre-vetted COBOL Developers

What is a COBOL Developer?

A COBOL Developer is a software engineer specializing in maintaining, modernizing, and building applications using COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)—a language that still powers mission-critical systems in banking, insurance, government, and large enterprises. While COBOL may seem legacy, it processes trillions of dollars daily and remains fundamental to countless organizations. COBOL Developers do more than maintain old code—they modernize aging systems, integrate COBOL with modern platforms, optimize performance, and bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and contemporary technology. Whether you need someone to fix critical business logic, migrate COBOL applications to hybrid environments, or build new COBOL solutions, a skilled COBOL Developer brings specialized expertise and business continuity focus.

What makes COBOL Developers valuable is their ability to work with systems that nobody else understands—and their focus on stability and reliability. They navigate complex business logic written decades ago, identify dependencies, and execute changes with surgical precision to avoid disrupting operations that entire industries depend on. This is why mission-critical organizations trust COBOL specialists. When you hire through Torc, you're getting someone who respects the critical nature of COBOL systems while bringing modern practices to legacy environments.

Technology Stack

Core COBOL

• COBOL 85, COBOL 2002, COBOL 2014

• GnuCOBOL & open-source COBOL

• IBM COBOL (Enterprise COBOL)

• Microfocus COBOL

Integration & Modernization

• Java integration with COBOL

• REST APIs & web services

• Message queuing (MQ Series, RabbitMQ)

• Database connectivity (JDBC, ODBC)

Platforms & Environments

• IBM Mainframe (z/OS, z/Linux)

• Unix & Linux systems

• Windows-based COBOL environments

• Cloud-based COBOL platforms

Tools & Practices

• Version control integration (Git)

• Testing frameworks & automation

• Performance monitoring & profiling

• Data migration & ETL tools

Key Qualities to Look For on a COBOL Developer

System Mastery — They deeply understand the systems they work on, including business context, data dependencies, and performance characteristics. They can read decades-old code and quickly understand intent, logic, and potential risks of changes.

Risk Management — Working with mission-critical systems requires extreme care. Exceptional COBOL developers plan meticulously, test exhaustively, and can rollback changes if needed. They document changes thoroughly and follow strict change management protocols.

Modernization Mindset — While respecting legacy systems, they recognize the need to evolve. They know how to incrementally modernize COBOL applications—extracting logic into services, adding APIs, improving maintainability without wholesale rewrites.

Problem Diagnosis — They troubleshoot complex production issues methodically. They read system logs, understand performance metrics, and can isolate root causes in systems with millions of lines of code and decades of accumulated logic.

Communication & Documentation — They work in teams where not everyone knows COBOL. They document code clearly, explain business logic to non-COBOL engineers, and can train others on the systems they maintain.

Stability Focus — They prioritize reliability over cleverness. They make conservative architectural choices, thoroughly test changes, and understand that downtime in COBOL systems has massive business impact.

Project Types Your COBOL Developers Handle

Legacy System Maintenance — Keeping existing COBOL systems running reliably. Real scenarios: Bug fixes in critical business logic, performance optimization, dependency updates, patch management.

Mainframe Modernization — Incrementally modernizing COBOL applications toward modern architecture. Real scenarios: Extracting COBOL logic into microservices, adding REST APIs, migrating to cloud-compatible environments.

Data Migration Projects — Moving data between COBOL systems and modern platforms. Real scenarios: Consolidating legacy databases, integrating with modern data warehouses, data cleanup and transformation.

Integration & Connectivity — Connecting COBOL systems with modern platforms. Real scenarios: Building APIs for COBOL services, integrating with cloud applications, message queue integration.

Performance Optimization — Improving COBOL system performance. Real scenarios: Query optimization, batch processing improvements, memory management optimization.

Compliance & Security Updates — Ensuring COBOL systems meet modern security and compliance standards. Real scenarios: Encryption implementation, audit logging, regulatory compliance updates.

System Documentation & Knowledge Transfer — Documenting undocumented COBOL systems for teams. Real scenarios: Creating system architecture documentation, code documentation, process documentation for team knowledge sharing.

Interview questions

Question 1: "Tell me about the most complex COBOL system you've maintained. What made it complex, and how did you approach understanding and modifying it?"

Why this matters: Tests ability to navigate legacy complexity—the core skill for COBOL developers. Reveals whether they can read and understand decades-old code, identify dependencies, and make changes safely. COBOL systems are often poorly documented, so comprehension skills are critical.

Question 2: "How would you approach modernizing a critical COBOL application without disrupting production? What would your timeline and strategy look like?"

Why this matters: Tests modernization expertise, which is increasingly important as organizations move COBOL systems to new platforms. Reveals whether they understand incremental modernization, can balance innovation with stability, and think strategically about phased approaches.

Question 3: "Describe your experience with COBOL integration with modern systems. What challenges did you face and how did you solve them?"

Why this matters: Tests practical integration experience, which is essential for keeping COBOL systems relevant. Reveals whether they can bridge old and new technology, understand APIs, message queues, and data format conversions. This determines whether COBOL systems can participate in modern architectures.