Scotty: Computer! Computer?
[He’s handed a mouse, and he speaks into it]
Scotty: Hello, computer.
Dr. Nichols: Just use the keyboard.
Scotty: Keyboard. How quaint.

— Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home

One of the hardest things I do in IT is to continually learn about new technologies. But the  hardest thing I do is to teach others about old technology. You hang out in any big operation, and you will find the antiques. They’re old, and they’re slow, and they keep the lights on, so no-one messes with them. A huge percentage of the world’s business is still done on mainframe, and the Cobol programmers aren’t getting any younger. Convincing a 22 year old that they need to learn how to maintain and improve that code is almost as challenging as wholesale replacement would be.