The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills

May 24, 2007 from ComputerWorld – “Those in search of eternal life need look no further than the computer industry. Here, last gasps are rarely taken, as aging systems crank away in back rooms across the U.S., not unlike 1970s reruns on Nickelodeon's TV Land. So while it may not be exactly easy for Novell NetWare engineers and OS/2 administrators to find employers who require their services, it's very difficult to declare these skills -- or any computer skill, really -- dead.

In fact, the harder you try to declare a technology dead, it seems, the more you turn up evidence of its continuing existence. Nevertheless, after speaking with several industry stalwarts, we've compiled a list of skills and technologies that, while not dead, can perhaps be said to be in the process of dying. Or as Stewart Padveen, Internet entrepreneur and currently founder of AdPickles Inc., says, "Obsolescence is a relative -- not absolute -- term in the world of technology."

180 View – If your company is using any of the technologies listed (Cobol, Nonrelational DBMS, Non-IP networks…), then you might want to make a change. It’s not just because these technologies are fading, it’s because the people that support them are retiring making it all that more difficult to support. We predict a significant increase in new systems when the baby boomers retire.