Hypercubic (YC F25) Is Hiring a Founding SWE and COBOL Engineer

The internet just discovered its latest unlikely heartthrob: COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language quietly running banks and airlines. Y Combinator–backed Hypercubic says it’s hiring a founding software engineer and a COBOL pro to build AI-powered upkeep for those creaky-but-critical systems. Cue comment chaos. One camp is screaming “boring is the new unicorn,” arguing that if 70% of Fortune 500 still depend on this stuff, the upside is massive. The other camp? Nervously clutching paychecks at the phrase “autonomously maintain,” warning that messing with money systems isn’t a place for experimental robots.

The thread lit up with generational spice. Veterans flexed institutional memory (“we patched this in ’98, kiddo”), while younger devs eyed a COBOL comeback tour like it’s the calm, well-paid antidote to app-churn life. There’s beef over whether this is a noble mission to keep civilization’s plumbing flowing—or a marketing gloss on a gnarly problem nobody wants. Memes arrived instantly: “Jurassic Park for code,” “COBOLcoin when,” and multiple Indiana Jones gifs dug up for the mainframe tomb-raiding vibe. Some begged Hypercubic to recruit retired experts; others say AI finally can untangle the “spaghetti.” Love it or fear it, everyone agrees this is the least flashy, most consequential startup energy in ages. Read the pitch at hypercubic.ai and pick a side.