spoiler: They want to destroy social security.
this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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A COBOL programmer explains that this migration is impossible without catastrophe unless they want to destroy social security.
(lemmy.world)
I work with a ten year old Access database I'm trying to migrate to SQL. Should be easy, right?
Except it's got over 170 macro driven subquery chains accessing multiple legacy ERP systems, is the only source of their KPIs (these legacy systems can't generate them on their own), and is the only system that can publish the KPIs to the multiple Sharepoint lists that the entire company relies upon.
Despite the fact I have over 20 years experience migrating legacy systems, it's taken me close to a year to track down all of the dependencies, and this system is built in an easy language (SQL vs COBOL), is a tiny fraction of the size of the SSI databases, and is 30 years younger than the systems running social security (at least).
There is absolutely no way they have any chance of modernizing the social security system in under five years. It would take at least a decade to do it properly.
DOGE won't just break the system. They will fuck it up beyond all belief, to the point where it will never work properly again.
If you're on Social Security, be ready for payments to just stop. Expect it. It's their end goal.
And pray the last administration took backups.
A software dev friend of mine works in autonomous vehicles. He is certain a Tesla cannot reach an acceptably safe full safe driving level without lidar and it's widely known in the industry. But they push on anyway. They don't care. They will say or do anything to achieve their goals.
We should be asking about what the military generals think about all of this.
I took a college COBOL class in 1979. I had to write my program out on stacks of punch cards. Had to stand in line at the computer center for the grad students to run it on the University computer. They just gave you a "it ran" or "it failed" and a printout on sheets of those endless rolls of papers with perforations and holes on both sides?
Good times.
Of course this will fail. Everyone with a recognizable skill level in programming will tell you that. That's why Musk probably uses kids that have not achieved the necessary skills to know that.
Good that this is not my social security system they are breaking, and the biggest threat to me is me overeating on popcorn.
Musk and Thiel have their indentured servitude startup ready to go,it seems.
unless they want to destroy social security.
👆 😜