Business programmers

At the risk of stating the obvious, COBOL programmers work in a business environment, and in that environment people are rewarded more for their business acumen than their facility with nested IF statements. If you can charm the user and convince him that you understand his needs and that you know how to meet them, then it doesn't matter if you go back to your desk and write crappy code.  As long as you deliver something that more-or-less works in a more-or-less timely manner, you will be well regarded and rewarded.

Many (perhaps most) programmers in a business environment are not there for the long haul.  Programming is merely a phase they have to go through at the entry level.

Business programmers fall into the following groups:

1. Managers in waiting.  To this group, programming is just a step on the career ladder.  This is a large group (maybe 25%).  This group cares little about the code they develop, other than it meets company standards and is delivered on time.
2. Business analysts in training.  This group cares more about the company's business than about the programs that support it.  This is the largest group,  and they eventually abandon programming to become full-time business analysts or end users (about 50%).   This group regards programming as utter drudgery, and tend to delegate it to junior team members whenever they can..
3. Clerks in training.  This group does what they're told to do, no more no less.   A smaller group (about 15%).  This group is capable of producing good code, if they're given detailed specifications and good sample code to work from.
4. Technicians.  This group see programming as a profession (or at least a skilled trade) that they can take pride in.   A small group (10%), they tend not to care much about the business they are supporting.  Even though they work with COBOL and can use it creatively, many of them have bought into the myth that it is a Creaky Obsolescent Boring Old Language and yearn to move on to other technologies.